“NO” is short for Nitric Oxide.

It’s a molecule your body naturally produces.

Nitric Oxide (NO) causes your blood vessels to widen, improving circulation.

When your blood vessels widen, blood can flow better, and all sorts of great stuff starts to happen…

• Areas of your body that don’t get enough blood flow, can get more blood and oxygen…

• Blood pressure can improve because blood can flow more freely through your body as blood vessels get wider…

• Nutrients travel more freely throughout your body…

• And much more!

Eating foods naturally high in nitrate can help your body naturally boost nitric oxide production.

Lots of veggies are high in nitrate:

• Lettuce

• Spinach

• Celery

• Arugula

• Beetroot

When you eat these foods, the nitrate in them is turned into nitric oxide (NO).

Some doctors even say NO can reduce blood pressure just as well as a few prescription medications (no, I’m not staying stop taking blood pressure pills and eat more spinach instead…talk to your doctor about that 😉).

Some of the biggest (and my favorite!) scientifically proven benefits of a nitric oxide boost include:

• Faster recovery times after workouts…

• Improved exercise performance during short, interval training session…

• And better brain function (in fact, in women over 55, the ONE Nitric Oxide boosting juice I’m about to show you improved brain function so much that their brains looked like those of much younger women!)…

Anyway, I’m talking about a juice you may have heard of before:

Beetroot Juice

Have you heard of it?

I’d be surprised if you haven’t yet…it’s getting to be quite popular.

But there are some mistakes you can make when you take beetroot juice (I’ll clear those up in just a sec).

A girlfriend of mine went to a yoga class a while back with a friend.

After class, the instructor reminded everyone to “head outside to get your beetroot shot.”

One of the strangest things…

It was an actual shot!

An injection after yoga class!

She watched as everyone lined up, signed a release form, bared their backsides and got their beetroot shot after yoga class.

Crazy!

But does it work?

Beetroot Before Your Workout or After?

First...

No, you don't need a beetroot shot! You can just drink beetroot juice to get all the benefits. But let's get into the specifics a bit.

After I saw this, I started digging into some research—there’s PLENTY of it out there.

What you’ll find is that in most studies of beetroot juice…

…test subjects are taking beetroot before, not after workouts.

It makes sense too.

If you’re looking to really get blood flowing, boost exercise performance, and improve recovery…

You’ll want your blood vessels opened up during your actual exercise effort, not after.

But, beetroot juice after your workout might help speed recovery.

Yep! Beetroot juice after exercise can make you less sore!

In a study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology in 2016, participants were given 250ml of beetroot juice, 125ml of beetroot juice, or a placebo before exercise.

The result?

Less muscle soreness and faster recovery!

So, before or after? Honestly, I don’t think it will matter much. There’s plenty of research out there where it’s been tested both ways.

This is pretty cool too:

This One Type of Exercise Works Great with Beetroot Juice

In one study, researchers found that beetroot improved performance during what they called: “Short-duration maximal-intensity exercise interspersed with short recovery periods…”

But the beetroot did not work as well during “longer duration intervals.”

What does this mean?

Beetroot actually worked BETTER in this study when combined with short, high intensity intervals.

Sound familiar?

That’s the exact type of workout we use during the Burn360 Metabolic Reset (in the club too!)

Another cool thing...

Beetroot Might Improve Brain Function for Women Over 55 (or close to it)

One of the challenges I found when looking into beetroot was that a lot of the studies were conducted on men (bummer).

But here’s something cool I did find:

In a study published in the Journals of Gerontology in 2017, “older adults who exercised and consumed BRJ [beet root juice]…had brain networks that more closely resembled those of younger adults.”

It’s a pretty cool finding.

Basically, beetroot and exercise together make your brain function younger!

Researchers say this is because more oxygen can get to your brain—strengthening areas of your brain that sometimes don’t get enough oxygen.

How Much and Where to Get it?

In most of the studies I looked at, participants took anywhere from 250mg to 550mg of beetroot before or after exercise.

That seems to be the “sweet spot.”

You’ll find lots of powders and pills online.

If you’re going to buy a pill or powder, I’d be careful of purity.

Supplements aren’t well regulated – and I’ve found that you get what you pay for. Check out the manufacturing process and see where the beets they use actually come from before you buy.

You can also find 100% beet juice at most grocery stores. Make sure it’s not from concentrate.