💪 The everyday athlete newsletter #75

👋 Hey. Welcome to issue #75 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter.

Last week I promised to share something I've been working on today. But it's had to go on ice for a week. Look out for newsletter #76 👍

Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (4.5 min read):

📈 The stay-on-the-field equation

The Florida State University Soccer Program works alongside Kristen Holmes, the Principal Scientist at Whoop (a health wearable tech company).

The way they use data to inform their performance strategy is on another level.

For example, they determine their game-day substitutions based on a metric called EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption). EPOC is essentially a signal of an athlete’s recovery (derived from heart rate variability data).

As a result, if they’re winning at the back end of a game, they don’t get beaten by an equal or lesser team.

🤯 so cool.

But the most impressive IMO is how they improve player availability for training and games i.e. keeping players on the field.

It’s one of the biggest indicators of success in sport. Because minimising injury and sickness means teams can build cohesion and momentum with their best players on the field.

So based on the team's data, they’ve figured out that if players adhere to 3 key data points, the chances of them being available to train and play throughout the season is 90%.

The 3 data points are:

1. ⏱️ Sleep/wake variability = more than 85% (the change in times you go to sleep and wake up across the last 4 days)
2. ⚖️ Sleep debt = less than 45 mins (how much sleep you need - how much sleep you got)
3. 😴 Sleep performance = 90% (how much sleep you got ÷ how much sleep you needed)

So if you don’t have a whoop, what does this mean?

It means for the best chances of being fit and healthy for life for 90% of the year:

1. ⏰ Go to bed and wake up at similar times (roughly within +/- 30 mins)
2. ⏱️ Get enough sleep (min 7 hours, more if you’re more active)

Kristen has been doing the podcast rounds lately. Highly recommend this one.

💨 How to bookend your training

Here are 2x breathing protocols I program and encourage everyone (athletes and everyday athletes) to do for better performance and recovery.

They take 1 minute each.

During warm-up (1 min):

1. 💨 Cadence breathing: 5x 4-second inhale, 4-second exhale (connect with the breath)
2. 🔥 Fire breathing*: 10x 1-second inhale, 1-second exhale (fire up nervous system, oxygenate body and brain). *disregard breath holds from that vid

During recovery (1-10 mins):

1. 🧘‍♂️ Down-regulation breathing: 4-second inhale, 8-second exhale (activate our parasympathetic nervous system, tell the body it’s time to rest and recover)

Bookend your training and notice the difference ✌️

🛡️ Glucose spike defence

Managing our blood sugar levels is a pretty powerful level-up for an everyday athlete's health and performance.

Less disease risk is long-term.

Short-term it affects stuff like 😴 sleep, 🥱 fatigue and 🪫 energy levels; 😶‍🌫️ brain fog, 🤤 cravings and hunger; 💥 inflammation; and more.

The Glucose Goddess has 10 science-based "hacks" to help us manage our blood glucose levels (which we got into in newsletter #57).

But there’s also 4 foods/drinks/condiments that are proven to act as a bit of a defender against glucose spikes (that are probably already in the pantry).

Add them to your day:

1. 🫙 Vinegar (I splash apple cider vinegar on salads and meals, my partner Issy has a shot of it in the morn 🤮)
2. ☕️ Chamomile tea (drink post-dinner)
3. 🥄 Cinnamon (I put a spoonful of ground in coffee, shakes & smoothies)
4. 🧀 Nutritional yeast (use it in the same way you’d use parmesan cheese)

So for steady energy and less chance of disease risk, get these items in your trolley.

That's it!

Have a great weekend 🤙

Matt

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The Everyday Athlete Newsletter is not a licensed health service and is not a substitute for professional health advice, treatment or assessment. The information given in this email is general in nature, written for a specific audience. If you’re struggling, please see a healthcare professional.