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	<title>Recovery &amp; Performance Archives - Dr Asa Andrew</title>
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	<title>Recovery &amp; Performance Archives - Dr Asa Andrew</title>
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	<item>
		<title>A Depleted Brain</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/a-depleted-brain/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dehydration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water and hydration]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=5068</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>So, it&#8217;s a hot day and you&#8217;ve forgotten to take a bottle of water with you. Clearly, you&#8217;re going to [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/a-depleted-brain/">A Depleted Brain</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<p>So, it&#8217;s a hot day and you&#8217;ve forgotten to take a bottle of water with you. Clearly, you&#8217;re going to get thirsty. If you go too long without rehydrating, you&#8217;ll probably end up with a headache to say the least. But do you realize that&#8217;s not the only way dehydration affects your brain?</p>



<p>There&#8217;s a substantive body of evidence to suggest that our fluid intake has a profound effect on our mood and cognition. People who drink more water are less likely to experience depression and anxiety (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6147771/). People who don&#8217;t drink enough water may be fatigued, unable to think clearly, and more at risk of low moods.</p>



<p>This seems to be true even if the dehydration is mild. If you wait until you&#8217;re thirsty to have a drink of water, you&#8217;re already starting to feel the effects of dehydration. You should be thinking ahead, pouring yourself a glass regularly regardless of your thirst level, just so you can stay at your best.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s not just about how it directly affects your mood. If you&#8217;re tired and finding it difficult to concentrate, which are other symptoms of dehydration, it&#8217;s going to be harder to focus on the tasks you need to complete. That&#8217;s likely to aggravate any depressive symptoms, which in turn can make it even harder to do the things you need to do.</p>



<p>Once your motivation slips, it becomes harder and harder to get it back. It&#8217;s a self-fulfilling cycle, where lower mood leads to less achievement, which leads to even lower mood. Other vital activities, such as exercise or preparing healthy and balanced meals, can also fall by the wayside because of the combination of dehydration and depression. That will make your health even worse.</p>



<p>Attention to fluid intake becomes even more important with high-risk groups, like the elderly or the very young. They&#8217;re more susceptible to dehydration and less likely to remember to drink regularly. Anyone can underestimate their water needs, however, so everyone needs to pay attention to how much they drink.</p>



<p>Getting enough water isn&#8217;t just about your physical health. It has a vital impact on your mental wellbeing, including cognition and mood. It&#8217;s not only on hot days or after exercise that you need to think about this; every day, you need to be stopping to make sure you&#8217;re drinking enough to stay sharp.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/a-depleted-brain/">A Depleted Brain</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Eating Right</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/eating-right/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 08:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[balanceddiet]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=5055</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>When you&#8217;re not well, even the simplest tasks can become impossible challenges, and that includes eating right. When you&#8217;re lacking [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/eating-right/">Eating Right</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<p>When you&#8217;re not well, even the simplest tasks can become impossible challenges, and that includes eating right. When you&#8217;re lacking energy and feeling queasy, you can lose your appetite. Going to all the effort of preparing a meal is certainly out of the question.</p>



<p>This is a problem because if you&#8217;re not getting the nutrients you need, the healing process is going to be a lot slower. That&#8217;s true of physical injuries, of getting over a virus, of trying to overcome an addiction, and of recovering from major surgery. It&#8217;s even true when you&#8217;re not seriously hurt, like when you&#8217;ve just done a heavy exercise session and your muscles are all aching. You might not want to do anything, including thinking about food.</p>



<p>Portion size isn&#8217;t as important as making sure you get all of the necessary nutrients, with some being even more important during recovery. For example, eat dairy products full of calcium to strengthen your bones or protein-rich foods to help with muscle repair. Iron and zinc are also important when trying to repair the body.</p>



<p>Fruit and vegetables are always important and can make up simple snacks if you can&#8217;t face a full meal. They&#8217;re full of essential nutrients however you eat (or drink) them, whether on their own or as an ingredient in a larger dish. They also contain fiber, which will help your overall digestion.</p>



<p>Keeping hydrated is also vital. This doesn&#8217;t just have to be water. As mentioned, milk and fruit juice are both full of vitamins and minerals. Tea and coffee have lots of health benefits and can boost your energy levels. Even soup can count towards your fluid intake.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re having trouble maintaining a balanced diet, you may find you struggle to heal. You may also lose weight and feel more tired. After an illness, injury or hospital stay, you need to be paying extra attention to making sure your diet is adequate. If you still can&#8217;t manage it, you may need some form of dietary supplement.</p>



