Overview

Part One: Introduction & Terminology

Getting to know Freak Shake

Terminology

Part Two: Benefits of Endurance Exercise

Rest & Recovery

Stress Reduction

Energy Levels

Part Three: Nutrition for Beginners

Healthy Eating Habits

Freak Shake Benefits

Part Four: A Progressive Endurance Program to Get Started

Work Out Calendars & Trackers

 

This guide contains suggestions regarding exercise diet and supplementation. It does not constitute medical advice - so please consult with a healthcare provider or a registered dietitian before making significant changes to your diet and activity, especially if you have chronic health conditions or dietary restrictions.

 

What makes us Freaks isn’t an Instagram body, or extraordinary human feats. It’s a commitment to ourselves that we will do whatever it takes to be our best versions, fully knowing and welcoming the insane work and discomfort it takes.

There are a million brands appealing to ordinary human desires to feel better, look better, perform better. But we wanted to build a brand for Freaks like us, not ordinary humans. You know who you are, because you already understand the investment necessary to be all those things, and if you’re not already doing the hard work you may feel like it’s just a lot to sustain.

Our products along with this guide are designed to acknowledge the grind. Freak Shake is built for endurance training to help you match and sustain your ambition with more resilience even on the toughest days.

 

Endurance:

Endurance describes your ability to sustain effort without resting. Increasing endurance translates to an ability move at the same level of effort for longer periods of time, or increasing the intensity of movement that you can sustain for the same period of time.

Cardio:

Cardiovascular Exercise focuses on elevating the heart rate for a sustained period. By introducing progressive workloads that increase duration and intensity of cardio at a moderate heartrate, your body adapts with physiological changes that increase your aerobic (oxygen-based) metabolism.

Physiological Adaptations to Cardio exercise:

• Increased heart volume and expanded network of blood vessels throughout the body that deliver resources to muscles during and after exercise.
• Expanded lung capacity and increased ability to utilize oxygen with each breath
• Increased metabolic function in muscle cells which translates to greater fat, oxygen, and energy utilization, slower fatigue and an ability to sustain longer efforts.

Strength Training:

Strength training focuses on growing skeletal muscle mass. This type of fitness also contributes to endurance! Stronger muscles allow you to exert more force with each movement, increasing the intensity of exercise you can sustain before tiring. Strength training also improves stability and injury risk when endurance training.

Physiological Adaptations to Strength training:

• Increasing muscle mass allows you to store more fast-acting energy resource called glycogen, as well as improving your ability to use fat to power aerobic exercise
• Stronger muscles allow you to move farther and faster with each contraction
• Improved stability to maintain form during endurance exercise increases efficiency
• Helps reduce the risk of injury by stabilizing joints and soft tissue while exercising.

Rest & Recovery:

Rest and recovery are often overlooked but vital for building endurance.

Most of the endurance-friendly adaptations to training occur during post-workout recovery. It’s when your body repairs and develops even stronger more efficient physiology. Insufficient recovery minimizes the gains from a hard workout, and over time, can lead to symptoms of overtraining, that have longer term negative effects on fitness. Don’t underestimate recovery!

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Let's Review

A well-rounded exercise program for building endurance incorporates all three concepts:

• Progressive Cardio: Lays the foundation for efficient oxygen & energy utilization
• Strength Training: Makes your muscles stronger, more efficient and more resilient
• Recovery: Restores equilibrium and permits endurance-building adaptations

By incorporating these concepts into your routine and gradually increasing the intensity and duration of workouts, you can effectively increase your peak endurance and achieve level up your fitness ambitions.

 

Rest & Recovery:

Nothing affects your day better than the quality of sleep you got last night! We all know and feel it, but did you know that consistent exercise can play a role in promoting quality sleep? Maintaining consistent physical activity helps us regulate sleep cycles and enhance overall sleep quality. This section explores the scientific basis behind this connection.

