In the world of fitness and sports, recovery is just as important as the workout itself. For athletes and fitness enthusiasts looking to gain an edge, tart cherry juice has emerged as a popular natural remedy to speed up recovery and improve performance. But what makes this ruby-red drink so special, and is it really worth incorporating into your routine?
Key Takeaways:
- Tart cherry juice is backed by research showing it can reduce soreness, inflammation, and oxidative stress, aiding recovery after intense and/or prolonged exercise bouts.
- The benefits are most pronounced when the juice is consumed in the days leading up to and following strenuous activities.
- While helpful, tart cherry juice is not essential for recovery and can be complemented or even replaced by a diverse diet rich in antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables.
- Concerns about long-term supplementation impairing training adaptations seem overstated, especially with plant-derived antioxidants like those in tart cherry juice.
The Power Behind Tart Cherry Juice
Tart cherry juice isn’t just another trendy beverage — it’s packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds that help reduce muscle damage, soreness, and speed up recovery. These powerful ingredients, particularly the anthocyanins and polyphenols found in Montmorency cherries, play a key role in fighting the oxidative stress and inflammation caused by intense exercise.
Science-Backed Benefits
Research has shown that regular consumption of tart cherry juice can significantly enhance recovery and even improve next-day performance. The key lies in its ability to:
- Accelerate Muscle Recovery: Tart cherry juice speeds up the recovery process by reducing muscle damage and inflammation, allowing athletes to regain strength and mobility faster.
- Reduce Inflammation and Oxidative Stress: The antioxidants in tart cherry juice protect cells from damage and help the body cope with exercise-induced stress, leading to less soreness and quicker recovery.
- Decrease Muscle Soreness and Damage: Drinking tart cherry juice before and after workouts can lessen the pain of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), allowing you to get back to training sooner.
Is Tart Cherry Juice Right for You?
While tart cherry juice offers many benefits, it’s important to remember that it’s not a magic solution. Recovery supplements like tart cherry juice are most beneficial during periods of intense or unaccustomed exercise, or when rapid recovery is essential. But how do you know if it’s something you need?
Consider these questions:
- How often do you engage in strenuous workouts that significantly tax your body?
- How quickly do you need to recover to maintain peak performance?
- Are you frequently feeling sore and under recovered after training?
If your training regularly imposes a large recovery burden, or you have back-to-back competitions, tart cherry juice might be a valuable addition to your regimen. Alternatively, where possible I would advise re-evaluating your training programme; particularly training volumes, intensities and frequencies if you are experiencing consistent DOMs that last for days or you are feeling under recovered or experiencing inconsistencies with performance week to week. A well designed training programme should look to strike the right balance between training stimulus, adaptation and recovery.
Practical Tips for Incorporating Tart Cherry Juice
To get the most out of tart cherry juice, it’s important to use it correctly:
- Dosing: For optimal results, aim to drink approximately 230-350ml of tart cherry juice or 30ml of concentrate twice a day. Start a few days before a big workout and continue through the recovery period.
- Timing: Consuming tart cherry juice before and after exercise can help you bounce back quicker and perform better in subsequent sessions.
And remember, while tart cherry juice can be beneficial, it is no substitute for a diet rich in a variety of fruits and vegetables if you are looking to optimise overall health and recovery.
Addressing Concerns About Long-Term Use
Some athletes worry about the potential of long-term antioxidant supplementation to interfere with training adaptations. However, the evidence suggests that the specific antioxidants in tart cherry juice likely work by activating protective pathways in the body, rather than directly scavenging free radicals. This means they are less likely to impair the body’s natural adaptation processes during training.
Moreover, studies have shown that high doses of vitamin C, which has been linked to blunting certain training adaptations, do not appear to negatively impact strength, endurance, or hypertrophy when combined with vitamin E or other antioxidants. The specific antioxidant compounds in tart cherry juice are therefore even less likely to cause these issues.
Tart Cherry Juice vs. Other Recovery Strategies
While tart cherry juice is effective, it’s not unique in its benefits. Many fruits and vegetables are rich in polyphenols and other beneficial phytochemicals that can support recovery. For example, blueberries, pomegranates, and watermelons also offer high levels of antioxidants, so be sure to try and include these into your staple diet in order to aid recovery.
If tart cherry juice isn’t readily available or is too costly, these alternatives can provide similar recovery benefits. The key is maintaining a diverse, nutrient-rich diet to support your training and recovery needs, which for most people would be sufficient to negate the need to supplement with products such as tart cherry juice. However, having access to a quick and easy supplement such as tart cherry juice may be a smart and convenient option under the right circumstances to facilitate recovery; particularly if you don’t have time or access to prepare suitable food items or meals.
Conclusion: Is Tart Cherry Juice Worth It?
The current body of research supports the idea that tart cherry juice can be a powerful tool for athletes and fitness enthusiasts, particularly during periods of intense or unaccustomed exercise. However, it’s important to approach it as part of a balanced diet and recovery strategy rather than a standalone solution.
Whether you choose to add tart cherry juice to your regimen or focus on other nutrient-rich foods, the goal is to support your body’s recovery processes in a sustainable way. If you’re curious, give tart cherry juice a try and see if it can be utilised into your overall exercise regime. And as always, listen to your body and adjust your approach based on how you feel and perform.
References:
Quinlan R, Hill JA. The Efficacy of Tart Cherry Juice in Aiding Recovery After Intermittent Exercise. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2020 Oct 15;1–7
Vitale KC, Hueglin S, Broad E. Tart Cherry Juice in Athletes: A Literature Review and Commentary. Curr Sports Med Rep. 2017 Aug;16(4):230–9.