Research Topic
Endurance Performance
20 articles
Why Elite Athletes Are Targeting NAD⁺ — And Whether the Science Holds Up
NAD+ precursors NMN and NR are trending in sports science. Here's what the actual research says about aerobic capacity, mitochondrial function and recovery.
5 min read · 2026-10-06
Most Athletes Are Breathing Wrong — and It's Limiting Performance in Ways They Can't Measure.
The nose filters, humidifies, and — critically — produces nitric oxide that dilates airways and vasculature. Mouth breathing during submaximal exercise bypasses this system entirely, raising the anaerobic threshold earlier than necessary.
5 min read · 2026-09-29
Most Marathon Runners Carry Either Too Many Gels or Too Few. The Calculation That Fixes This Takes About 90 Seconds.
Marathon energy gel count depends on finish time, not distance. A 4-hour marathoner needs 8–10 gels at 60g/hr. A 3-hour runner needs 6–7. The calculation is duration × carb rate ÷ gel carb content — and most runners skip it.
5 min read · 2026-09-22
Altitude Tents Are No Longer Just for Pro Cyclists. Here's What the Evidence Actually Says.
Home altitude tents simulate hypoxia at sea level via reduced oxygen fraction. Here's what the HIF-1α, EPO science, and real-world protocols show — and where they fall short.
5 min read · 2026-09-08
The Bonk Is Not Random. It Is Predictable. Every Endurance Athlete Who Has Hit the Wall Did So Because of a Calculable Carbohydrate Deficit — Not Because They Didn't Train Hard Enough.
The bonk — sudden catastrophic fatigue in endurance sport — is driven by hypoglycaemia and glycogen depletion triggering the central governor's protective shutdown. Exogenous carbohydrate from gels prevents it by maintaining plasma glucose and sparing muscle glycogen.
5 min read · 2026-09-01
Elite Endurance Athletes Have a Measurably Different Gut. Here's What's in It — and Why It Matters.
Elite marathon runners carry significantly higher concentrations of Veillonella atypica — a bacterium that converts exercise-produced lactate into propionate, an additional fuel source. The gut microbiome is now a measurable performance variable.
5 min read · 2026-09-01
Athletes Who Train in Heat Gain a Physiological Advantage That Persists in Cool Conditions. Here's the Mechanism.
Two weeks of exercise-heat exposure expands plasma volume by 10–12%, lowers core temperature onset threshold for sweating, and reduces heart rate at equivalent workloads. These adaptations improve performance in both hot and temperate conditions.
5 min read · 2026-09-01
When Core Temperature Crosses 39°C, the Most Important Organ Failing Is Not Your Muscles. It Is Your Gut — and Once the Intestinal Barrier Breaks Down, the Consequences Go Far Beyond GI Cramps.
Exercise heat stress disrupts intestinal tight junctions, triggering LPS endotoxaemia that drives systemic inflammation and exertional heat stroke risk. Learn the I-FABP marker, splanchnic vasoconstriction mechanism, and evidence-based gut protection strategies.
5 min read · 2026-09-01
Taking Your First Energy Gel at the Start Line Is a Mistake. So Is Waiting Until You Feel Hungry. The Science of Pre-Emptive Fuelling.
The optimal window for a first race gel is 20–30 minutes in — not at the gun, not when hunger signals arrive. Hunger is a lagging indicator of glycogen depletion, and by the time you feel it, your pace has already started to decline.
5 min read · 2026-08-25
There Is a Hard Ceiling on How Much Carbohydrate Your Gut Can Absorb From a Standard Gel. Breaking Through It Requires a Second Transporter That Most Gel Formulations Don't Engage.
SGLT1 saturates at 60g/hr of glucose regardless of intake. Adding fructose engages GLUT5 — a separate transporter — allowing total carbohydrate absorption to reach 90g/hr. Only gels formulated with a 2:1 glucose:fructose ratio achieve this.
5 min read · 2026-08-18
Taking an Energy Gel Without Water Isn't Just Uncomfortable — It Physiologically Delays the Carbohydrate Reaching Your Muscles. Here Is Exactly Why.