How Exercise Can Improve Sleep:

1. Body Temperature Regulation:

We sweat to help cool off during exercise because hard-working muscles generate heat and increase your body temperature. After exercise, your body temperature gradually decreases, mimicking the natural cooling process before sleep. This drop in temperature signals to your brain it's time to wind down and relax into sleep.

2. Hormonal Influence:

Exercise helps regulate production of hormones like cortisol and melatonin.

Regular physical activity keeps the stress hormone cortisol in check, promoting relaxation and reducing factors that both cause chronic fatigue at the same time they disrupt sleep. Exercise can also increase melatonin production, the natural sleep hormone that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle.

3. Scientific Evidence:

Studies have shown regular exercise can significantly improve sleep quality. Research suggests that even moderate-intensity exercise for 30 minutes most days of the week can lead to an 80% improvement in sleep quality.

Stress & Fitness:

Stress is more than a feeling of being overwhelmed by life! Persistent excessive stress can lead to a chronic state of inflammation with associated symptoms of soreness, fatigue and mental fog.

But did you know that a little bit of stress is not only healthy but necessary for us to improve fitness? Progressive exercise programs induce stress by gradually pushing our bodies past their current level of sustainable effort over weeks and months. Mild exercise induced stress triggers a mild inflammation response that signals numerous restorative processes and leads to the beneficial adaptations that condition our bodies to gradually tolerate more and more physical exertion.

By adapting to these short term increases in exercise induced stress and corresponding inflammation, the body gains resilience, stamina and strength. Which is why we must progress our exercise through gradually increasing effort and duration in order to continue this cycle of improvement with a goal of attaining our peak endurance.

But endurance training also serves as a valuable tool in combating symptoms of stress that may come from other parts of our life by promoting calm, concentration, and resilience which is the ability to tolerate higher levels of stress before crossing the threshold of excess where we experience more persistent symptoms of chronic inflammation.

Combatting Stress:

1. The Endorphin Effect:

Exercise can serve as a mood booster. As you move your body, endorphins are produced in the brain, naturally lifting your mood. These "feel-good" chemicals have a powerful effect on stress by elevating mood, reducing anxiety, and creating a sense of euphoria. A “runner's high” is the endorphin effect that athletes begin to experience during exercise. By promoting the release of endorphins, exercise helps you shift your focus away from worries and towards the positive sensations of movement. The bonus is that the endorphin effect reinforces a good habit, mentally conditioning us to seek more exercise and activity.

2. Stress Hormone Smackdown:

When you're stressed, your body releases cortisol, often nicknamed the "stress hormone." Cortisol plays a vital role in the fight-or-flight response, but chronically elevated levels can wreak havoc on your health and well-being. Prepare to be flabbergasted - Exercise helps regulate cortisol production, helping keep cortisol levels in check and preventing it from spiking along with those unwanted feelings of stress and anxiety.

3. A Mind-Body Distraction:

When feeling overwhelmed by work deadlines or life's curveballs, endurance exercise offers a much-needed mental break. The strain or discomfort of exercising along with a focus on breath and body movement while working out is a shortcut to mindfulness. It’s very hard to push yourself physically while worrying about the to-do list at work or home. By helping us to be present for an hour or two during and after exercise, you effectively can clear your head, gain a fresh perspective on challenges, and tackle them with a little less interference from feelings of anxiety and stress.

Increasing Energy Levels:

Lethargy and low energy throughout the day present common headwinds to kickstarting a new training habit. However, incorporating regular exercise into your daily routine can serve as a potent remedy for fatigue. Here are some of the ways it works:

1. Improved Oxygen Delivery:

Imagine your muscle cells as microscopic motors that power motion and exercise. Engines combine fuel for energy with oxygen to create combustion which drives motion. Endurance relies primarily on aerobic metabolism which we can be sustained as long as we can replenish fuel. This aerobic metabolism creates motion just like an engine by converting energy resources like fat and carbohydrates, water, and oxygen into motion. So as you increase capacity to utilize oxygen through progressive exercise, you also increase your capacity to utilize energy resources which may leave you feeling more energized throughout the day.

