Sports Performance & Recovery

Improve skill, strength, endurance and recovery naturally.

Nutritional and herbal medicine can help you reach your full potential. Gain the natural edge on your opponents and improve your athletic performance with our naturopath’s recommendations!

Natural Clinic Clinical Guide to Sports Performance

Book your appointment with a qualified practitioner who will…

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Work with you to discover where your gains can be optimised!

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Reveal nutrient sensitivities and deficiencies impacting your performance

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Identify any underlying areas of health that require optimisation

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Provide expert dietary and lifestyle coaching to improve athletic outcomes

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Give you access to practitioner-grade nutritional and herbal medicine and compounded medicines tailored specifically for you and your performance goals

Book now to optimise your sports performance.

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To learn more about how herbal and nutritional medicine can support your sports performance and athletic goals,
read on for our Natural Clinic Clinical insights into sports performance.

Natural Clinic Sports Performance Consult: $75

Book a Consult
  • icon time 30-minute naturopathic consult to assess your athletic goals and nutritional requirements
  • icon test Facilitation of further testing, where appropriate
  • icon pill Access to practitioner-grade products
  • icon script Prescriptions for custom-made products designed especially for you:
    • icon tick Liquid herbal formulas
    • icon tick Compounded creams
    • icon tick Compounded nutritionals
  • icon plan Written treatment plan, including dietary and lifestyle advice, to help you stay on track

Natural Clinic Clinical Guide to Sports Performance

WHAT IS CONSTIPATION?

Sports performance has four major dimensions; skill, strength, endurance and recovery.

While every sport requires an acquired skill, some are solely based on skill and concentration e.g. target shooting and chess, while others may benefit from endurance and strength e.g. marathon runners and/or weightlifters. Therefore, high performance in any sport requires a characteristic blend of these dimensions which is dependent on the metabolic needs of your chosen sport.

This is an important consideration to make when wanting to improve your athletic performance, as it can determine where to place additional support to achieve the best outcomes and energy production.

HOW TO OPTIMIZE ENERGY PRODUCTION

No matter which type of energy system your using, aerobic (with oxygen) or anaerobic (without oxygen) your energy production is dependent upon several factors;

  • Healthy digestive function and clean varied diet
  • Appropriate balance of macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates and fats)
  • Addressing increased demands of specific micronutrients such as magnesium, potassium, B-vitamins, zinc, iron, calcium and antioxidants
  • For females – healthy menstrual cycle and thyroid function
  • Ensuring healthy adrenal function and optimal adrenal hormone profile
  • Blood sugar stabilization and optimal glucose metabolism
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Working with a naturopath can help optimise the above and address any underlying weaknesses.

Remove the guessing-game and get results.

Choosing your supplements

hc-sports-performance-and-recovery

SUPPLEMENTS TO SUPPORT ENERGY PRODUCTION

May enhance physical performance and recovery by contributing to the production of energy via fatty acid metabolism. Useful for endurance athletes and runners.

We recommend Metagenics Acetyl-L-Carnitine

Important for all your energy-producing pathways. Required for the synthesis of red blood cells and the repair of damaged muscle cells.

We recommend Biopractica GenoMulti Active B

Another key player in energy production pathways. Also involved in normal muscle function and glucose metabolism. Helps reduce lactate accumulation in your muscles, which means longer and more intense activity levels can be attained before burning out. An essential for all athletes!

We recommend Biopractica Magnesium Diasporal

Deficiencies in CoQ10 can increase oxidative stress which can impact performance. CoQ10 is also an important player in the electron transport chain which helps produce ATP (cellular energy). Supplementation can improve your anaerobic threshold. Perfect for the higher intensity workouts or sports such as BJJ, sprints, wrestling, HIIT workouts, powerlifting.

We recommend Eagle CoQ10 150mg 90 Soft Gel Capsules

Mental performance is just as important as the physical when it comes to competition based sports. L-theanine has been shown to reduce anxiety within 30-40 minutes of taking. Dose between 50-100mg is effective, you can take up to 400mg safely. Mix this in with your magnesium for extra pre-comp nerve support.

