National Football League

How IV supplements helped me

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:55 p.m. ET

foxsports

The evolution of the athlete is in many ways directly related to the evolution of medicine.

Starting around 2009, once-devastating injuries that typically took 12-18 months to heal saw recovery time cut in half to around 6-12 months for some.

In the years since, we have marveled at the super-human recoveries of many athletes who had sustained serious injuries. Even on a week-to-week basis, the ability to bounce back and be ready to play has improved directly with advancements in medicine.

Follow along as I give you an inside look at what many professional athletes do in order to extend their careers, increase recovery plus healing time, and make them feel extraordinarily super-human. Legally.

I am by no means a doctor, and you should always consult one before starting any type of treatment. I am simply recalling my personal protocol to the best of my memory. Many athletes believe these methods help their recovery, though their effectiveness is not universally acknowledged in the medical community.

The key in the particular treatment demonstrated in the video above is phlebotomy, the process of inserting a needle into a vein. Sports performance doctors will write a prescription and request a blood sample.

In its simplest form, the blood panel gives you a view of all of your deficiencies and food allergies. Along with those key components, a full hormone panel is requested as well as testing the blocker in the human body that allows or doesn’t allow you to absorb supplements.

Every six months for the last few years, I would have a blood panel pulled for analyzation. A supplement strategy would be developed based on the blood panel results. The goal is to eliminate all deficiencies and crank up positive hormonal output and counteract any negative hormonal output, such as estrogen. Keep in mind this is all done naturally and treated homeopathically.

If one just tore a ligament or even played in a football game, or had something as simple as a hangover, a supplement strategy is designed for healing and recovery. Of course, this is all done proactively.

This isn’t anything new, but phlebotomy comes back into play, which is a new spin on administering supplements. This particular supplement strategy isn’t merely taken orally, this strategy consists of daily injectable BCAA's (branched-chain amino acids, important for muscle proteins) and 2-3 intravenous bags per week designed specifically for your own body’s needs.

I remember the first time I took a recovery IV. I felt like I could run through a brick wall.

Prior to games, I started taking intravenous energy cocktails tailored specifically for my body. As soon as the IV hit my blood stream, I could taste the vitamins instantly.

Your blood circulates through your entire body in about one minute while you are at rest. In a matter of minutes, you can go from feeling OK to amazing.

Nothing has to pass through the gut, which dilutes potency. The supplements are instantly absorbed through the blood and go right into the body.

A typical IV used for hydration merely consists of a hydrating saline solution. These super IVs — known as enhanced IVs, or cocktails — are so much more. Due to proprietary information from MVP Medical Group in Delray Beach, Fl., I can’t give away everything that is in the drip in the video above, but I will divulge some of the basics:

Three basic cocktails (Myers', recovery, energy) are enhanced with BCAA's, the B complex vitamins, high amounts of zinc, magnesium, and glutathione. The ingredients are all permitted under the NFL's banned substance list.

IV therapy is one of many treatments believed to have an incremental affect that ultimately synergizes to make a big difference in healing, recovery, strength and overall performance.

In future pieces, I will take you into the rest of the incremental effects, including stem cell therapy, laser therapy and a 3-10-meter dive into where healing occurs via the hyperbaric chamber.