2. Enhanced Mitochondrial Powerhouse:

Think of mitochondria as microscopic power plants within your cells. During mild to moderate cardio exercise, they convert oxygen, water and energy resources from fat or carbohydrates into ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is the universal energy currency of muscles and exercise. Progressive endurance training increases the number and efficiency of mitochondria in muscle cells, essentially boosting your energy production capacity. The more efficient your mitochondria are, the more energy your body can readily access.

3. Increased Blood Flow:

Exercise gets your blood pumping, quite literally! This increased blood flow carries oxygen and nutrients throughout your body, reaching not just your muscles but also your brain. An adequate supply of oxygen to your brain is essential for cognitive function, alertness, and focus. Improved blood flow ensures your brain has the resources it needs to function optimally, leading to increased energy levels and improved mental clarity.

 

Eating for Endurance:

Proper nutrition is crucial for boosting endurance and performance during training and competition. A nutrient-dense diet of whole foods fuels the body with macro nutrients like healthy fats, slow-digesting complex carbs and complete protein to support muscle repair and growth. Dark fruits, leafy greens, green vegetables, even coffee and cocoa also deliver endurance-friendly micronutrients that promote muscle resilience, aid recovery, assist aerobic adaptations and muscle growth.

Endurance Friendly Foods:

• Foods rich in iron such as lean meats, beans, and dark leafy greens are essential for improved oxygen delivery in the body. Iron is a key component of hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. By incorporating iron-rich foods into your diet, you can enhance your body's ability to transport oxygen efficiently, thus boosting your endurance during workouts.

• Foods high in omega-3 fatty acids like salmon, chia seeds, and walnuts support mitochondria, the power plants of muscle cells. Mitochondrial function corresponds with your ability to retain and build muscle, and your capacity to utilize oxygen and energy resources while exercising. Omega-3s also help the body modulate inflammation, contributing to resilience which is the body’s ability to tolerate exercise induced stress and recover rapidly.

• Many healthy foods contain micronutrients that stimulate Nitric Oxide (NO) production which allows the body regulate blood flow. Beets, dark berries, and dark chocolate can all help promote blood flow by improving the flexibility of blood vessels, improving circulation and oxygen delivery to muscles, especially during exercise. Healthy blood flow not only nourishes muscles during exercise but also supports brain function, mental clarity, mood and focus.

Freak Shake Endurance:

Freak Shake Endurance drink mixes provide adaptive sports nutrition for a high quality jump-start to post workout recovery. It is the only recovery drink mix supplemented with endurance-friendly antioxidants to aid recovery and assist the body’s aerobic adaptations to training, while you rest.

Refuel, Rehydrate, & Adapt

Let’s dive into the benefits of Freak Shake Endurance, and how it can help kickstart high quality recovery immediately after a work out.

Rabidly Replenish Depleted Muscle to restore equilibrium:

• High Carbohydrates rapidly restore depleted glycogen energy reserves in muscle.
• High Electrolytes to support rehydration by replacing what we lose in sweat.
• Complete Protein at an ideal 3:1 carb-to-protein ratio for endurance training promotes rapid glycogen replacement compared to carbs alone. Also supplies essential amino acids for muscle recovery & growth.

Adapt:

• Each serving of Freak Shake is supplemented with endurance-friendly antioxidants called flavonoids. Freak Shake’s flavonoids are extracted from green tea leaves and the pagoda flower.
• They help tune the aerobic machinery inside muscle cells for peak efficiency and resilience which correlate with VO2Max and endurance
• Their antioxidant properties help the body respond to oxidative stress that accumulates during progressive endurance training. This may translate to a quicker recovery, less fatigue and soreness.