<p>This may mean various forms of tablets or capsules that you can swallow for a nutrient boost. You may also want to enrich your regular diet, such as by adding cheese or butter to dishes to increase the protein. You may also need to consume more fat than normal without worrying about potential weight gain. Your body needs the energy.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/eating-right/">Eating Right</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Strength In Numbers</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/strength-in-numbers/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exercise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fitnesscommunity]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=5018</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>So, you&#8217;ve made the first decision. You&#8217;ve decided you&#8217;re going to get fit. Full of enthusiasm and good intentions, you [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/strength-in-numbers/">Strength In Numbers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<p>So, you&#8217;ve made the first decision. You&#8217;ve decided you&#8217;re going to get fit. Full of enthusiasm and good intentions, you make your way to your nearest gym. Then you step through the door.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s lots of large, unfamiliar equipment that looks like it could cause you some damage if you use it incorrectly. There are people with big muscles who look like they&#8217;ve been training for years and move with intimidating confidence around the room. There&#8217;s noise and business that just makes you feel shut out. Suddenly you feel very small and very alone.</p>



<p>Lots of people want to exercise, but many of them won&#8217;t make it past that first rush of eagerness. If you want to start training, you could bring a companion with you to offer encouragement, help you figure out any problems and maybe offer some friendly rivalry. If you run any kind of fitness studio, from aerobics to gym to yoga, you could take steps to establish a welcoming feel in your studio.</p>



<p>In recent years, <a href="https://www.drasa.com">group training</a> (more than five people doing the same exercise together) has been fairly consistently one of the top fitness trends (<a href="https://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2018/11000/WORLDWIDE_SURVEY_OF_FITNESS_TRENDS_FOR_2019.6.aspx" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/Fulltext/2018/11000/WORLDWIDE_SURVEY_OF_FITNESS_TRENDS_FOR_2019.6.aspx</a>). It seems a lot of people are taking advantage of the benefits that a fitness community can provide.</p>



<p>People who <a href="https://www.drasa.com">exercise together</a> rather than alone are more likely to stick to their program and less likely to cancel their membership. They enjoy sessions more, meaning improved motivation, focus and self-esteem. Members of fitness communities can hold each other accountable, pushing everyone to do better. When one person is struggling, the others can pick them up again. When one person does well, it will be reinforced by congratulations from the rest of the group.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s not easy to establish a <a href="https://www.drasa.com">fitness community</a>. Some people have their blinders on when they exercise and may not want to even consider breaking from their own insular approach. It requires a lot of communication and openness between all participants as well as with owners/trainers. You&#8217;ll need patience to properly establish and grow the necessary relationships.</p>



<p>Get it right, however, and you&#8217;ve found a way to make exercise more effective. Not only can you get physically fitter, but you can brighten your mood, improve your mental performance and build new and meaningful relationships with your fellow exercisers. The value of community to exercise should not be underestimated.</p>



<p></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/strength-in-numbers/">Strength In Numbers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Staying Hydrated</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/staying-hydrated/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hydration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water and hydration]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4988</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Now, most people will probably admit that water isn&#8217;t the most exciting drink in the world. It might be good [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/staying-hydrated/">Staying Hydrated</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<p>Now, most people will probably admit that water isn&#8217;t the most exciting drink in the world. It might be good for some quick refreshment, especially if you&#8217;re not feeling well, but it can get a little boring if you&#8217;re stuck on water all the time.</p>



<p>That wouldn&#8217;t be a problem if staying hydrated wasn&#8217;t so important. We can last much longer without food than we can without water. Luckily, water isn&#8217;t the only liquid that can help you avoid dehydration. Juice can do the same job, as can milk, tea and coffee. Even solid food, including fruit and vegetables as well as stews and soups, can be hydrating.</p>



<p>On a normal day, when there aren&#8217;t any extra risk factors like extreme heat, intense exercise or other ill health, you still need to hydrate regularly. The exact amount will vary depending on the individual person (https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-much-water-do-you-need-daily/) but the general recommendation is the equivalent of about six to eight mugs or glasses.</p>



<p>If it&#8217;s a warm day, you&#8217;re being particularly active, you&#8217;re older, you&#8217;re drinking a lot of alcohol, or you have other health conditions like diabetes or are experiencing diarrhea, these are all things that require you to hydrate more. The question is which water alternatives are best if you really can&#8217;t face one more sip?</p>



<p>Milk can be an incredibly effective hydrator with a host of other benefits. Part of the reason for this is that it&#8217;s high in electrolytes. It&#8217;s also full of other nutrients, including protein and calcium. That means that if you&#8217;re more dehydrated than normal because you&#8217;re working out, milk also helps build muscle and bone.</p>



<p>Tea and coffee can have diuretic, or dehydrating, properties when you drink them to excess, but in smaller amounts, they can stave off the effects of dehydrating. The caffeine also means they can provide you with a welcome energy boost.</p>



