💪 The everyday athlete newsletter #90

👋 Hey. Welcome to issue #90 of The Everyday Athlete Newsletter.

Here are my 3 favourite ideas, learns and resources to help you improve your performance this week (4 min read):

🎾 Mouth taping for performance?

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Sense Therapies HQ to talk all things breath and nervous system regulation with their team.

One question came up about nose breathing during exercise (she’d seen photos of world #1 tennis player Iga Swiatek training with mouth tape on).

And yes, nose breathing for as long as we can during exercise will help our performance (see newsletter #84).

But there’s a few words worth highlighting — for as long as we can.

This may seem obvious. But the rise of athletes using mouth tape as a training tool might suggest we should be nose breathing 100% of the time...

Not the case.

Particularly if we’re doing anaerobic (i.e. high-intensity) exercise.

See, when we push it up during intense exercise, we create an oxygen deficit — where our bodies need more oxygen than we can deliver it.

So to repay the deficit, we want oxygen in fast.

And slowing our breathing through the nose doesn't help us do that.

It’s why the first 2 gears of the downshift recovery method are done fast and through the mouth.

Then once we’ve repaid the deficit, switch to nose and slow things down (which will help us calm the mind and deliver more oxygen to our working muscles).

So for anaerobic sports like rugby, soccer, netball and hockey, we'll be back and forth between nose and mouth.

Or, consider sports that require power bursts like tennis or boxing.

Exhaling forcefully out the mouth creates more tension and power through the pneuma-muscular reflex e.g. Sharipova’s grunt, the boxer’s “tss”.

So considering tennis is both anaerobic and requires bursts of power, whichever coach is enforcing Swiatek's gag order is missing the bigger picture.

When you see something on social media, always consider the context.

P.s. I’m considering speaking at more companies and organisations about unlocking performance in work and life — if you’re interested — fill out this form 🧡

🍆 Fibre for sleep quality

Interesting study linking fibre intake with sleep quality.

It suggests more fibre = more deep sleep.

The more I learn about it, the more I believe fibre is medicine.

The average person gets 15g/day.

But we wanna aim for 30g+ (there's no observed upper limit of benefit).

But to avoid upsetting your guts, build up to it —fruit, veg, nuts, beans, and seeds.

⚡️ Electrolyte energy

Your watch ticks over the 4km mark on your run and — without warning — you’ve hit the wall.

If that’s ever been you, hitting a wall 20 mins into a session, it's likely a lack of sodium not glycogen.

And so if you train in the morning fasted (or don’t eat much throughout the day and train in the arvo), get an electrolyte tablet in you before getting going.

While sodium, magnesium and potassium don’t directly provide energy, they facilitate energy production in the cells.

Think of glycogen (or fat) as the petrol. Electrolytes as the spark plugs. Both are needed for the engine to tick.

I went through a period where I'd severely cook up at the back end of footy games—cramps, flat, no energy. The fix was throwing an electrolyte tablet in the bottle pre-game.

All the big supermarkets have inexpensive common man options. If you've lost touch, brands like LMNT are popular.

You don’t need to add it to everything you drink. But one before training will help make it a good one.

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.