147: The Biology of Championship: Beating Mid-Season Burnout

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Your body is the last unregulated advantage in motorsports. When the cars are equalized by rules, what separates champions from contenders is how well you manage your biology under pressure.

The mid-season grind hits everyone in NASCAR – that point where months of travel, heat, and relentless pursuit of speed create a perfect storm of fatigue. But what's actually happening inside your body goes far deeper than just feeling tired. We're talking about cellular exhaustion that affects everything from reaction time to decision-making quality.

This episode dives into the hidden science of peak performance during racing's most demanding stretch. You'll discover how elevated cortisol changes your brain, why your mitochondria (the tiny power plants in your cells) might be underperforming, and the five-step reset protocol that top teams use to maintain their edge when others fade. From sleep discipline and supercharged hydration strategies to micro-recovery techniques and nutrition pivots, these actionable steps create a competitive advantage that shows up exactly when the stakes are highest.

The cars might be equalized by regulation, but people are not. The crew member who bounces back faster, the driver who keeps sharp under pressure, the team that stays energized through the grind – that's the unfair, naturally-fueled high-performance health advantage. Ready to transform your mid-season wall into your winning edge? Subscribe now and join us on the journey to Victory Lane from the inside out.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's mid-season and just a race away from the
playoffs.
You've been grinding sinceFebruary the travel, the heat,
the long hours in the shop andthe constant push to find
one-tenth of a second.
You may not have realized it,but it's wearing on you.
You feel it in your body, yourfocus, maybe even your mood and

(00:21):
confidence.
And if you're feeling it, guesswhat?
So is every other team outthere.
The question is have you fullyconsidered what separates the
ones who drive through with easefrom the ones who fade when the
pressure mounts?
Stay tuned to find out.

(00:49):
Hello, I'm Jeffrey Morton.
If you're like most in NASCAR'stop tiers drivers, crews,
owners or executives whileyou're busy chasing podiums,
have you fully considered who'staking care of you?
Right here, you're about tostart transforming your mind and
body for peak race dayperformance with High
Performance Health designedexclusively for the demands of

(01:11):
NASCAR.
As a certified High PerformanceHealth coach and consulting
hypnotist, I've coached eliteentrepreneurs and athletes to
higher energy, sharper focus andgreater resilience naturally,
naturally, safely and backed byscience.
And right now I'm bringing thatsame engineered approach to the
best in motorsports.

(01:33):
Here you'll find no wasted time, just a unique blend of
integrative health, mentalconditioning and proven recovery
strategies, delivered in plainlanguage, that you can use right
away.
Imagine a season withoutburnout, brain fog or the costly
crash of your health, becausethe truth is, the real race

(01:54):
starts within.
I'm grateful you're here.
Yes, always grateful for youjoining us here on the Breaking
Boundaries for Champions podcast.
And don't forget to use thesend us a message feature if you
have a question or a commentand you want us to bring that up
on the next program.

(02:15):
I'd be happy to check out whatyou have to say there.
You can click on that link inthe show notes.
So today we are discussing thehidden cost of the mid-season
grind.
What does that look like?
That looks like physicalfatigue, not just tired muscles,
but I'm talking about cellularexhaustion from stress, from

(02:38):
poor sleep, from inconsistentnutrition and cumulative travel.
This is exhaustion at thecellular level.
This is a deeper level ofexhaustion than just being tired
.
This is really deep physicalfatigue.
And what else?
Mental drain?
This is where self-doubt startsto creep in.

(03:00):
Maybe you're noticing reactiontimes getting just a little bit
slower and those decisionssometimes get second guessed.
And then, of course, thatcreeps in or outwards, I should
say to team morale.
Burnout isn't just personal, itis contagious inside of a shop

(03:23):
or on pit road, and it might notbe so obvious when everyone is
feeling it, but by this point inthe season it usually starts
creeping in.
And here's the visual hittingthe wall isn't about the car on
the track, it's about the peoplein the team.
So what does the science show us?