<p>When it comes to fruit and vegetables, they&#8217;re not only high in water but also all sorts of vitamins and minerals. Frozen fruit and vegetables can be just as healthy as fresh ones, if not more so. They&#8217;re certainly a better choice than drinks or snacks with lots of added salt or sugar. Those are the things you should avoid.</p>



<p>If you know you have a choice when it comes to hydration, it might make it easier to ensure you eat and drink enough.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/staying-hydrated/">Staying Hydrated</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Injury And Healing</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/injury-and-healing/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exercise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recoveryafterinjury]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4931</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>We all know that exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, but what happens if you&#8217;re injured and [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/injury-and-healing/">Injury And Healing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>We all know that exercise is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, but what happens if you&#8217;re injured and can&#8217;t perform the kind of movement that forms part of a fitness routine? What if the actual act of exercising is what causes you an injury in the first place?</p>



<p>Generally, the benefits of sport and exercise far outweigh the risks. That doesn&#8217;t mean they&#8217;re guaranteed to be harm-free, however. Let&#8217;s take a look at sports injuries and why they happen, how to avoid them and how to manage them if they do occur.</p>



<p>It can be worryingly easy to injure yourself. All you have to do is fail to warm up properly or push yourself too hard. Using bad techniques or faulty equipment are also danger factors. And sometimes you&#8217;ll just have an accident, like <a href="https://www.drasa.com">slipping and falling</a>.</p>



<p>Some parts of the body are more at risk than others. Ankles and knees, which take a lot of wear and tear just in normal daily life, are near the top of the list, but every joint, muscle and ligament can feel the damage if something goes wrong.</p>



<p>If you start to feel <a href="https://www.drasa.com">pain</a> while exercising, stop immediately. Trying to push through it could cause more harm. Other symptoms to look out for include stiffness and swelling. Not all injuries will be immediately apparent, and it could take a few hours after your session for you to realize something&#8217;s wrong.</p>



<p>Luckily, most injuries are unlikely to be severe. They&#8217;ll heal naturally given time and maybe some over-the-counter painkillers. A good acronym to remember is RICE, or &#8220;rest, ice, compression and elevation&#8221;. With an injury like a sprain or strain, give it time to recover, apply an ice pack, compress it (such as with a bandage or sling, though not so tightly it reduces circulation) and elevate it so it&#8217;s at a higher level than your heart. This should reduce swelling and pain.</p>



<p>Other injuries, such as broken bones, need attention from a <a href="https://www.drasa.com">medical professional</a>. This is especially true with head injuries, which can cause severe internal consequences even when you look and feel fine on the outside. Doctors, physiotherapists and fitness professionals are also the people to talk to if you want to know how to exercise safely in a manner that suits your individual body. That&#8217;s how you reduce the risk and impact of injuries.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/injury-and-healing/">Injury And Healing</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Path To A Long Life</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/path-to-a-long-life/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exercise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobilityandlongevity]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4897</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>You&#8217;re probably sick of hearing me say it, but exercise (along with diet) is one of the two most fundamental [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/path-to-a-long-life/">Path To A Long Life</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>You&#8217;re probably sick of hearing me say it, but exercise (along with diet) is one of the two most fundamental things you need to stay healthy. Whatever other radical steps you might try to take or shortcuts you try to find, eventually it always comes back to those two things.</p>



<p>It might be frustrating, but the effort involved in trying to exercise more is normally worth it in the end. Put simply, people who exercise regularly live longer than those who don&#8217;t. If you care about longevity, you need to care about exercise.</p>



<p>There&#8217;s been a lot of research into how exercise impacts life expectancy (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395188/). Basically, it dramatically decreases your risk of developing the conditions that can kill you early, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, heart disease, strokes and cancer. They&#8217;re all less common in people who exercise regularly.</p>



<p>Exercise done properly improves the health of your heart and lungs, strengthens bones and muscles, and can even have a positive impact on your mental health. All these things are likely to make your life longer and better.</p>



<p>While there&#8217;s a lot of room for variation in how you exercise, some of it does need to be hard enough to get your blood pumping. You need aerobic activity (the energetic kind that gets you out of breath) as well as strength and mobility training. A well-rounded routine will cover everything.</p>



<p>You do still need to be careful about injury, especially if you already have health problems. Pushing too hard, too fast can cause damage that will make things more difficult in the long run. From pulled muscles to broken bones and head injuries, failing to train safely can cause a whole range of issues.</p>



<p>Get to know your own body and what it&#8217;s capable of, and learn how far you can push without causing harm. Talk to doctors, physical therapists, personal trainers and other experts who can advise you based on your specific needs. Make sure that the rest of your lifestyle is designed to augment your exercise, such as eating and sleeping properly and giving up smoking.</p>