We recommend Designs for Health L-theanine 100g

Herbal Medicine to boost sports performance and recovery

Considered “the Vikings herb”, rhodiola was chewed on by the vikings before battle as it was used to promote strength and endurance. Research has now shown rhodiola to be useful in enhancing aerobic capacity as it promotes fatty acid utilization and has strong antioxidant effects. This herb has shown to decrease heart rate at maximal training and improve endurance in athletes.

A potent adaptogen and anti-stress herb, withania has shown to increase VO2 max in athletes. Also useful in post-exercise recovery and fatigue.

The active constituents are known as ‘ginsenosides’ which have been shown to bind directly to cells in your brain altering the affect of stress-related processes in the body. Ginsengs have also shown to improve glucose metabolism, mental acuity and processing and motor function and reaction time.

Shown to boost testosterone in males, improving strength and endurance.

Intense exercise (for greater than 90 minutes) can decrease immune fighting capacity for up to 72 hours. Supporting athletes with anti-viral, anti-bacterial, immune enhancing herbs can help reduce chances of infection and fatigue. Echinacea can be used to boost immune system and also acts as an adaptogen supporting energy production and resilience.

WHAT IS CONSTIPATION?

Repair and recovery

Whether you are suffering from a particular injury, or more generalized post-muscle recovery soreness, herbal and nutritional medicine can be useful in helping support tissue repair, improving quality of sleep and restoring your nervous system.
Try supplementing with some of the below:

Vitamin A, C & E

Antioxidant support. Excessive exercise increases free radical production. Vitamin C and E help mop up free radicals, preventing DNA damage and promote tissue recovery. As well as boosting the immune system which can sometimes become reduced in excessive exercise.

Fish oils & SPMs

Fish oils & SPM’s can take your recovery to the next level. Providing a targeted anti-inflammatory support to your nervous and musculoskeletal system. Useful to reduce pain associated with muscle soreness post exercise.

Boswellia & Ginger

Potent anti-inflammatories to help restore muscle and joint function, reduce stiffness and increase circulation.

Magnesium salt baths

Improve detoxification of lactic acid as well as muscle relaxation and recovery.

Optimise sleep

  • High dose magnesium & PEA – Nervous system support and pain management.
  • Kava, valerian, passionflower – Sleep herbs can improve sleep duration and quality. Important for muscle repair and nervous system restoration. Also important for consolidation of memory, particularly important in highly skilled sports like martial arts.
  • Herbal Melatonin – support circadian rhythm and sleep quality.

See our sleep management page for more information on how to optimize your sleep.

Hydration is key!

Research has shown a loss equal to 2% of body weight causes a noticeable decrease in physical and mental performance in athletes. Losses of 5% or more of body weight may decrease your capacity for work by roughly 30%!!

Role of water;

  • Maintains blood volume
  • Regulates body temperature
  • Involved in muscle contractions and circulation
  • Supports all biochemical reactions that are required to take place

Water intake for females and male athletes may vary depending on the activity level. Opting between 3-5L is ideal. Try adding some electrolytes to your water mix to improve water uptake and cellular hydration.

We recommend trying the Biopractica Basica Active E

Nutritional Compound for Athletic Performance

Tired of taking multiple supplements to support your sports performance?
Let us narrow it down to one that works.

Whether your goal is better performance, strength, concentration or recovery, we can help identify the right supplements for you and create your own unique blend in therapeutic doses.

We can compound ONE product that contains all the ingredients you need for optimal sports performance.

The benefits:

  • Ease & convenience of taking only one supplement
  • Your body is unique to you. Your medicine should also be unique to you.
  • Avoid the inconcenience of supplements in your protocol running out at different times.
  • Dosing is specific to your metabolic needs & deficiencies.
  • Formula can be adjusted over time to support each stage of the healing process.

Speak to one of our practitioners.

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Let us create you a personalised mix

Book your Natural Clinic Sports Performance Consult for professional advice.

Georgia Fugar
Georgia Fugar

Georgia Fugar

Clinical Naturopath

Book a Consult with Georgia

Areas of interest

  • Women’s health
  • Skin disorders
  • SIBO
  • Gut health
  • Mental health

Georgia is a passionate naturopath with particular clinical focus on supporting mental health, hormonal disorders, gut health and auto-immunity. With a long-standing interest in human biochemistry and its interplay with nutritional and herbal medicines, Georgia uses a range of standard and functional testing to determine the root cause of patient symptoms and provide treatment that is highly tailored and clinical.

