Today’s episode features Marc Bubbs, naturopathic doctor, performance nutritionist, and author of the best-selling new book "PEAK - The New Science of Athletic Performance That Is Revolutionizing Sport." An integrated and personalized approach to health, nutrition, training, recovery and mindset.

Marc currently serves as the Performance Nutrition Lead for the Canadian Men's National Basketball Team and has a portfolio of elite and professional athletes in Canada, USA, UK and Europe.  He is also the host of the Dr. Bubbs Performance Podcast, bringing together insights from world-leading experts in health, nutrition, training, recovery and mindset.

Having better health (things such as having good nutrition, a diverse gut-biome, strong immune system, adequate sleep and a de-stressed mind) is impactful for not only athletes, but the general population, and is therefore a distinctly “human” element of the human -> athlete -> specialist sequence.  When it comes to athletics, however, markers of health are not always put as much of a priority compared to training methods and sport skills.  As Mark mentions on the show, consistency as a result of good health is very important when it comes to achieving better training over a period of time.

Topics on this episode include the essential elements of a health-centered approach to athletics and human performance, including sleep, gut-biome & nutrition, mental training and mindfulness in a “screen-time” age, and even concepts on team cohesion revolving around food and nutrition.  This is a podcast that not only helps to fill those gaps between training and the human being, but also is one that helps us to continually have a “human first”, “athlete second” perspective that is so important to the well-being of those we serve in the field.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.

View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage.

Timestamps and Main Points

3:40 Marc’s background in the industry of health and athletics

6:10 The crossover between health and fitness/performance and importance of consistency

10:20 When health related decisions (e.g. sleep and nutrition) really start showing up for athletes in their performance

14:40 How cooking, food and the related community is an important part of team  culture and cohesion in sports

19:25 The “triage” list in starting to work with an athlete on prioritizing health before training modalities, and all this well before recovery modalities (Penfold’s pyramid)

24:55 Sleep debt and athletic performance

34:10 How humming and singing provides beneficial adaptations to the human body and can create more grounds for group cohesion

36:10 The importance of one’s gut microbiome in health and human performance

49:40 Mental and psychological training and relaxation methods for athletes

 “When we look at some of the research around national to international competitors (in endurance sports), we see that international level competitors get sick 40% less than national level competitors, so if you can just show up every day in the gym or not miss practice, and just not miss days, at the end of that year or block of four years you are going to be that much further ahead than the competition”

"If you have got a 44” vertical leap and are the fastest guy on the floor, do we really need all these other things, or is just keeping you healthy enough to show up every day the key performance lever?”

“In the UK, half of the grocery bill is spent on processed foods…. If you head to Paris, only 14% is spent on processed foods”

“A lot of (team culture) starts with food (sitting at the dinner table together)”

“The night before a game, athletes tend not to sleep well”

“If a guy is getting less than 6.5 and gets his sleep up to 7.5, he can improve his testosterone by 10-15%”