<p>Everyone&#8217;s a bit different in terms of what they get from exercise, but no one benefits from ignoring it completely. If you want to live a long life, it&#8217;s one of the most important things you can do.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/path-to-a-long-life/">Path To A Long Life</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>The Okinawan Way</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/the-okinawan-way/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flexibility]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobilityandlongevity]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4890</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>You may have heard that people in Japan have the best life expectancies in the world. Not only do they [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/the-okinawan-way/">The Okinawan Way</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<p>You may have heard that people in Japan have the best life expectancies in the world. Not only do they live longer than everyone else, but they tend to stay in good health, even in old age. This means that even their centenarians have pretty impressive mobility and flexibility.</p>



<p>If you want to emulate them, there may be one simple practice that you can learn from the residents of Okinawa (https://www.bluezones.com/2020/07/why-the-okinawan-practice-of-sitting-on-the-floor-is-linked-to-health-mobility-and-longevity-how-you-can-practice-it-at-home/#). Rather than sitting on a chair, try to make a habit of sitting on the floor. It doesn&#8217;t sound like much, but you&#8217;d be amazed what it can do.</p>



<p>Sitting on the floor means having to regularly stand back up and sit down again. That&#8217;s exercise. Every time you do it, you work your muscles, from your core to your back to your legs. If you take up residence on the floor every time you eat or talk to a friend, or even just when you are relaxing, you&#8217;re going to be standing up again dozens of times in a single day. That&#8217;s a lot of muscle work.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s not only the standing up part that can have positive benefits. If you&#8217;re sitting properly on the floor, your posture can also improve. Research indicates that your overall musculoskeletal fitness will improve, with benefits to mobility and flexibility as well as strength.</p>



<p>In fact, studies suggest that people who can sit on the floor and then stand up again without needing extra support are more likely to have long lives overall. There is a genetic component to longevity, but even more important is our environment and how we live. Sitting and standing are such small things, but they can have a big impact.</p>



<p>We all know how important exercise is to health, but that doesn&#8217;t mean activity should be confined to the odd trip to the gym. The more active you are throughout the day, even if it&#8217;s only small activities, the better. By designing your home in such a way that you force yourself to move more, you are giving yourself the best chance to improve not just your longevity, but your quality of life.</p>



<p>Of course, there&#8217;s more to living like an Okinawan than sitting on the floor, and this is only one aspect of your overall lifestyle, but it may still be something worth giving a try.</p>



<p></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/the-okinawan-way/">The Okinawan Way</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Why?</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/why/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sport performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sportspsychology]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4880</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Why? That&#8217;s the question I often ask myself in the middle of a particularly hard workout. Why am I doing [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/why/">Why?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
]]></description>
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<p>Why? That&#8217;s the question I often ask myself in the middle of a particularly hard workout. Why am I doing this? When your body feels like nothing but sweat and pain, it can be hard to remember that there&#8217;s a point to it all.</p>



<p>One of the biggest challenges when it comes to exercise isn&#8217;t the physical struggle. It&#8217;s convincing yourself that that struggle is a good thing. In the early hours of the morning when the sun isn&#8217;t even up yet, when you&#8217;ve just finished a long working day and all you want to do is go home, when your family is heading to the beach and you have a training session that you can&#8217;t miss… those are hard times.</p>



<p>With motivation being so important to sports performance, it&#8217;s no wonder it has become one of the most researched topics in sports psychology. A lot of focus goes into what motivation comes from inside you and what is driven by outside factors.</p>



<p>There are two big theories you might be interested in if you want to understand the whys of motivation. One&#8217;s called Achievement Goal Theory, and the other is Self-Determination Theory.</p>



<p>Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) is about how every person has goals that they want to achieve and their behavior is intentionally directed towards those goals. They engage with certain activities, even unpleasant ones, because they move them closer to their target. How they respond to different events is also colored by how it relates to their overall purpose.</p>



<p>Behavior in AGT is divided into task-involved and ego-involved. Task-involved is about when you try to master a certain skill or ability. Ego-involved is when you try to perform that skill or ability better than someone else. The first is intrinsic, while the second is focused on outside factors.</p>



<p>Self-determination theory (SDT) has to do with each person&#8217;s individual needs and how they try to satisfy them, so it&#8217;s almost entirely internal. Three main needs are generally identified: autonomy, competence and relatedness.</p>



<p>Autonomy is about a person feeling they have freedom and control over their own lives and that they are not being forced into things by others. Competence is about feeling and being perceived as capable. Relatedness involves how you interact with others.</p>



