Ashwagandha is perhaps the most popular supplement right now. You see it everywhere: on social media, in the gym, on talk shows. It's supposed to reduce stress, improve your sleep, increase your testosterone, and speed up your recovery.
We make a daily recovery supplement for fighters and explosive athletes. And at SHIDŌ, one rule applies: every ingredient is specifically chosen because a fighter needs it. So we often get asked: why isn't ashwagandha just in your formula?
What is ashwagandha?
Ashwagandha is not a vitamin and not a mineral. It is an herb that has been used for centuries in Indian (Ayurvedic) medicine.
You often hear it called an "adaptogen". That's a difficult word for a simple idea: a substance that is supposed to help your body cope better with stress. The best-known effect in research is that ashwagandha can slightly lower the stress hormone cortisol. [2]
And there lies an important difference. Vitamins and minerals address a deficiency. They, so to speak, lay a healthy foundation. Ashwagandha does something different: it is an active herb that tries to adjust your hormones and your stress system.
Does ashwagandha work for athletes?
There are real, positive signals in the research. In studies (mostly with 500 to 1250 mg per day, for 8 to 12 weeks), researchers observed, among other things:
- improved fitness (how much oxygen your body can use during exertion);
- increased strength;
- longer endurance before exhaustion;
- lower cortisol levels;
- in some people, an improved feeling of recovery and less muscle soreness. [4][8]
The most commonly used dose in sports is about 600 mg per day. [5] More recent research in team athletes also shows effects, although these differ by gender: women felt better recovered, men gained some leg strength. [3]
How much ashwagandha is actually in a supplement?
The doses where researchers observed an effect are usually around 600 mg per day of a standardized extract. This means: an extract with a fixed, controlled strength. [14][5] This is the amount on which the results from the studies are based.
But pay attention to what is actually in many products. In a compound supplement, for example, a daily multivitamin or recovery formula with dozens of ingredients, there is often much less. Sometimes only 100 to 200 mg. There's limited space in one capsule or scoop, and ashwagandha is just one of many ingredients. They often cannot go higher.
What does that mean for you? The label may say "contains ashwagandha", but the amount may be too small to truly do what the studies show. In the supplement world, this is called underdosing: you get the word on the package, but not the effective dose. You then pay for a promise, not for an effect.
A small nuance, for completeness: there is one type of extract (Sensoril) that has been studied at a lower dose of approximately 125 to 250 mg. [14] So a small number on the label is not always too little. But you only know that if the packaging honestly states what type of extract it contains and how many milligrams.
Why is ashwagandha not in SHIDŌ?
Everything in SHIDŌ is specifically chosen for combat athletes: it must meet a real need of a fighter, have proven utility, be safe for daily use, and fit on a clean, doping-safe list. Ashwagandha doesn't meet that bar for five reasons.
1. The evidence is still young and not always unambiguous
Most studies are short (a few weeks to a few months), with small groups of participants, often only men. They also use different types of ashwagandha and different doses, which makes comparison difficult. [4][5]
And the picture is not black and white. There are also good studies that found no additional effect. For example, ashwagandha added nothing to the training itself in some studies. [6][7] Truly strong, consistent evidence looks different.
2. Nobody knows what it does in the long term
This is the most important point for us. Almost all research only lasts 8 to 12 weeks. [4][5] There is almost no good information about what happens if you take ashwagandha every day, for years.
And that's exactly how you use a daily basic supplement: not as an eight-week course, but continuously. Adding something whose long-term effects are unknown simply does not fit with that idea.
3. There is a warning about the liver
Since 2017, there have been increasing reports of liver damage associated with ashwagandha. [1][13] LiverTox, an authoritative medical database of the US government (NIH), now calls ashwagandha a probable cause of visible liver damage. [1]
Most cases are mild and resolve spontaneously when you stop. However, rare, severe cases have also been described, sometimes in otherwise healthy, young people. [1][11] The difficult thing is that no one knows exactly why it happens. It seems unpredictable: in one person but not in another, for no clear reason. [1]
Our target group already puts a lot of strain on the liver: hard training blocks, losing weight for a weigh-in, sometimes painkillers. An unpredictable liver risk on top of that, every day, we don't think it's worth it.
4. It affects your hormones
That ashwagandha can slightly increase testosterone sounds good to many athletes. But the herb also affects your thyroid and other hormones. Therefore, people with a thyroid disorder or a hormone-sensitive condition should be careful with it. [9][10]
Every ingredient in SHIDŌ Foundation is chosen because a fighter needs it and it is safe for everyone who trains. Something that can unintentionally shift your thyroid or hormones, without a doctor having looked at it for you, does not fit into that.
5. We build a clean, controlled product
SHIDŌ Foundation is for athletes who are tested for doping. That's why we are working on a quality mark where every batch is controlled.
Every herbal extract you add makes that more difficult. Herbal extracts vary widely in quality and can be contaminated. In a large study from India, traces of lead, cadmium, and arsenic were found in one product. [11] The cleaner and more transparent our ingredient list, the more certain we can be about what is in the jar, and the lower the chance of a surprise during a doping test.
Can you still use ashwagandha?
Yes, this blog does not say that ashwagandha is bad. For some people, it can be useful, for a limited period and preferably in consultation with a doctor or pharmacist. Think of a short, busy, or stressful phase.
But that's precisely the point: ashwagandha is for temporary, personal use. Not a permanent ingredient for everyone, every day.
SHIDŌ Foundation is made for fighters: every ingredient is consciously chosen because a combat athlete needs it, in a safe daily dose, with a list that we can fully explain and control. Something whose long-term safety we do not know, and which carries a liver warning (however rare), does not belong in it.
