Strength & Recovery

Vitamin D and physical performance

Strength & Recovery

Vitamin D and physical performance

Vitamin D increases strength dramatically despite not presently being used widely in weightlifting or high-performance sport. At times in history, athletes have trained in the sun because of the benefit to strength that was well known at the time. However, this approach, like much knowledge on human health, has largely been forgotten in an effort to outsmart nature by contriving 'scientific' methods of training and using drugs.

Strength gains are achievable for anyone taking a long-term high-dose of vitamin D. Note that it takes time for the vitamin D to be converted to activated vitamin D in the body, and the body will prioritise its use of vitamin D to its most health-critical neglected functions before increasing strength.

The mechanisms by which vitamin D increases strength are not fully understood and deserve further study. We make the following observations for athletes who we have worked with.

Strength gains can be made with vitamin D supplementation even without training or an increase in muscle mass.

Strength gains made through vitamin D supplementation exceed those made by taking other supplements typically taken for strength, including protein powders.

An obvious effect of a higher level of vitamin D is a faster recovery from intense workouts in which muscles are pushed to the limit, such as when lifting weights. It is possible to work a muscle group to failure on consecutive days with full recovery and improved strength on each day.

Whereas high-dose vitamin D increases inter-session recovery (i.e., recovery over a period of 24 hours), high-dose vitamin C increases inter-set recovery (i.e., recovery over a period of 60 seconds).

Vitamin D is a (pre)hormone. A hormone is a signalling molecule. We speculate that a higher vitamin D level signals to the body that it is summer and that there are sufficient food resources to support muscle growth, and thus brings the body out of hibernation. We speculate that vitamin D supplementation brings people out of depression via the same mechanism, with depression being an aspect of hibernation.

In terms of the published literature, in addition to facilitating faster recovery, activated vitamin D turns on genes responsible for protein production and subsequently increases the number and size of fast-twitch fibres.

In injury prevention, higher vitamin D levels are associated with lower incidences of stress fractures, lower-back pain and chronic musculoskeletal pain.

The body converts vitamin D into the activated (ready-to-use) form of vitamin D in brain, nerve and muscle tissues, which are tissues central to athletic performance.

Higher levels of vitamin D increase coordination. This is particularly known for the elderly, who suffer fewer falls when having higher levels of vitamin D.

Extreme vitamin D deficiency results in rickets (a condition that is making a comeback as the world's vitamin D levels fall), whereas less-extreme deficiency is responsible for structural deformations and irregular gaits that are more widely seen in the population.