It’s hard enough getting off the couch and making it to the gym. Let alone muscling through an entire workout! If only you had access to something that could seriously ramp up your energy that’ll help you increase your one-rep max on the back squat, power through an interval-heavy running workout, or have enough gas left in the tank to crank out the final pushup in a HIIT class… Guess what? There is! And it’s none other than ginseng–the natural, energy-boosting herb that never makes you worry if you’re unknowingly downing more than 4 cups of coffee worth of caffeine (as with pre-workouts) before your exercise session. To find out more reasons you should ditch your pre-workout supplement in favor of ginseng, continue reading.

Ginseng: an adaptogenic herb that fights fatigue and boosts energy

Why ginseng? It all comes down to ginseng’s impressive adaptogenic properties. Adaptogens are herbs and plants that help improve your body’s resilience against stressors of all kinds–be it physical, chemical, or biological. Here’s a primer to your body’s typical stress response, which consists of 3 stages:

1.       1. Alarm phase
2.       2. Phase of resistance
3.       3. Phase of exhaustion

As you encounter a stressor (e.g. running on the treadmill), your body responds by ramping up the production of hormones like adrenaline that enhance muscle performance and increase your ability to focus on the task at hand. This stage where your body is fighting the stressor? It’s known as the phase of resistance. However, as you fatigue, you enter the exhaustion phase; this is where you run out of energy–and stop running.

However, what adaptogens like ginseng does is help stretch out that ‘sweet spot’ right in the middle (i.e. the phase of resistance) of your exercise session so you have more energy to continue working out hard.

Evidence of ginseng’s benefits on exercise performance

Ginseng’s benefits on athletic performance are not all just speculation, either. A growing body of research backs up this herb’s ability to increase exercise performance by increasing energy and delaying fatigue. Below, find a brief roundup of current studies highlighting why you should take ginseng as a pre-workout.

Boosts endurance

Researchers in a 2005 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research randomly assigned 29 untrained adults to 2 groups. One group received 675 mg of Chinese ginseng, while the other received a placebo (i.e. a ‘fake’ treatment), to be taken before breakfast and dinner for 30 days. Researchers then measured the subjects’ time to exhaustion in a stationary cycle test where the resistance was gradually increased until they couldn’t pedal anymore. The findings? Those who’d taken ginseng for 30 days could cycle for 4 minutes longer than those in the placebo group.

Improves several performance measures

Ginseng can improve exercise performance measures in athletes. For instance, according to this 2000 review published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, German and Soviet researchers have studied ginseng’s effects on athletes’ performance over several decades. It was found that in various groups of young athletes, those who’d supplemented with ginseng showed an increase in maximum oxygen uptake, improvement in recovery time, and even lower serum lactate values. These are all physiological variables that are positively correlated with endurance exercise performance.

Amps up fat oxidation

Looking to shed those extra pounds from exercising? Then here’s another reason to take ginseng: scientists at Konkuk University, South Korea, have found that the active compounds in ginseng can help you to lose weight by amping up fat oxidation during the first 20 minutes of exercise–so your body melts fat cells, not carbs! Talk about bang for your buck.

So… The next time you plan on exercising? Don’t forget to get some ginseng into your system beforehand! Psst: looking for a way to enjoy the benefits of ginseng on-the-go (e.g. on the way to the gym)? Then you’ll appreciate our Ontario ginseng tea–which contains 100% 5-year Ontario ginseng. It’s the real deal.