By: Matt Weik, BS, CSCS, CPT, CSN
Mushrooms are something you either love or hate. Some people put them on their pizza or in a salad, while others avoid them like the plague. Regardless, there is one beneficial mushroom that is taking the supplement and sports nutrition space by storm, and that’s lion's mane.
Everyone from elite athletes to busy business executives are finding a place in their daily routine for lions mane. Why? Because it improves their performance — both physically and mentally. The natural nootropic properties, along with the health benefits, are a significant reason why so many people are flocking to this powerful mushroom.
In this article, we are going to take a deep dive into the many benefits of lions mane and how this beneficial mushroom can not only improve your overall health and cognition, but also how it can help your performance at work and in the gym.
What is Lion's Mane?
If someone were to tell you to go eat a fungus, you’d probably give them a weird look or maybe even give them the Italian salute, right? But there are actually many fungi out there that provide many benefits if you know what you’re looking at and for. After all, the last thing you want to do is just pick up any mushroom you stumble upon and consume it thinking it’s good for you, only to find it coming back up just as quickly as it went down the hatch.
Being that it’s hard to decipher one mushroom from the next, lion's mane is thankfully one that you can identify quite easily due to its shaggy appearance. To say it resembles an actual lion’s mane is an understatement. That’s precisely what it looks like! However, finding lions mane out in the wild can be somewhat like finding a needle in a haystack.
The taste and texture of lion's mane resemble that of lobster or crab, and many find it absolutely delicious. Whether you consume it in its natural form or as a supplement is completely up to you. That said, finding it in its natural form can be quite challenging, which is why so many people have turned to using lion's mane as a supplement.
What Are the Benefits of Lion's Mane?
Below you will find some of the benefits associated with lion's mane and how this beneficial mushroom can improve your health and performance.
1. Boost Energy Levels
Who couldn’t use more energy? Regardless of whether you’re chasing physical or mental energy, lion's mane can help. A property of lion's mane that people find most advantageous is that they can achieve an increase in energy without experiencing any sort of crash at the end that ruins whatever is left of your day. This side effect of stimulants is quite common these days and a reason some people stay away from them.
Lion's mane provides you with clean and steady energy without any jitters or unpleasant side effects. It also contains powerful antioxidants that help fight off free radicals that can do harm to the cells of your body (potentially destroying your body’s natural energy production in the process).
2. Enhance Focus and Concentration
If you’re looking to improve your focus and concentration, lion's mane is a perfect choice. Research has shown that lion's mane can improve focus, overall cognitive function, concentration, and memory. Additionally, it has the ability to stimulate NGF (natural growth factor) production that helps support neurons in the brain.
No longer do you need to go through the day in a mental fog or extinguish your productivity. Also, when used before workouts, it can help you build a solid mind-muscle connection to get more out of each rep of every set, squeezing and contracting fully to hit those deep and hard-to-reach muscle fibers — further helping support muscle growth.
3. Reduce Inflammation in the Body
Something not many people realize since it happens somewhat behind the scenes is that your body is under attack from free radicals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It’s a never-ending battle that your body is facing. Lion's mane can help keep you protected thanks to its natural and potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
Inflammation can cause sore joints and many other health issues if not controlled. When free radicals make their way into the body, they can attack, mutate, or destroy health cells — all of which can create an inflammatory response. Stay protected by utilizing the powerful lion's mane mushroom.
4. Increase Endurance and Decrease Fatigue
Whether you’re running errands around town or hitting the gym to crush a brutal workout, you need the endurance and muscular stamina to get the job done. One benefit to using lion's mane is that it has the ability to help increase muscle endurance as well as decrease fatigue.
A natural property associated with lion's mane is vasodilation and supporting proper blood flow. This not only helps transport oxygenated blood and key nutrients to the muscles but also aids in removing waste byproducts like lactic acid that can build up during a workout.
As an added bonus to the boost in endurance, lion's mane can help you shed off some unwanted weight so that you’re not spending hours doing cardio. It has been found that lion's mane can aid in improving fat metabolism. Not only do you get the energy, endurance, and cognition benefits, but you have a beneficial mushroom that can help shed away stubborn and unwanted body fat.
Use Lion's Mane and Become the King of the Jungle!
If you want to feel and perform your best daily, lion's mane is a great solution. To optimize your health, you need to attack things from all angles, and that’s exactly what MuscleSport has done with their Lions Mane Stack.
Take advantage of the savings by combining MuscleSport Lions Mane NRG+ and Lions Mane PM into one mind-blowing stack.
MuscleSport Lions Mane NRG+ contains 2,000mg of organic lion's mane mushroom as well as a combined 200g of caffeine, yerba matte extract, green tea extract, and L-theanine. This daytime formula helps keep you sharp as a tack and as productive as possible. Think more clearly and stay focused all day long without the typical 2pm brain fog many experience.
Adding MuscleSport Lions Mane PM at night further enhances and compounds the benefits thanks to the specific formula that includes organic lion's mane mushroom, GABA, L-theanine, 5-HTP, and melatonin. This matrix of ingredients can improve neuroplasticity, cognition, adrenal function, and help provide you with the quality and deep sleep you need.