Author: Ethan James, PhD

Ethan is an internationally recognized industry expert in the field of sports and nutrition science. He holds a PhD in Public Health from John's Hopkins university and has a marathon personal best of 2:18. He's a co-founder of MAS Supplements, an endurance-focused supplement brand.

Sleep, Cadence, and Myo-Reps: 3 Findings Runners Need to See

Skipping Sleep Burns More Fat During Your Workout. Here’s Why That’s Not the Win You Think It Is. Total sleep deprivation shifted exercisers toward burning 16% more fat and 14% less carbohydrate during a cycling test the next morning. 32 adults completed a cycling test after normal sleep (8 hours), partial sleep loss (4 hours), […]

Sleep, Timing, and Cadence: 3 Small Adjustments Runners Get Wrong

Infographic showing how sleep deprivation shifts exercise fuel use from carbs to fat

One Night of Bad Sleep Changes What Your Body Burns During Exercise If you slept poorly last night, your body is already burning a different fuel mix before you even lace up. Researchers tested 32 recreationally trained adults (16 women, 16 men) across 3 sleep conditions: a full 8 hours, 4 hours, and zero hours. […]

Gut Bacteria and Sleep, Super Shoe Injury Risk, and the Protein Shake Problem

Your Gut Bacteria Might Be the Sleep Fix You Haven’t Tried If you’ve been sleeping poorly during hard training blocks, the fix might already be sitting in your supplement cabinet. A new systematic review pooled 6 randomized controlled trials across 180 athletes from 4 continents. The researchers tested whether probiotic and synbiotic supplements could improve […]

How Running Experience Improves Shock Absorption, Protein Protects Mobility, and Centenarians Skip Supplements

Why Experienced Runners Absorb Impact Differently Than Beginners Running experience changes how your body handles ground impact. Experienced runners attenuate significantly more high-frequency shock than novices, suggesting their neuromuscular systems have adapted to protect joints and tissues. Researchers compared three groups: middle-aged experienced runners (average age 53, running 9-30 miles per week), young experienced runners […]

Building Injury Resistance Through Training, Nutrition, and Smart Recovery

Nordic Hamstring Exercise Lengthens Muscle Fibers That Protect Against Injury The Nordic hamstring exercise changes your muscle architecture in ways that reduce injury risk. Soccer players who stuck with it saw meaningful structural adaptations in their biceps femoris. Researchers pooled data from six studies covering 168 soccer players. They looked at how training variables affected […]

Concurrent Training Works, Women Match Men in Muscle Gains, and HIIT May Raise Your Cortisol

Running AND Lifting: The Training Combination That Outperforms Doing Either Alone   Researchers split 30 recreational male runners (ages 30–40) into three 12-week programs: strength-only, endurance-only, or a concurrent blend of both. The strength group gained jump power and squat strength. The endurance group improved VO2max (maximum oxygen uptake capacity) and anaerobic threshold (the intensity […]

How Carbohydrates Really Fuel Endurance Performance (And Why BCAAs Probably Don’t)

Your Brain Cuts Power Before Your Muscles Run Out of Fuel For decades, runners have been told that bonking means your muscles ran out of glycogen. A sweeping new review by Noakes et al. (2026) challenges that story. After analyzing more than 160 studies spanning 100 years of carbohydrate research, the authors found that exercise-induced […]