<p>Considering the elements of AGT and SDT may help you figure out how to motivate your sports performance.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/why/">Why?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Think About It</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/think-about-it/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mindbody]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobility]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4874</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>What do you think of when you think about mobility? Do you think of physical performance and whether your limbs [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/think-about-it/">Think About It</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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<p>What do you think of when you think about mobility? Do you think of physical performance and whether your limbs and joints move as they should? Do you think about how you get to place to place? Or do you think about less tangible concepts, like social mobility?</p>



<p>Life is defined by how we move, whether it&#8217;s physically, mentally or emotionally. Progress involves going forward, which means we need to avoid getting stuck in place. Loosening up may involve things like exercises to stretch out our muscles, but we also need to be in the right headspace.</p>



<p>You&#8217;ll never know just how far you can go until you try. Sometimes we find ourselves believing it&#8217;s impossible for us to go any further than we have already. That stops us from making the effort. We need to encourage ourselves to push on, even when it looks difficult.</p>



<p>Sometimes this means breaking things down into smaller steps and more realistic goals. Other times we might need assistance, whether it&#8217;s from a teacher or trainer who can help us learn the most effective techniques or a friend who can meet the challenge with us and make us feel like we&#8217;re not alone.</p>



<p>Once we get going, we have to find a way to keep it up. You complete the first stage, you stretch that little bit further than before, and then you might be tempted to say &#8220;that&#8217;s it&#8221; like you&#8217;ve finished. There&#8217;s always room for improvement, and that means you need to keep finding new ways to motivate yourself.</p>



<p>There will be slip-ups along the way. Perhaps you&#8217;ll get an injury, or maybe you&#8217;ll lose someone important to you and it will completely throw you off. Now you don&#8217;t just have to work to improve; you have to work to get back where you started. It&#8217;s easy to despair when it feels like all your progress is going down the drain.</p>



<p>These are the times when mindset is most important and you have to be patient with yourself. No one expects you to jump straight to the finish line. Again, it&#8217;s the little things that make all the difference. As long as you keep doing something, no matter how small, you can feel like you&#8217;re still fighting.</p>



<p>Whatever mobility means to you, it&#8217;s always something that can be improved if you approach it in the right way.</p>



<p></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/think-about-it/">Think About It</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Hormones</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/hormones/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daily Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hormones]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4869</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Hormones take the blame for a lot of things, from mood swings to unfair athletic competitions. However, we all have [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/hormones/">Hormones</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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<p>Hormones take the blame for a lot of things, from mood swings to unfair athletic competitions. However, we all have hormones and we wouldn&#8217;t be able to function without them. If you want to be at your best each day, you need to have some idea of how they work and which ones are most important.</p>



<p>When it comes to athletics, <a href="https://www.drasa.com">testosterone</a> tends to get most of the attention. It&#8217;s often considered the male hormone, but it is present in both men and women. Men tend to have more, which contributes to things like increased muscle mass that are obviously valuable when it comes to sports performance.</p>



<p>If you&#8217;re talking about sex hormones like testosterone, <a href="https://www.drasa.com">estrogen</a> may also get a mention. Generally considered the female hormone, everyone has at least some. Among its many roles are helping your skin stay healthy and repairing injuries, as well as affecting your metabolism. Basically, most parts of your body are going to perform differently depending on the amounts of both testosterone and estrogen you have.</p>



<p>There are hormones in our digestive system that control when we get hungry and when we feel full. Ghrelin, leptin, cholecystokinin and secretin are just some of them. When it comes to things like losing and gaining weight, these hormones have a vital role to play.</p>



<p>Insulin is also a hormone associated with digestion. In particular, it regulates the sugar in our blood, the amount of which changes after we eat. Most people only think of <a href="https://www.drasa.com">insulin</a> in the context of diabetes, but the fact that diabetes can be life-threatening shows you just how important insulin is to healthy functioning. Diabetics will tell you that they can&#8217;t perform well when their blood sugar isn&#8217;t working properly.</p>



<p>Then there are the hormones that affect your mood, like endorphins. It&#8217;s a lot easier to perform physically when your head is in the right place, and exercise can be a powerful way to release endorphins and give your mood a boost. Performance isn&#8217;t just about the physical; it&#8217;s about trying to get the physical, mental and emotional to work together.</p>



<p>From head to toe, your body is full of hormones sending messages to different organs and triggering different processes. All of them have a vital role to play, so understanding them and how they work for you is an important step in improving performance.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/hormones/">Hormones</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>All Together Now</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/all-together-now/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exercise]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4840</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>We all know we need to exercise. We also know that establishing a regular exercise routine can be incredibly difficult. [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/all-together-now/">All Together Now</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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<p>We all know we need to exercise. We also know that establishing a regular exercise routine can be incredibly difficult. You need to find time and motivation, and you need to make sure you&#8217;re physically and mentally ready for the challenge.</p>