(03:47):
What I'm about to say it mightbe a little controversial, but
after I explain it it'll makecomplete sense to you.
You may have been misled byconventional thinking, and what
I mean by that is the body isnot a machine.
The body is a continuousbiological process that adapts

(04:08):
and thrives, or it breaks down,depending on how you fuel and
recover.
So let me ask you what kind offuel and recovery are you giving
yourself?
Neuroscience neuroscience is the, the study, the scientific
study of the central nervoussystem and the brain.
Well, the brain is part of thecentral nervous system, but

(04:30):
again back to that conventionalmindset that the brain is
separate from the body or themind is separate from the body.
The neuroscience shows thatfatigue changes the brain.
What I mean is higher cortisol.
So cortisol is your stresshormone.
And when cortisol is elevated,what does that do to us?

(04:51):
That leads to lower focus.
It leads to poor emotionalregulation and slower reaction
time.
Now biology tells us energyisn't just about calories, it's
about mitochondria, and you mayremember from your high school
biology class.

(05:12):
Your mitochondria are referredto as the tiny little micro
power plants inside the cells ofyour body.
Let's break that down a littlebit.
Let's break that down a littlebit.
It's said to that we have about50 trillion with a t, 50
trillion cells in our body andevery one of those cells has

(05:33):
hundreds, sometimes thousands,sometimes hundreds of thousands
of mitochondria.
So we're really talking about amicro experience here.
And those mitochondria createsomething called ATP.
It's adenosine triphosphate.
You don't need to know whatthat means, but ATP, you may

(05:54):
have heard, is the currency ofenergy for the body.
So we have these trillions ofcells that have hundreds of
thousands of mitochondria thatproduce this energy currency,
hundreds of thousands ofmitochondria that produce this
energy currency.
And they need certain buildingblocks, certain raw materials,
to be able to produce that atp,that energy.
And those raw materials couldbe minerals, it could be

(06:16):
hydration, uh, could be vitamins.
So those are, you know, yourvitamins and minerals are your
micronutrients, and then, ofcourse, the right macronutrients
to supply the body with thosemicronutrients, those
macronutrients, and then, ofcourse, the right macronutrients
to supply the body with thosemicronutrients.
Those macronutrients would beyour carbohydrates, your
proteins, your healthy fats andthings like that, and that

(06:36):
creates nervous system balance.
So it's bringing it alltogether.
It's bringing that neurosciencetogether with that biology.
And the good news is these arenot just fixed traits, these are
trainable, these are adjustable, um, and these are trackable as
well.
So, just like the data on yourtelemetry and on your dashboard,

(07:00):
we can actually use highperformance health tools to be
able to see these very specificdata points, to be able to train
these traits in the body, thisneurology and biology.
So here's your actionable plan.
You might be wondering at thispoint okay, this is great, jeff,
but what can I do for amid-season reset?

(07:24):
So here's your very actionablehigh performance health
mid-season reset.
It here's your very actionablehigh-performance health
mid-season reset.
It's a proven pit stop protocolyou can put into play
immediately.
Number one sleep discipline.
Now, you've probably heard thisbefore, but the same bedtime
and wake time, even on the road,has a powerful effect on your

(07:46):
energy, your neurology and yourbiology.
We want to protect especiallydeep sleep as a non-negotiable.
We have safe and naturalsolutions for sleep optimization
.
Number two hydration strategy.
Not just talking about waterhere, my friends.
I'm talking about verysupercharged water, adding

(08:09):
electrolytes and minerals tocombat heat and travel and
stress.
Now you might be thinking aboutsome of the electrolytes Maybe
you're using them already someof the ones that are sold online
.
There are some good ones andnot so good ones out there.
The ones that are reallyformulated for athletic
performance, uh, sometimes areout of ratio, but there are some

(08:32):
good ones out there.
Uh, redmond makes a great onecalled relight.
That's one of my favorites.
And also, uh, there's one outthere called lmnt.
Uh, probably second best in mycategory.
I'm not going to go why, but ifyou're just looking for a, you
know, a readily availablesomething that you can just go
out and buy today.

