Exercise research summarized honestly: muscle physiology, fatigue, sleep, heat and altitude adaptation, with sample sizes and effect sizes given.
Drinking to thirst covers most training sessions; losing more than about 2 percent of body weight measurably costs performance — and sports drinks solve a narrower problem than their shelf space implies.
EPOC — the post-exercise oxygen consumption behind the afterburn myth — is real, measurable and roughly 6 to 15 percent of the energy your workout burned.
Sleeping high and training low can lift sea-level endurance by a few percent — for responders who log enough hours up, for long enough.
Eating protein soon after training helps, but the window is hours wide — and total daily protein matters far more than any clock.
DOMS peaks 24 to 72 hours after unfamiliar exercise, and almost every popular remedy for it has thinner evidence than the soreness itself.
Lactate is fuel, not waste — and the point where it accumulates is one of the most trainable numbers in endurance sport.