Thorough education around all symptoms, disease pathophysiology and treatment options can be expected from a consultation with Georgia, reflecting the importance of education as the first tool to achieving any health outcome. Continuous appraisal of progress throughout treatment protocols ensures that you leave feeling supported and confident in the healing process.

Georgia aims to correct imbalances on the deepest cellular and biochemical level to ensure healing occurs from the inside out.

Tayla Lovering
Tayla Lovering

Tayla Lovering

Clinical Naturopath

Book a Consult with Tayla Lovering

Areas of interest

  • Digestive
  • Skin health
  • Mental health
  • Migraines
  • General health
  • Fertility + pregnancy + post partum

Tayla is a qualified Naturopath with a passion for gut health, hormonal health (both males and females), fertility and mental health. Tayla combines clinical case taking, pathology and functional laboratory testing to get to the root cause of your symptoms. Her approach is truly wholistic and she will spend the time to uncover the uniqueness of your health.

A remarkably empathic practitioner with a real gift for making patients feel supported. Tayla understands how overwhelming it can feel to embark on a healing journey and focuses on simplifying this for you in a step-by-step manner, whilst also making changes that fit you and your lifestyle. Tayla has a particular passion for establishing a healthy foundation for her clients, so they can avoid traveling down the same path that led them here.

Tayla is happiest when amongst nature and when communicating with fellow humans. Tayla grew up on a farm on the beautiful Kangaroo Island of South Australia and quickly learnt the value of nature’s healing powers after her time at boarding school where she noticed nutrition and lifestyle choices began reflecting poor health.

Annie Stewart
Annie Stewart

Annie Stewart

Clinical Naturopath

Book a Consult with Annie Stewart

Areas of interest

  • Sports performance and recovery
  • Digestive conditions
  • Mental health
  • Men & women's health

Annie is a qualified Naturopath who considers herself a bit of a “professional generalist”. With experience treating a wide array of conditions, Annie particularly finds those more challenging multifaceted cases fulfilling. Her adventurous curiosity is what drives Annie to get to the underlying cause of disease adopting a truly holistic approach with each patient.

With 5+ years of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under her belt, Annie has a keen interest in helping athletes reach their sport performance goals and draws on her competition experience to achieve this.

Evidence based medicine underpins all of Annie’s clinical decisions. She regularly uses standard pathology and functional testing to establish base line health parameters, which are then used to refine her treatment approach for each client. Application of nutritional and herbal interventions with an emphasis on lifestyle and dietary education can be expected in a consult with Annie.

Diana Boot
Diana Boot

Diana Boot

Compounding Pharmacist & Nutritionist

Book a Consult with Diana Boot

Areas of interest

  • De-prescribing – helping you to reduce your need for prescription medications
  • Mental health
    Digestive health
    Women’s health

Diana is the Co-founder and Clinical Lead of Natural Chemist. She has practiced as a community pharmacist for over 30 years and as a Nutritionist for 12 years. She is continually learning to update her knowledge and is on track to graduate in 2023 as a Naturopath.

Diana is a rare combination of empathy, balance, maturity and knowledge. She listens and asks sensitive questions. She provides answers about what’s behind your presenting symptoms and she offers feasible, evidence-based solutions to help you regain optimal health.

Diana’s approach is truly integrative. Her training and experience put her in a unique position to advise what combination of conventional/mainstream and natural/alternative treatments are best for your situation.

Diana is also the senior partner in two independent community pharmacies in Sydney. She launched Natural Chemist in 2014 with her husband and business partner. Their goal was to work out how to take the level of service provided in their physical pharmacies and make it available for more people. Diana is supported by a wonderful and growing team of qualified professionals; all with the same dedicated focus on quality health outcomes.

Natural Clinic Sports Performance Consult: $75

Book a Consult
  • icon time 30-minute naturopathic consult to assess your athletic goals and nutritional requirements
  • icon test Facilitation of further testing, where appropriate
  • icon pill Access to practitioner-grade products
  • icon script Prescriptions for custom-made products designed especially for you:
    • icon tick Liquid herbal formulas
    • icon tick Compounded creams
    • icon tick Compounded nutritionals
  • icon plan Written treatment plan, including dietary and lifestyle advice, to help you stay on track