Apr 6 in Mushrooms & Health 🧠
Quick Thought: Lion’s Mane as a Pre-Workout
In the past year, I’ve heard more mentions of Lion’s Mane being used as a pre-workout.
It’s also something I’ve consistently done for the past year. Here’s what I’ve found that Lion’s Mane DOES NOT do for workouts—and what it DOES do.
Lion’s Mane extract DOES NOT:
- Help muscles push their limits through chemical processes that compounds like Creatine and Nitric Oxide does by increasing muscle mass or blood flow.
- Provide a stimulant for the body like Caffeine, which blocks a chemical that makes you feel sleepy.
When you look in detail about the effects of Lion’s Mane compounds on the body, you’ll see that it’s limited to two larger factors, one that is common to most functional mushrooms (Chaga, Reishi, etc.) and another that is exclusive to Lion’s Mane.
Lion’s Mane extract DOES:
- Contain polysaccharides called beta-glucans that suppress nervous signaling pathways that typically result in inflammation. In other words, some inflammatory molecules can be blocked by taking Lion’s Mane. I believe the beta-glucans are also helpful for gut health by promoting useful bacteria in the digestive system.
- Contain Erinacines, which stimulates the production of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF), which is crucial to the protection, survival, and regeneration of neurons. Ernacines is also connected to memory, learning, and cognitive function, though I’m unsure if it’s because of NGF production.
Somewhere in the mix between these two primary effects on the body is Lion’s Mane’s ability to lessen mental fatigue, which is why people are better able to focus and find clarity in work that needs deeper concentration.
Maybe the improved focus that Lion’s Mane provides can help with someone’s “mind-muscle connection”, which is an ability to focus on specific muscle activations that make workouts more deliberate and efficient.
There really isn’t enough research to find connections between improved workouts and Lion’s Mane, yet there are more and more people using it as a critical pre-workout supplement.
I’ve found Lion’s Mane to be best during a cardio workout; maybe it’s because I can already find a flow state easily while running or biking, but I am able to quickly find a good “mental center” with Lion’s Mane with repetitious, lower impact workouts.
With free weights, I might find more benefits with Lion’s Mane by making a longer circuit out of all the exercises I’m doing rather than training in one exercise all at once before moving on. The constant movement between each exercise might help with a “flow” that I don’t typically have by doing 6 rounds of one sandbag workout.
I’m going to be doing a lot more research on the relationship between physical exercise and Lion’s Mane, because it seems to be one of the most useful ways of using the extract, besides getting work done. I feel as if I’ve been more committed to harder workouts, which I really needed because preparing for the fire season has been getting harder and harder.
What do you guys think? Have you guys used Lion’s Mane for workouts? Let me know!
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Quick Thought: Lion’s Mane as a Pre-Workout
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