Energy gels are hypertonic solutions (600–900 mOsm/L) compared to plasma (290 mOsm/L). Without water, a gel creates an osmotic gradient that draws fluid into the intestinal lumen — slowing absorption, causing bloating, and triggering the nausea that ends races.
5 min read · 2026-08-18
Textbooks Teach ATP-PCr, Glycolysis, and Oxidative Metabolism as Three Separate Systems. They Are Not. Understanding Why Changes How You Should Design Training Across All Sports.
The three energy systems operate simultaneously at all exercise intensities — the relative contribution shifts rather than switches. Gastin 2001 demonstrated that oxidative metabolism dominates by 75 seconds into maximal exercise — far earlier than most coaches assume. This changes training zone prescription across all sports.
5 min read · 2026-08-18
The Most Overlooked Legal Performance-Enhancing Intervention in Endurance Sport Costs Less Than £2 Per Serving and Has Been in Your Kitchen All Along.
Dietary nitrate from beetroot reduces the oxygen cost of exercise by 3–5% and improves time-to-exhaustion by up to 16–22%. The mechanism is bacterial conversion of nitrate to nitrite to nitric oxide in the oral cavity — which means mouthwash before competition eliminates the entire benefit.
5 min read · 2026-08-11
Most Cyclists Under-Fuel Long Training Rides by 40–60%. The Bonk That Follows Is Not a Sign of Low Fitness. It Is a Predictable Consequence of a Calculable Fuelling Deficit.
A 75kg cyclist burning 750 kcal/hr on a 4-hour ride needs 180g exogenous carbohydrate to avoid glycogen depletion — that is 7–8 gels at 25g each. Most cyclists carry two or three. The deficit produces the bonk.
5 min read · 2026-08-04
If You're Lifting and Running in the Same Session, Molecular Biology Explains Why One Adaptation Is Undermining the Other — and What Session Ordering Can Do About It.
Endurance training activates AMPK, which phosphorylates and inhibits mTORC1 — the primary trigger for muscle protein synthesis and strength adaptation. Wilson's 2012 meta-analysis quantified the interference: strength gains are 35% smaller and lean mass gains are lower when endurance training is added to resistance training within the same session.
5 min read · 2026-07-28
Carbohydrate Loading Is Not Just 'Eating More Pasta'. The Protocol That Actually Maximises Race-Day Glycogen.
Muscle glycogen capacity is approximately 400–600g in trained athletes — but most reach race day at 60–70% of that ceiling. The modified carbohydrate loading protocol from Bergström 1967 onwards can push glycogen stores to true ceiling in 36–48 hours.
5 min read · 2026-07-14
Caffeinated Energy Gels Work Best in the Second Half of a Race — But Most Athletes Use Them Earliest. The Adenosine Science Behind Why Timing Is Everything.
Caffeine's ergogenic effect in endurance racing is most powerful when adenosine accumulation peaks — the second half of long events. Front-loading caffeinated gels wastes the effect and risks exceeding 400mg total dose across a race.
5 min read · 2026-07-07
Exercise Is the Most Potent Legal Stimulus for Brain Growth That Exists. The Mechanism Is Specific.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) — the molecular mediator of exercise-induced neurogenesis — rises acutely with aerobic exercise and produces lasting structural changes in the hippocampus. The dose-response relationship and intensity threshold are now well characterised.
5 min read · 2026-06-30
Why Your Muscles Fail at High Intensity — And the Amino Acid That Delays It.
Intramuscular acidosis — the accumulation of H⁺ ions during anaerobic glycolysis — is a primary limiter in efforts lasting 1–10 minutes. Beta-alanine supplementation increases muscle carnosine, the principal intracellular buffer. Here is the mechanism and protocol.
5 min read · 2026-06-30
Altitude Training Masks Don't Simulate Altitude. Here's What They Actually Do.
Elevation training masks do not lower blood oxygen saturation or simulate altitude. But they do train inspiratory muscles — and that IS a real ergogenic. Here's the science.
5 min read · 2026-06-23