The use of supplements for this discussion in it's simplest form is essentially stress management. When we go do basically anything we create a stressful environment for something in our bodies. This ranges from picking your singlet wedgie to a max clean and jerk followed by 5x5 pause front squats. Of course that means that there are varying degrees of stress and thus recovery that are necessary for the given situation. The kicker is that there is always a way to be able to get more out of what you are doing. Which I believe is the mindset for most people that are competitive in anyway. I mean if we didn't think that we could get better at what we are doing then why are we training? This goes for anything whether you plan to compete or not. Say you're just that weird old guy that shows up at handball courts and plays the high school kids occasionally even winning. You know that handball isn't going to turn your dead end job around, but the exercise and camaraderie will definitely enrich your life an help you make it to the weekend. Which is why the supplementation industry is making a killing every single day, they know you want the most out of what you spend your time on that makes you tick. In other words they want to hijack your passion because it's an easy route into your bank account.
I personally have tried just about everything that there is to try at one point or another. While I was bodybuilding I think that I bought every single product that MuscleTech makes, not to mention BSN, Muscle Pharm, Labrada, and Muscle Milk. So I decided to take a step back and reassess my supplementation strategy which had become, lets throw literally everything but the kitchen sink in there and somehow it's got to work. I guess from a certain point of view it did work. I won my weight class in the only bodybuilding competition that I ever did so that goal was accomplished. Turns out though that is about the only goal many of those companies have in mind while they are producing their products. Some of which are obviously of dubious origins, but sought to satisfy the narcism of the masses.
This is a problem when your primary goal is performance instead of physique, and recovery trumps bathroom selfies. This again took me to the nervous system for answers. Don't get me wrong a quick digesting quality protein and some solid carbs do wonders for preventing muscle soreness. I personally use SFH Pure and love it. But there is so much more to the story of moving effectively than just the condition of your muscles and tendons. If your nervous system you are essentially a wonderfully carved marionette with nothing but spider webs holding your arms and legs up, and as soon as there is any quick or complex movement the strands will give out and your ability to perform goes down the crapper. I guess you could say from the above analogy that I felt so limited by my recovery that I had become a puppet to it.
So how did I or how can any of us cut the strings and find independence in recovery instead of restriction? I'm personally not a huge fan of western pharmaceuticals so I didn't want a magic pill that would help me lift like an animal but kill me before I hit 30. I also don't like to miss training days, ever. So what is a bearded man to do?
How about ask a herbalist? I know weird right? Herbalists in the USA at least seem to be looked down upon by everyone except equine trainers. My first exposure to the idea of herbal based supplementation was while I was having a conversation with a doctor of Naturopath who mentioned that they were using the same methods he uses to diagnose people to booth race horse performance. So I figured hey if it works for horses people don't have that different of biochemistry so it could work for me too right? That was a gross simplification of the basically 2 years between that conversation with the doc and sitting down with the herbalist to put together a tincture.
I found as I talk to people in the herbal world that they are very willing to share their knowledge with just about everyone that will listen. But because of the lack of available information to people who care, and lack of flashy commercials few people seem to take them seriously. Oh yeah excluding, Russians, Chinese, and mommy bloggers. Excluding the mommy bloggers the Russian and Chinese combo seem to make up a large number of podium spots not that I'm inferring anything.....
Nitty gritty time. These herbs that are used for increasing performance are called adaptogens. Adaptogens are herbs that when used help to bring the body back into balance, or you guessed it, adapt. Adaptogens were formally discovered by Israel I. Breckhman a Russian research pharmacologist and physiologist. Although his discoveries had been made earlier the bulk of the research wasn't made available outside of the Soviet Union until much later. In reality though most of the research that he did was just formalizing traditional uses of many different herbs that had been used for thousands of years and "stacking" them if you will to boost performance.
What is unique about adaptogens is that instead of "giving" your body everything to skip steps and boost performance like say steroids, they simply facilitate by creating a favorable environment. Which means instead of contorting your biochemistry to fit into a mold imposed by stress like basically every banned substance adaptogens adapt the environment of your biochemistry to break the mold and thrive independently of stress. (Most info found here)
So the question is if these compounds are so effective then why aren't they used more? First of all they are used very extensively in basically everywhere that is on the same side of the world as Asia. Reason 1 we live in a consumer world. If there is something good or useful most people assume it will be available in flashing packaging on a store shelf. Reason 2 is related to reason 1 people are sheep. They follow crowds and quite simply because of the pharmaceutical infrastructure it is easier to produce the types of supplements that are currently flying off of shelves and few people want to disrupt that. Granted there are a couple companies that are selling basically Breckhman's formula but they are either super expensive, or very hard to get because they must be ordered from crazy places, or they are un willing to share the level of dilution of their products. Let's say that you did just buy exactly what Breckhman used in his formula and used it. I have no doubt that you would see impressive gains but also great improvement in cognition. But this is where a herbalist comes in very handy because everyone is different. Everyone has different needs because of their respective deficiencies., which is actually very exciting. That means the collective wisdom of thousands of years of traditional eastern medicine, compounded with Breckhman's performance based research from 60 years ago, are culminating now in individual personalized formulas available to anyone with access to an herbalist.
So now for my personal experience. The first single herb that I used that is an adaptogen is Eleuthero Root which is sometimes referred to as the the king of adaptogens. This herb while it has some anabolic properties works wonders on the nervous system. I found that most of the time in my training when it was less than what I thought it should be it was because by head couldn't keep up with my body. In other words my focus under extreme pressure was less than laser like. Eleuthero root helped to mitigate this immensely. What ended up happening was that instead of my mind crapping out and my resolve withering under punishing loads,was that I was able to push my body to places it had not been before. I guess that was one thing in between that two years that was pretty noteworthy. That was when I actually approached my brother about putting together a formula which was more far reaching as to it's effects. It's definitely paid off in performance, recovery, and body composition. In other words number have went up and quality of life has improved as well.
Since access to those who are knowledgeable and skilled in adaptogens is very limited we want to make this available to more people because of the experience I've had. Contact me if you would like the opportunity to give it a shot.
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