Improving Recovery and Performance with Professional Tennis Athlete and Trainer Brant Switzler

In this article, we're going to look at Brant Switzler's improved heart rate variability (+45.57%), resting heart rate (-5%), sleep performance, and recovery (+52%) while using BioPhysics Essentials supplements, as well as the HydroGenie and molecular hydrogen over a 53 day period. Data was recorded through Brant's Whoop Strap 3.0 wearable fitness tracker, with special attention given to improvements in heart metrics and his recovery scores.

Talk to any serious athlete and the topic of improving performance is more than likely to arise. Because of this, there's no surprise that wearable fitness trackers have continued their trend of saturating the fitness industry. Improving personal recovery is the key to maximizing performance output for healthier living and dominant competitive performances.

This year, during the post-lockdown summer of 2020, we were able to collaborate with Brant Switzler of Aboriginal Tennis to get more insights into how the performance and recovery boundaries are being pushed in the modern era. Brant has been training at an high level his entire adult life, and has an incredibly diverse portfolio of fitness, health and recovery techniques to draw from. With a focus on maximizing performance while improving personal recovery, Brant's goal is longevity for himself and his students; health and elite performance both on and off the tennis court.

Prior to working with BioPhysics Essentials, Brant incorporated the Whoop Strap 3.0 as a method to track his performance and recovery biometrics as a training aid. He started wearing this fitness tracker in October 2019, and was able to establish a substantial data baseline before implementing BioPhysics Essentials products and the Hydrogenie.

All representations of Brant's statements and data from this exercise are shown by his express consent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsqKDDfX5IQ

Brant's Protocol

1. HydroGenie Molecular Hydrogen Generator

Molecular Hydrogen is a mild antioxidant that is able to rapidly diffuse throughout the body, with many scientific studies supporting the effectiveness and safety of its use as an anti-inflammation agent in the body. Inflammation is the sworn enemy of the elite athlete, making the HydroGenie a perfect addition to the protocol we created for Brant.

The HydroGenie produces a mixed gas commonly known as "Brown's Gas" via electrolysis consisting of 2 parts molecular hydrogen and 1 part oxygen. The rate of gas production is 850ml/minute with this unit.

More information about the HydroGenie, including the science behind Molecular Hydrogen can be found here.

How Brant used the HydroGenie: Brant slept with the HydroGenie during the night using the cannula attachment, infused the water he drank, and took 2-3 hydrogen-infused ice baths per week. The ice baths were part of his regular hot-cold-therapy routine.

2. X-Cellerator Mineral and Electrolyte Supplement

X-Cellerator is a proprietary blend of highly concentrated and energized minerals essential to human life, proper cellular and Immune System function. These minerals are critical in making sure that the electron transport chain is fully functional in cells. Unless proper minerals are available in the human body, many studies have shown that nutrients and even vitamins cannot be used properly by the body. X-Cellerator provides the foundation for optimum health and performance, and it is different from any other mineral supplement available.

Brant's activity levels often result in him burning 4,000+ calories per day, which reflects the level of cellular activity in his body. Because minerals are critical to countless cellular functions, X-Cellerator was another perfect addition to his regimen. Not only do the engineered spin states make the minerals in the X-Cellerator formula more bioavailable than other supplements, but the comprehensive spectrum of vital minerals ensures that Brant gets everything he needs to perform every day.

How Brant used X-Cellerator: Brant added X-Cellerator to his smoothies every day.

3. MicroBiome Restore Prebiotic/Probiotic/Mineral System

MicroBiome Restore is the ultimate Gut Health solution. We developed it to combat key weaknesses in the modern diet, primarily centered around the food for gut bacteria (prebiotics). Built with 3 sea vegetables packed with fiber, micronutrients, and vitamins for a gut microbiome to thrive, as well as the humic and fulvic acid rich Leonardite, the 26 strains of bacteria in this formula are fully armed to establish a thriving gut community.

Because Brant is under such an extraordinary amount of physical and mental stress each day, there is no better tool to help deal with that stress than excellent gut health. The impact that a healthy gut has on the body's stress response and resulting performance is well documented in scientific research, making MicroBiome Restore the ideal third leg in the tripod of Brant's protocol.

How Brant used MicroBiome Restore: Brant took the recommended daily dose of MicroBiome Restore with food or water every day.

Brant's Results

Understanding the metrics tracked by the Whoop Strap 3.0 is key to interpreting the results that Brant saw during the observation period. Whoop tracks sleep, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, and has an algorithm in place to determine the level of cardiovascular strain carried throughout each day. Whoop servers are then able to take all of the data and combine it into another clean metric, Recovery. Recovery compares how an athlete is reacting to strain compared to their historical baseline, and is a key indicator for athletic performance and its namesake, recovery.

