When milliseconds can mean the difference between silver and gold, endurance athletes in sports like marathon running, cycling, rowing and swimming optimize every aspect of their physiology for a competitive edge.
Many of these efforts result in enhancing the performance of mitochondria, the tiny but mighty energy-generating powerhouses within your cells. Carefully calibrated doses of exercise combined with beneficial stress – altitude, cold and heat – and optimized recovery in the form of nutrition, meditation and sleep, positively affect the number and health of mitochondria in the cells of your muscles, heart and brain.
But there is another aspect of endurance training that may have largely been overlooked by athletes and trainers – the role of the gut microbiome in optimizing your mitochondrial health and fitness.
https://theconversation.com/athletes-looking-for-a-competitive-edge-may-find-it-within-their-gut-microbiome-234979
