World class Olympic athletes train at a whole different level than most. Because the Olympics come only once every four years and competition is so fierce, these athletes look for every edge they can get. Some Olympians have discovered that vitamin D helps in their training regimen by helping them recover faster from the rigors of world class conditioning.

Why recovery is the most important time of an athletes day

The most critical time for an athlete is the time she spends outside the gym recovering from training or competition. The more she recovers, the better she can perform at the next game or practice. Insufficient recovery leads to decreased performance, injury, and if enough fatigue accumulates, mental or physical burn-out. One of the easiest ways to accelerate recovery time is supplementing with Vitamin D.

Vitamin D was used to help 2002 German Olympic athletes

Vitamin D expert, John Cannell, MD, quotes an unpublished German study about how Olympic level athletes benefited from vitamin D supplementation generated special UV tanning beds.

The researchers reported reduced lactic-acid build up, decreased pulse rate (indicating increased oxygen uptake and utilization) and a clearly increased athletic output on all of the endurance tests in the irradiated athletes. The paper did not mention the exact percentage of increased athletic output; however, the following is stated in the summation of findings.

“On the whole, it may be concluded that the continuous and repetitive exposure of the body to sub-erythemal (that’s technical wording saying they did not spend enough time in the tanning bed to get pink) UV radiation optimizes the performance capabilities of top-level competitive athletes, as well as alleviating the occurrence of recovery time from minor injuries and infections.”

Vitamin D does more than help absorb calcium

For a long time, absorbing calcium was thought to be vitamin D’s only role. However, a pattern of association being uncovered in past and current research is showing that the “sunlight vitamin’s” effect goes way beyond assisting the body’s assimilation of calcium.

Why you shouldn’t wait for Vitamin D to become mainstream

It’s going to be a while before the linkage between vitamin D and athletic performance is accepted as a fact and Gatorade starts putting it in their product, but why shouldn’t you benefit now. Simply adding 5,000 iu of vitamin D a day to your diet inexpensive, extremely safe, and benefit you on and off the court with more endurance. Its already been proven to help build more fast twitch muscle, facilitate quicker recovery from minor injuries, and help strengthen immunity from cold and flus.

TAKE ACTION! Start taking 5,000 iu of vitamin D a day and schedule a 25 Hydroxy vitamin D test with your doctor to make sure your levels are in the 50-60’s.

Most DIII women athletes work hard during practice. The Good athletes also spend time in the training room before and after practice taking care of their bodies. The Great athletes also take care of their bodies, minds and spirits off the field so they can practice and play at an extremely high level.

The reason I named this website The Yin Yang University is to highlight the importance of recovery in an athletes life. Most of an athletes life is spent outside the gym and off the field. If you don’t understand how your body recovers and you don’t support your recovery by doing the right things, friction builds physically, mentally and emotionally and at some point during your four years, you blow up. Recovery removes the friction and recharges you between practices, games, and seasons. If you have major points of friction in your life outside of your sport, work to reduce them. Some points of friction are unavoidable, you have no control over them, so you have to work around them and make sure you add in extra recovery.

TAKE ACTION! Start thinking outside the gym so you can play and practice harder inside it. Here are five areas to begin assessing your own recovery.

1. Sleep - It repairs and recharges your body, mind and spirit. If you skip sleep your body cannot build new muscle, your brain cannot assimilate new information and you are much more like to feel the effects of stress and get depressed or anxious.
2. Eat - the right foods are crucial to an athlete. Each athlete has specific needs for her sport and her unique DNA. The right foods help you cool inflammation, build new muscle, repair minor injuries before they become worse, and keep your brain balanced and calm. The wrong foods cause inflammation, raise your heart rate and slow recovery, and can even make you feel crappy!
3. Homework - Obvious, but it’s the real reason you are in college. Do the work before it’s due.
4. Social - Friends can be the wind beneath your wings or a ball and chain around your ankle. That said, choose your friends wisely. Not everyone understands how hard it is to be a DIII athlete. This goes for significant others as well!
5. Family - The old saying goes you can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your family. Part of getting away from home and going to college is leaving behind your life as a kid and learning to relate to your family as an adult. Not always easy. If your situation is a particular source of stress and friction, talk to your coach about the situation and pay a visit to one of your college’s counselore. That’s what they are paid for!