<p>One way to make it easier is to team up with other people. On your own, you&#8217;re answerable only to yourself. If you decide you don&#8217;t feel like exercising, there&#8217;s nothing to stop you and there are no real consequences &#8211; except maybe feeling bad.</p>



<p>Being part of a group gives you <a href="https://www.drasa.com">extra motivation</a>. You don&#8217;t just do it for yourself; you do it because you don&#8217;t want to let the group down. They encourage you, and you encourage them in return. Sometimes that&#8217;s just what you need to make you stick to your routine. It can also add an element of competition. Maybe you&#8217;re not mutually supporting each other, and perhaps you&#8217;re trying to beat each other. Either way, it means you&#8217;ll push yourself harder and so will they.</p>



<p>Some activities, such as team sports, are obviously communal experiences. You can&#8217;t play them at all without other people, and that means you need to communicate and share ideas. You&#8217;re all driven by a common goal, and that can be a powerful experience mentally as well as physically.</p>



<p>Then there are sports that can be done solo but often become communal. For example, you could go running by yourself, or you could join a running club. Many professional athletes train together, and in long-distance races, they may group together for mutual support for part of the course before they break for the finish. There are very few kinds of <a href="https://www.drasa.com">fitness routines</a> where cutting yourself off completely from other people is likely to result in your best performance.</p>



<p>It&#8217;s not just everyday exercise that benefits from community participation. There have been lots of studies on how community can affect exercise outcomes, from how it benefits people with multiple sclerosis (<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23128667/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23128667/</a>) to its role in cancer recovery (<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33751225/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33751225/</a>). All the research suggests community can be a powerful tool in fitness, which is why community-based exercise is becoming more popular.</p>



<p>If you run a gym or other kind of fitness center, you want it to be welcoming to as many people as possible. That means staff need to build relationships with customers while creating a <a href="https://www.drasa.com">friendly atmosphere</a>. This will help establish a sense of community that will encourage people to keep coming back. There&#8217;s even evidence to suggest that group classes come with higher retention rates than individual gym workouts (<a href="https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/15-surprising-facts-about-health-club-member-retention/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">https://www.ihrsa.org/improve-your-club/15-surprising-facts-about-health-club-member-retention/</a>).</p>



<p>These are all compelling reasons that exercise should not be treated as a solo endeavor. If you want the best outcomes from your fitness routine, building a sense of community with other participants may be one of the most effective ways. Not only does it improve your motivation and push you to try harder, but it will make the overall exercise experience much more enjoyable and therefore something you are more likely to continue.</p>



<p></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/all-together-now/">All Together Now</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Bend And Stretch</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/bend-and-stretch/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[flexibility]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4836</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>When it comes to exercise, many people pay more attention to building muscle than improving flexibility. The glamour comes from [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/bend-and-stretch/">Bend And Stretch</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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<p>When it comes to exercise, many people pay more attention to building muscle than improving flexibility. The glamour comes from strength, speed and endurance more than it does being able to bend, unless you&#8217;re a gymnast or a yoga practitioner. It would be a mistake, however, to dismiss this important area of fitness.</p>



<p>You get to the gym raring to go and you immediately want to push yourself with the heaviest weights, seeing if you&#8217;re better than you were last time. That would be a mistake. You probably know you need to warm up first, and one important part of any warmup is stretching.</p>



<p>Stretching is the most important way to improve your flexibility, and it can be incorporated into any exercise routine. It makes your muscles longer and joints looser, so you&#8217;re better able to tackle any fitness challenge and less likely to injure yourself. To maximize your body&#8217;s general performance, you need to think about flexibility as well as power.</p>



<p>This doesn&#8217;t mean you should just throw yourself into stretching. Like with any exercise, you need to take it slowly to start. Be careful, and be aware of your own body. You can stretch as part of your warmup and again when you cool down, but you must not stretch completely cold muscles or you could cause some damage. The same is true when you&#8217;re still recovering from an injury. Gentle stretching can be effective and doesn&#8217;t have to be painful. Always listen to advice from doctors, physios and other experts.</p>



<p>In general, flexibility is about being able to have the full range of movement in your joints. That means they can bend and extend fully (hinge joints like the elbows) or rotate properly (ball and socket joints like the hip). If they&#8217;re too loose, you may be more at risk of dislocation injuries, but they definitely won&#8217;t be healthy if you don&#8217;t keep them flexible.</p>