(08:53):
That could be something likethe Redmond Real Salt.
You can pick that up in thespice aisle of any market, any
local supermarket.
You can also order that onAmazon.
Just a couple of pinches in yourwater.
Of course, you wanna make sureyour water is filtered.
You're not drinkingenvironmental toxins in your
water.
So you know, our foundation isclean air, clean water, clean

(09:14):
food For a starting point.
But taking that filtered waterand adding a little bit of
Redmond sea salt in it and thenthat's going to give you your
sodium.
Now we want to balance thatwith potassium and we can do
that with a fresh squeezed lemonor lime organic if possible.
That's going to give you agreat balance of sodium to
potassium and actuallyregenerate your or replenish

(09:38):
your adrenals and give you thatsupport that you need.
All right enough on hydrationstrategy.
Number three micro recoveries.
Talking about just 10 minutesof specific breath work,
something like resonancebreathing.
What is that?
That is an exhale for longerthan an inhale.
You might've heard of 7-11breathing before, so that would

(09:59):
be breathing in for sevenseconds, breathing out for 11
seconds.
Do that exercise for three tofive minutes, 10 minutes if you
can.
That's going to make a hugeimpact, especially before a
stressful event like a greenflag, or right before bed.
That's going to help to enhancethat step number one with sleep

(10:20):
discipline.
That's going to help to enhancethat step number one with sleep
discipline.
So stacking that micro recoveryon top of your sleep discipline
is going to be absolutelyamazing.
And then, of course, myspecialty guided self-hypnosis.
Using that before bed orpre-raise can definitely lower
cortisol, reset clarity andenhance focus.
Number four a nutrition pivot.

(10:42):
Cut out those processed foods,cut out that sugar.
You want to swap in protein,healthy fats, making sure you're
getting enough fiber in yourdiet, and that's going to help
to stabilize your blood sugar,remove that brain fog, give you
more mental clarity, give youmore energy Absolutely amazing
what a good nutrition pivot cando for you.

(11:03):
And then, number five movementbalance.
Don't just lift heavy and runlong.
We want to mix strengthtraining with zone two or zone
three cardio on a regular basisand mobility to keep your
nervous system flexible.
So what could you implement inaddition to the strength

(11:26):
training and the cardio and thisqualifies as cardio as well Tai
Chi exercises, qigong exercisesso those are based on
traditional Chinese medicine.
Telling you right now, tai Chiand Qigong saved my life back in
2014.
And that was really my leaddomino into what I'm doing now.
If you haven't heard mybackstory before, that was

(11:47):
really what turned my healtharound and literally saved my
life.
And then yoga don'tunderestimate yoga.
Those are all amazingmodalities for your movement
balance.
So remember, these small winscan stack and in the final third
of the season, that stackbecomes your edge.
And although these five smallsteps are sure to have a big

(12:11):
impact.
This reset stack was quitegeneralized and we can engineer
this for your exact biology overat our high-performance health
shop at VictoryLaneWellnesscom.
That's where we do all ouramazing work with athletes in
the motorsports industry and, asyou'll discover, the cars might

(12:34):
be equalized by regulation, butpeople are not.
The cars might be equalized byregulation, but people are not.
The crew member who bouncesback faster, the driver who
keeps sharp on the pressure, theteam that stays energized
through the grind that's theunfair, nationally fueled high
performance health advantage.
So the final lap, here's thetruth.
Mid-season pressure is wherechampions are made or broken.

(12:56):
Fatigue, doubt and distractioncreep in for everyone.
But what separates the greatfrom the good is who's willing
to take control of their biology, not just their strategy.
So if you're feeling the weightof the grind right now, don't
ignore it.
Start small, lock in onerecovery practice, cut back on

(13:16):
one hidden stressor and measurejust one performance marker that
actually tells you if you'retrending up or down.
You could use the minerals andmetals test.
That's an at-home, functionallab test can be done right at
home with a simple hair sample.
You can use data, health datathat you can.
You wearable technology is whatI'm trying to say to measure

(13:39):
your resting heart rate, yourheart rate variability,
especially your REM sleep ordeep sleep.
Or you could use something likea continuous glucose monitor to
monitor your blood sugar for 30or 60 days.
It would be absolutely amazingjust to choose one of those to
see if you're trending in theright direction.
Do that consistently, andyou'll show up sharper, calmer

(14:00):
and more resilient than yourcompetition when it matters the
most.
If you're the kind of personwho's ready for proven systems
to back this up, head over toVictoryLaneWellnesscom.
Grab your free,high-performance health
assessment.
You'll get clarity on whereyou're leaking energy and the
exact adjustments to fix it, sothat you can finish the season

(14:22):
stronger than you started,because, remember, your body and
mind are the advantage.
The question is are you willingto make it a part of your
execution plan?
Hit that subscribe button andwe'll see you in victory lane.
Bye-bye, everybody.