Strain is calculated on a logarithmic scale from 0-21, with 0 equaling no heart activity. Achieving a score of 21 would require 100% heart rate for 24 hours. The upper end of the strain metric represents incredibly high amounts of cardiovascular output, which sustained for extended periods will usually result in decreased recovery scores, decreased heart rate variability, and increased resting heart rate. These changes in the body's response are a direct adaptation to the increased load it needs to sustain during intense training periods.

Please note that Brant was not compensated in any way aside from the use of the products for this observation period. This observation was not conducted by medical professionals, there was no control group, and it was not performed within the confines of a scientific study. Any results may have been the result of external, untracked factors. This exercise was a personal undertaking intended for educational purposes only. 

To the bottom left is a screenshot from Brant's whoop app showing the relationship between his Strain and Recovery metrics. As a professional athlete and tennis coach, his days frequently exceed 4,000 calories burned, and often more than 5,000. As expected, his Strain scores are high, and his Recovery scores leave a lot to be desired. Brant started the protocol of HydroGenie, X-Cellerator, and MicroBiome Restore on the night of June 27th. The week following the 27th can be seen to the bottom right.

These two graphs, at face value, show a dramatic improvement in Brant's recovery without a break in activity levels. Please note that Strain is tallied at the end of the day, and Recovery is calculated at the start of the day. While these graphs are impressive, without reference to Brant's baseline, they don't mean much. This is why Brant's data was manually collected from Whoop, entered into Excel and manually analyzed to determine any trends since he started wearing the Whoop in October 2019. See the entire graph directly below. Note the data summaries for each segment.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is displayed in blue, and resting heart rate (RHR) is displayed in orange. Higher HRV is an indicator of increased readiness to perform, and lower RHR is indicative of a rested and recovered body, as well as heart strength. His heart trends are relatively linear throughout the cold seasons, and start to increase from march first onward as he likely began to adapt to increased cardiovascular efforts. His recovery decreased in response during the March-June period.

During the week of the 205th day in the data set, shown roughly by the bracket indicators above the May-June period, Brant started "hot-cold-therapy" and his heart stats and recovery increased relative to his baseline. Brant's alternating Ice and Hot baths as part of the therapy did not incorporate the HydroGenie (shown right) until June 27th. This allowed for a baseline to be established prior to starting his protocol with BioPhysics Essentials.

After starting the HydroGenie, X-Cellerator, and MicroBiome Restore regimen on June 27th, Brant exhibited sustained increases in his Recovery score (+52.00%) and HRV (+45.57%), as well as a statistically significant decrease in his RHR (-5%). While his RHR was sustained between 46-51 for 4 weeks during the observation period, the two tail ends of the observation period bring the average RHR up to the displayed 55 beats per minute. The dip located around day 283 in the data set is corresponded to the 4-day period where Brant lost power as a result of a tropical storm. This aside, Brant's significantly improving personal recovery scores throughout the period are a testament to his body's health as the observation period continued.

Performance Impact

After starting the protocol, Brant noticed improving personal recovery, as well as improvements in how he felt on a daily basis. This was especially felt on court and in the gym. In the interview, Brant noted that after starting the protocol, he noticed that "it wasn't just that [physical] piece, it's cognitive. You just feel better, overall." His observations about how his personal recovery and performance increased dramatically, both with his physical well-being and mental sharpness, are in line with research done on the effects of hydrogen and decreased inflammation in the body.

When talking about the protocol and especially days he had low Recovery scores, Brant said that "when I was sweating a whole lot, this [X-Cellerator] helped so much, because you feel drained. Like, it takes something out of you by gaining and losing 3lbs of water weight each time that you step out and you work... Putting this in my smoothies made that so I didn't feel it as badly. It was, I still got that bit in the bottom of the tank that I can really draw from, instead of it being 'man, I don't know how I'm gonna get through this 2 hour lesson.'"

Brant has continued to work with us and the BioPhysics Essentials products after the observation period, and even became a brand ambassador. He has noticed continued increases in his performance, and has continued improving personal recovery, as highlighted by screenshots from October 2020 below.

Realized fitness performance gains like what Brant has experienced following adoption of the HydroGenie, X-Cellerator, and MicroBiome Restore regimen are not common. While the correlation may seem to be present in Brant's case, his results may be limited to him for any number of variables unaccounted for. We hope that this exercise and its presentation lead to increased awareness about the world of performance that is often dictated by unseen bodily functions and daily actions. Make sure to watch the whole interview to get insights into Brant's extensive knowledge as an athlete and a coach, and share it if you found it informative. We wish you the best success in your journey of improving personal recovery and performance!