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In recent years, a growing number of amateur and professional athletes have started incorporating beetroot juice into their diets.

It seemed a bit odd, but many of them also down raw eggs, so we didn’t pay it much mind.

When the ‘trend’ didn’t go away, however, it warranted a closer look.

What is it about the humble beetroot that has athletes so enthralled?

Well, SHAPE reckons it has something to do with the fact that a regular intake of beetroot juice has the potential to help you run faster, pedal harder, and work out longer.

The gyms are closed, and home workouts aren’t always ideal if part of the point is getting out of the house, so many have turned to jogging or cycling. If you are working out at home, you might want to up your endurance to get the most out of your training, especially if you don’t have access to equipment.

Could beets up your game? Let’s hand it over to the experts.

“I use beet juice in my practice and I have athlete clients who swear by it. They see it’s effective at improving their performance,” says noted sports nutritionist Barbara Lewin, R.D., founder of Sports-nutritionist.com who works with elite and Olympic athletes.

Image: Healthline

The idea is this: Beetroot juice is packed with nitrates, which your body converts to nitric oxide, a molecule that enhances blood vessel dilation, increasing your blood flow capacity and lowering the amount of oxygen your muscles need.

“You’re able to use oxygen more efficiently, so the idea is athletes have more power, are able to run faster, and are able to move more efficiently,” Lewin explains.

You can’t really argue with someone who takes care of the nutritional needs of Olympians. The practical results are also impressive:

Beetroot juice can improve your time: Runners who loaded up on the red stuff before a 5K shaved 1.5 percent off their time, in a study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

Cyclists who drank just over two cups of beetroot juice before a time trial were almost 3 percent faster and produced more power with each pedal stroke than when they rode, according to a series of U.K. studies.

Results can, however, vary depending on how your beets are juiced and their quality. Fresh beet juice and processed beet juice will obviously have different nutrient levels, and it’s all about those nutrients when improving performance.

You can stain your kitchen and appliances red trying to juice at home, or you can use a trusted juice supplier who doesn’t incorporate any of that nasty stuff that usually goes into preserving fruit and veggie juice.

To be absolutely sure that you’re only getting the good stuff, your juice should be cold-pressed – a process that retains more nutrients than other methods of juice extraction.

Which leaves you with two options. Either you go on a time-consuming hunt to find the perfect beetroot juice, or you can just order it online and have it delivered to your door.

Sir Fruit’s cold-pressed Beetroot Juice is the real deal, combining the super root with immune-boosting ginger, vitamin C packed raspberries, and carrots, known for improving heart health and digestion.

To stock up before your next workout, head here.

There’s no guarantee it’s going to turn you into an Olympian, but you will be giving your body what it needs to be faster, more powerful, and more efficient.

[source:shape]