Several years ago at a fitness conference, I had the following conversation with a “fit pro” (that word fit pro triggers me to no end for some reason).

Fit Pro: Yo, I have been taking this new supplement and it has really helped my recovery big time.

Me: Really, what is it?

Fit Pro: Fish oil

Me: Oh, that is not really new, what is different?

Fit Pro: Oh bro, you have to take a lot of it to get the gainZ.

Me: How much?

Fit Pro: I’ve been taking 45 grams of fish oil a day.

Me: Did you say 45 grams?

Fit Pro: Yeah bro! I take 1-2 teaspoons every hour I am awake, every day.

Me: Did you sprout gills and want to take really long baths in a large pool?

Fit Pro: What? No, I felt much better though and my recovery is epic. Gotta run….

I assume he was either 1) running to take his next dose of fish oil or 2) running to do the Wilford Brimley’s two-step at the porcelain throne from all of said fish oil.

As crazy as this experiment sounds, the lure of high dose fish oil has been around the fitness circles for some time. It was popularized by a famous strength coach (hint – rhythms with Poly Quinn) for years.

Heck, a buddy of mine wanted to run this experiment too so I hooked him up with direct testing to see what happened. In short, he did get his blood levels super high to over 15%. You can see his full report HERE if you want, and he disclosed it publicly so I am not outing him in anyway.

I’ve been testing my own levels for coming up on a full decade now as I find it a fascinating topic. Is there something to higher doses of fish juice?

The anecdotal word on the gym floor is….yes! However, that only goes so far especially when we have actual research on this topic.

As you know–SCIENCE – is the best way to understand what is really going on. To that tune, Dr Eric “I will not disclose my fish oil status” Trexler has a great review in the new Oct issue of MASS all about a brand new study that did use high levels of fish oil in lifters.

In the study, it was high but not as sky high bat$hit crazy as mentioned above. The top dose was just under 5 grams of combined EPA + DHA (a 6-gram total dose of Omega 3s).

The researchers found some interesting results in relation to recovery from eccentric exercise. The effects were not massive by any means and the sample size was low – which is easy to say about almost every nutrition /exercise study.

For the full breakdown including how this new study compares to the literature, check out the Oct issue of MASS.

>> Oct issue of MASS<< fish oil review included

It goes without saying that I am not recommending super huge doses of fish oil, I am just discussing what people have done and the state of the research.

Fun with fish oil!

Dr Mike

PS- Full disclosure, I am an affiliate for MASS and I do make a few clams off it when you pick it up via my link.