I offered to write this blog post as a customer and regular user of Daily Balance performance and recovery cream. For one very important reason.
Ok, you expected that. However, let me unpack this a bit more. First off, my results are my own. I am not offering anything other than my own experience with this post so please make your own decisions and do your own homework.
I would suggest that part of your homework be to try a 2 oz small bottle. As the old adage goes, the proof is in the pudding.
I am a CINCH Ascend Competition Athlete whose hit that magical 50 year-ish mark. Think of that as a 10 year old water heater. Thats the time point when things can start to go wrong.
This was a solid year for me of gravel racing a few road races and lots of solid training. I marked the season with a number of events including Indiana's first Gravel Century (DustBowl 100), Vermont's World Gravel Course in Stowe and the Green Mountain 100, Kentucky's hardest gravel race (War Daddy), and the North Carolina Belgian Waffle Ride. This one was especially tough as I lost all but one gear less than 20 miles into the 100 mile race. Climbing over 10,000 feet with only one gear isn't very fun.
Great recovery means great performance. For me this meant:
Maintenance is the base. I've had my share of injuries over the years. Snowboarding accidents. Jet Ski racing. Mountain Bike crashes. Track racing crashes. Road bike crashes. Hit by a few cars during training rides. You get the idea.
Each evening, I apply a penny sized amount of Daily Balance to where old injuries are located. Reconstructed right shoulder. Left hamstring. Lumbar. Right knee MCL. These are the areas that attract chronic inflammation. You want to reduce this before you go to bed and allow your tissued to purge toxins and heal as best they can.
On my left hamstring. several times a week when using Daily Balance, I do a facia scraping to help break up the residual scar tissue. Daily Balance helps with blood flow and mineral delivery improving this tissue recovery well beyond what's possible with using a massage cream.
My application protocol (this is mine, yours might vary) is apply for maintenance every other day. For me, this is Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Three days a week of regular application. I use about 4 penny sized amounts each of these days.
Prior to training activity, I use about a nickel sized amount on each of the major muscle groups that will be doing the firing.
For cycling, this is:
For gym efforts its typically, chest, biceps, triceps, obliques, hip flexors, lumbar, core, etc.
For endurance races, I will pack a two ounce bottle in a SAG bag and those bags get packed in a separate race nutrition and recovery bag.
Race Prep
Some of the shorter races, such as 100 miles or less, you pack a single bag of extra fluid and nutrition to replace what you've depleted. The longer ones, like Unbound Gravel (200 miles) or the harder ones like Belgian Waffle Ride, you can have 4 or more SAG stops. Daily Balance goes in 1-2 of those bags.
One of several nutrition go-to staged out over longer race courses
At each stop with Daily Balance, I apply it on the areas that are stressed. You have to pay attention to your body here. In this instance, moderation isn't what you want. I apply it like sunscreen. In doing so, I have seen power output improvements over previous seasons at certain stages of races and rides.
I sweat a lot so I loose sodium and magnesium. I am also 6'3" and 200 lbs., so my power output to kilogram of weight is higher than smaller, lighter riders, especially those who are 20 years younger as their physiological make up is different at 25 than at 50. So proper on the bike nutrition, hydration, pickle juice and Daily Balance during events is important to achieving certain goals.
After a taxing event, I follow my pre-performance routine but instead of a nickel sized application, I apply a quarter-sized amount within 30 minutes of race or training ride completion. I re-apply three to four hour later. The following morning after the event, I blend my normal maintenance process with my pre-performance application. Nickel sized amount on injured and stressed areas. The following day takes me back to my normal protocol.
Last week, I picked up the old fashioned flu. By Wednesday I felt terrible. Aches, chills, etc. Fever, coughing, etc. Thursday was worse, so I decided to load up on Daily Balance because my shoulders ached, my back ached my chest and throat hurt from coughing continuously. I applied like I did in a race. Sunscreen volume.
It helped to minimize my discomfort but that isn't where I am going. I kept using Daily Balance in hyper doses all Thursday and into Friday.
By Friday evening, I was having difficulty breathing. By Friday night, it was like trying to breathe through a straw. By midnight, my ability to breathe was all but gone, like a light switch I was beginning to suffocate.
I live 2 miles from a first class level one trauma hospital. The ambulance would take too long. My spouse set a land speed record getting us there. By the time I arrived, I was hypoxic and approaching unconsciousness. My blood 02 level was in the low 70's (below 90 is bad). They put a crash team on me and did whatever they did to revive me. I woke up in a code room in an oxygen mask with four IV's running. Over the next few days, I received several steroids and a 600mg does of the monoclonal antibody. So, pretty much the kitchen sink.
She told me that I needed to be prepared to be in the hospital for 4-5 days based on the severity of my situation when I was admitted.
That didn't sound good. So I focused all my mental efforts in on positive energy, gratitude and healing.
Twenty four hours later, I was down from the 4 liters of oxygen per hour they'd been pumping into me to half that. Six hours afterwards, I was off oxygen all together. Ten hours after that, my blood 02 was consistently back to 98%, my resting heart rate had returned to its normal 48-52 bpm and my blood pressure had returned to normal ranges.
According to my attending physician, this was lighting quick.
Hospitals are great for trauma. This counted. So all the steroids and the monoclonal antibody therapy played a critical role. As did the health care team who took care of me. Oxygen played a critical role also. But was there an x-factor?
Before I was released, my physician told me that there were a few things that possibly played a role in me being released so soon. He said he would have never had taken the bet of me leaving as soon as I did but I met all the criteria, so home I went.
He said, some of the contributing factors as to why you are not on a vent are because your VO2 Max is significant (lung volume from training and racing). Superb cardiovascular strength and endurance (ditto) and also surprisingly positive ESR, CRP and PV blood test results. These blood tests look for inflammation markers.
COVID attacks where inflammation is most prevalent in the body. For people with depressed immunity, this can often be the heart, lungs, kidneys, intestine, liver, etc. Mine began with the flu that opened the door to me catching a break-though case of COVID) and it went to the lungs because of the trauma the flu had brought on.
However, because in part of the super high dosages of Daily Balance, I had absorbed the tools my body needed to fight off the very dangerous inflammation that makes COVID the monster it is. This, coupled with the benefits of endurance training allowed me to take my dog on a solo 5 mile walk 80 hours after being checked into the hospital instead of lying in ICU on a ventilator.
Today is Tuesday and I am quarantined for a few more days. I feel normal and have logged nearly 11 miles with my Bernese Mountain Dog Moose on solo walks in the fresh evening air the last two days. Tomorrow I return to my bike trainer on an easy, supervised recovery protocol, returning to normal winter training levels within two weeks.
Each day I have applied a quarter sized application of Daily Balance to my chest and neck. Like Vic's Vapo-Rub and stick with my normal daily maintenance application.
Can I prove that Daily Balance played a direct role in my recovery? No. Is there anecdotal evidence that it did? Yes. Do I believe that it did? Yes.
You be your own judge. It sure as hell works for me.
So, I have been authorized to offer you a 20% discount on your order so that you can try it yourself. Use discount code 'Better Health'.