<p>Everyone has their own natural range when it comes to flexibility in the joints. Even if you&#8217;re not injured, sometimes you won&#8217;t be able to push past a certain point. That&#8217;s okay, and you risk causing more damage if you try too hard. What you can do is keep trying some gentle exercises just to keep them within that natural range. It will alleviate some of the unavoidable things that can damage your flexibility, like aging.</p>



<p>If you make sure to incorporate flexibility training into your routine early on, it will serve you well in the long term. Mobility problems are often associated with old age and conditions such as arthritis. The more flexible you are to start, the less likely these are going to cause you serious problems with basic movement as you get older.</p>



<p>You can&#8217;t ignore this important aspect of fitness. You should feel encouraged to train for flexibility as well as strength if you really want your body to be at its best. Incorporating stretches and similar exercises into your routine is a valuable way to improve your overall health in the long term.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/bend-and-stretch/">Bend And Stretch</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Build It Up</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/build-it-up/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sport performance]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4830</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>One of the basic principles of any kind of performance is that you want to get better. Each day is [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/build-it-up/">Build It Up</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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<p>One of the basic principles of any kind of performance is that you want to get better. Each day is supposed to be an improvement on the last one. That&#8217;s true whether you&#8217;re a raw beginner or the top competitor in the world.</p>



<p>We all know that being the best needs practice. You probably know that we need to eat right and generally live a healthy lifestyle if we want our bodies to work at maximum capacity. You probably also experience frustration watching someone else effortlessly achieve something you&#8217;ve been struggling with for months.</p>



<p>Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Being the best at a certain sport often requires a mix of natural talent and hard work &#8211; it&#8217;s true that some people are just built for certain events, but it&#8217;s also true that no one can reach the very top without practice. Don&#8217;t write yourself off until you&#8217;ve tried.</p>



<p>Things you can&#8217;t control when it comes to your performance level in sport include factors like height, while the things that are absolutely up to you include diet. Then, there are the things where you have a natural level but there may be ways to supplement it, like hormones.</p>



<p>Hormones can be a controversial thing when it comes to sports. Just look at recent debates about what constitutes an acceptable testosterone level for a female athlete. Testosterone gets a lot of attention because it plays such a major role in increasing muscle size and strength while reducing fat.</p>



<p>Testosterone tends to be thought of as the male hormone, but women do normally have some as well. Similarly, estrogen and progesterone are thought of as the female hormones despite also being present in male bodies. They can improve the health of your heart and bones, which can affect your physical performance.</p>



<p>Growth hormone (GH) can make the body stronger and healthier. Even better, you can stimulate its release merely by exercising and sleeping properly. Thyroid hormones such as thyroxine also have a role to play in regulating your metabolism. This means they have a big influence on your energy levels, another essential when trying to perform at your best.</p>



<p>Another key hormone in sports performance is cortisol. This is generally present at higher levels when you wake up in the morning and lower levels when you sleep at night, but it also increases as a response to stress. Too much cortisol can damage the rest of the body&#8217;s systems and processes and stop them from working properly.</p>



<p>Many of these hormones can be artificially boosted with different forms of supplements. For example, there are various powders, capsules and injections that claim to increase testosterone. In the professional world, however, there are strict rules about what athletes can and cannot take, so you have to be careful.</p>



<p>There are many experts, from doctors to personal trainers, with expertise in the world of health and fitness who know the safe and legal ways to boost your sports performance and can warn you about the dangers. Talk to them before deciding to take any kind of supplement.</p>



<p></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/build-it-up/">Build It Up</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Keep It Fluid</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/keep-it-fluid/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobility]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4827</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>It might seem inevitable that as we age, we lose mobility. Even without the increasing risk of conditions like arthritis [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/keep-it-fluid/">Keep It Fluid</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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<p>It might seem inevitable that as we age, we lose mobility. Even without the increasing risk of conditions like arthritis and osteoporosis, the muscles will get slower and the joints get stiffer just as a natural part of getting old.</p>



<p>There are ways you can mitigate some of these effects, however. The healthier your lifestyle, the longer you&#8217;ll be able to maintain your mobility and the better you&#8217;ll feel generally. That starts with hydration. If you don&#8217;t get enough fluids, nothing in your body will work properly, including your muscles, ligaments and joints.</p>



<p>Just like mobility, <a href="https://www.drasa.com">hydration</a> is something that gets more difficult as we grow older. As you age, you need to drink more. Nearly every one of the body&#8217;s systems is affected by your water intake. It keeps the digestive system working, it helps carry oxygen and nutrients around the body, it&#8217;s essential to healthy skin, and perhaps most relevant to your mobility, it can lubricate your joints.</p>



