Supplemental molecular hydrogen, also known as H₂, is becoming increasingly popular for many health concerns due to its effective and safe action as a targeted antioxidant.

And while everyone can benefit from H₂, it is particularly beneficial for athletes. Not only can it improve VO₂ max levels, but it also:

• Reduces muscle fatigue
• Helps maintain peak performance for longer
• Speeds healing of soft-tissue injuries

As an elite athlete myself, I can personally attest to these benefits – I take H₂ every day, and my performance continues to improve day after day.

Today we’re going to dive deeper into how and why H₂ affects athletic performance.

Muscular Response to Intense Exercise

As you know, every motion of your body is performed through the contraction of one or more muscles—everything from blinking your eyes to running and deadlifts.

When you add significant resistance or repetitions, activity falls under the category of exercise and results in muscular exertion beyond what is considered “normal” for your body. Muscular tissue responds by breaking down and rebuilding to accommodate increased motion and stress – one of the fundamental premises behind training to enhance athletic performance.

Professional athletes are successful to the degree that they strengthen their muscles and other physical systems to become capable of more intense and prolonged muscular activity.

However, there is a flip side and balance to this: Your body is designed to avoid damage and overstress, which is why your muscles stop functioning at a certain point, you get sore, and your muscles become affected by lactic acid.

The trick is to hit that sweet spot and stress your body just enough to stimulate muscle building without inflicting damage.

But the question for many athletes is: How do I push further and harder?

And the answer lies in a single molecule: oxygen.

Oxygen: The Key to Powering Your Muscles

The fundamental form of energy that powers your cells is called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is produced in the mitochondria of virtually every cell in the body.

The most common mitochondrial process that produces ATP is glycolysis, which is the metabolization of glycogen (blood sugar). However, there’s more to it: glycolysis is performed in one of two ways:

• Aerobically: During aerobic glycolysis, your mitochondria utilize oxygen to break down glycogen, resulting in roughly 32 molecules of ATP per glycogen molecule. Aerobic glycolysis is normal, healthy energy production.
• Anaerobically: When your cells do not have sufficient oxygen, glycolysis occurs entirely differently and much less efficiently. Instead of 32 molecules of ATP, anaerobic glycolysis results in only two molecules of ATP. The rest turns into waste in the form of lactic acid, which is gradually flushed out of your molecules. This process also produces a much higher quantity of harmful free radicals.

Put simply, the oxygen supply to your cells is the most critical factor in athletic performance. It alone determines how quickly you will fatigue and how long you can continue to push your body.

This is why you breathe heavier as you exercise – it is your body working hard to get oxygen where it is needed. It is also why “cardio” exercise is so important – your cardiovascular system is the highway for oxygen to be transported to your cells!

Fatigue and soreness are your body telling you that pushing any further can result in injury and real damage. In fact, pushing too far results in a condition called “exercise-induced oxidative stress,” during which your system is flooded with harmful free radicals that are produced during anaerobic glycolysis.

[1,2]

How H₂ Impacts Athletic Performance

H₂ benefits athletes throughout the entire workout cycle.

At the front-end, it helps improve cardiovascular performance (supplying your muscles with more oxygen) and supports mitochondrial health for improved production of ATP.

At the back-end, it acts as a highly effective and selective antioxidant to rapidly clean up the after-effects (free radicals) of anaerobic glycolysis. Not only does this reduce and help prevent exercise-induced oxidative stress, but it also improves your muscles’ ability to perform harder, faster, and for longer.

And the best part? There are zero contraindications or side effects.

[3]

The proof is always in the pudding, and several recent studies have demonstrated some stunning results. While there have been hundreds of studies performed, I’m going to share the highlights of a few that I found to be particularly enlightening:

• A study performed on male soccer players subjected to exercise tests and blood sampling in a double-blind placebo test showed that those who took H₂ benefitted from:
  • Reduced blood lactate levels
  • Improved exercise-induced decline of muscle function
• Another study performed on martial arts athletes clearly showed that those who received supplemental H₂ experienced two unique benefits:
  • Greatly reduced quantities of muscular lactic acid after intense exercise
  • Improved post-exercise heart rate
• Another double-blind study on overweight, middle-aged women showed further benefits of H₂, with significant improvements in:
  • VO₂ max (the efficiency of oxygen delivered to the body)
  • Length of time before exhaustion
  • Total work completed
• A study performed on endurance cyclists to determine the effects of H₂ on endurance showed:
  • Those who took supplemental H₂enjoyed a significantly longer period of PPO (peak power output) compared to those who were given a placebo
  • The test group also exhibited less fatigue
• Finally, a double-blind study was performed on 36 professional athletes who suffered from soft-tissue injuries during their sports season. Those who utilized H₂ as part of the trial benefitted from a quicker return to normal flexion and extension of the injured limb when compared with the control group.

[4,5,6,7,8,9]

Finally, I can speak from my own experience. I started taking H₂ several years ago and witnessed the benefits first-hand, with improved performance and endurance – all this above and beyond the array of other health benefits.

After my personal experience and with thorough research, I decided it was time to share this with the world – which is why I now offer our revolutionary H₂ Infuse to help you supplement your diet with H₂ by the easiest, fastest method.

H2 Infuse delivers one of the highest concentrations of H2 available without the need for expensive equipment. You simply drop a tablet into a glass of water, let it dissolve, and drink up.

If you are looking to supercharge your athletic performance, you are likely to enjoy some remarkable changes in both performance and endurance.

References:

1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-lactic-acid-buil/
2. https://www.openanesthesia.org/aba_aerobic_vs/
3. https://www.vital-reaction.com/blogs/news/molecular-hydrogen-and-athletes
4. https://todayspractitioner.com/hydrogen/the-performance-enhancing-effects-of-molecular-hydrogen-2/
5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22520831/
6. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/fulltext/2016/05001/Molecular_Hydrogen_Affected_Post_Exercise_Recovery.3217.aspx
7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25295663/
8. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332334918_Hydrogen_gas_from_clinical_medicine_to_an_emerging_ergogenic_molecule_for_sports_athletes
9. https://www.sportsperformancebulletin.com/nutrition-for-endurance-athletes/supplements/hydrogen-supplementation-can-add-sparkle-performance/