<p>Not only that, when you&#8217;re properly hydrated, you&#8217;re going to feel better mentally. You&#8217;ll be able to concentrate and feel more energized, meaning you&#8217;re better equipped for another essential part of the quest to at least maintain if not improve your mobility: exercise.</p>



<p>This doesn&#8217;t just mean yoga, although that does include a particular focus on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">flexibility</a>. Stretching can be incorporated into any larger fitness routine as part of your warm-up or cool-down, whether you&#8217;re lifting weights in the gym or going for a cross-country run. Mobility may not be as glamorous as strength or endurance, but different types of training can work together to make you the best you can be.</p>



<p>Another thing you need to make sure that your <a href="https://www.drasa.com">exercise regimen</a> is as efficient as possible, and therefore helps keep your body and mobility in top shape, is proper nutrition. You can get some water from food, but you also get the carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals that you need to increase energy levels, build muscle, repair injuries and generally keep all your systems functioning properly.</p>



<p>Maintaining mobility may get more difficult as you age, especially if you have injuries or other health conditions that make you less flexible. You need to adapt your routine so you don&#8217;t cause yourself more damage while ensuring you maintain a relatively consistent routine when it comes to exercise. It doesn&#8217;t even have to be particularly strenuous training; even some light stretching, if you do it every day, can do a lot of good. Just make sure you consult with your doctor or physiotherapist first to determine what&#8217;s best for you.</p>



<p>You can&#8217;t do anything about aging itself, but you can influence the things that go with it. The more effort you put in when you&#8217;re young and the more aware you are of the way your body changes as you grow older, the better your overall health will be. That includes your mobility, which in turn will make it easier to remain strong and active in general while helping you feel better mentally.</p>



<p></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/keep-it-fluid/">Keep It Fluid</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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		<title>Daily Performance</title>
		<link>https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/daily-performance/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Dr Asa Andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2026 06:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Recovery & Performance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daily Performance]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.drasa.com/?p=4824</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>When you&#8217;re on a mission to get fitter, every day is a new challenge. Every time you get up, you [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/daily-performance/">Daily Performance</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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<p>When you&#8217;re on a mission to get fitter, every day is a new challenge. Every time you get up, you want to be sure you&#8217;re doing better than yesterday. It may sound difficult, but it really is possible to keep improving if you get your routine right.</p>



<p>It might start with making sure you eat properly through the day so you have the right balance of nutrients and sticking to your exercise regimen even when it&#8217;s hard, but there are other ways you can give yourself a boost.</p>



<p>One of those ways is through <a href="https://www.drasa.com">supplements</a>. These can be used to increase energy, build muscle mass and generally improve your performance. Sometimes, however, snake oil salesmen offer you products that have no scientific basis and may even be harmful if you take them too often.</p>



<p>The first and most important thing to remember is that dietary supplements cannot be used as a substitute for a healthy and balanced diet. It&#8217;s in the name. They&#8217;re supplemental to the protein, carbs, fruit and vegetables that you need to survive. What supplements can do is give you a little something extra, especially if you have a deficiency in a particular nutrient or hormone. For example, many people use vitamin supplements to give themselves a boost.</p>



<p>Performance supplements are particularly popular among parts of the athletic and body-building communities, where the constant push to improve is an even more intense pressure. They&#8217;re generally available as powders that can be added to drinks as well as tablets, gels, capsules and injections.</p>



<p>The kind of supplement you want may vary depending on your chosen sport. Weightlifters need muscle, but long-distance runners need endurance and sprinters need energy. There may also be differences depending on age and sex. If you have injuries, disabilities or other health conditions, you may also need to be more careful about any supplements you take. Research into these kinds of supplements does tend to focus on healthy young men, who are thought to be the people who take them most.</p>



<p>For bodybuilders, increasing muscle is a key aspect of improving their performance. As <a href="https://www.drasa.com">protein</a> is the nutrient you need to build muscle, that may form the basis of the shakes or other supplements that they take either before, during or after exercise. These are fairly easy to buy over the counter.</p>



<p>On the other hand, supplements that claim to burn fat and help you lose weight can be particularly risky. There&#8217;s also a danger when buying online &#8211; especially from other countries that may not have the safety regulations that we do &#8211; that suppliers may add dangerous ingredients because it&#8217;s cheaper and easier, despite the risk to humans.</p>



<p>In general, you should be able to get everything you need to maximize your daily performance from your diet. If you do choose to try supplements, make sure you do your <a href="https://www.drasa.com">research</a> first. Always buy from a trusted seller, follow any dosage instructions, and talk to your doctor, dietician, coach or trainer if you have any doubt.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.drasa.com/articles/recovery-performance/daily-performance/">Daily Performance</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.drasa.com">Dr Asa Andrew</a>.</p>
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