Who better to speak to the efficacy of InsideTracker than MLB All-Star pitcher Mark Melancon? Mark has been a longtime user and supporter of our platform, so I caught up with him on Skype to get his take on what he loves most.
Spoiler alert: Mark is a power-user and tests his blood almost every two months. Being this focused on blood is not something that he ever would have expected, but he's now a big fan and says, "I'm so excited to get [my results] back each time because I want to see what I've worked on, what I've gotten better at. As time goes on things change, so you have to beat different things and hopefully improve." Spoken like a true professional athlete!
Now a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Mark has also played for the Yankees, Astros and Red Sox and was an MLB All-Star in 2015 and 2013. His ERA improved substantially over the years once he began working with InsideTracker, going from a 6.20 in 2012 to 2.23 in 2015. For those less familiar with baseball stats, trust us when we tell you: it's a fantastic difference! An awesome article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette earlier this year chronicled his journey using the power of blood to improve his body and his career.
Check out the video for more great insight from Mark Melancon!
Topics covered in video:
00:40 - Mark's journey with InsideTracker
01:20 - Mark's most critical takeaways
02:05 - Why Mark is so amazed and excited
03:00 - What Mark learned about rest & recovery
05:00 - The thing that surprised Mark most: Vitamin D
06:00 - Mark's use of the website as an educational platform
Erin: Well Mark, first off let me just congratulate you on an amazing season. Biomarkers aside, you have to be happy with that.
Mark: Yeah, thank you. I am happy and I think InsideTracker helped me along the journey for sure.
Erin: Well, that said, that is why I'm excited to talk to you today because long before I arrived at this company you were working with InsideTracker, and with our founder Dr. Gil Blander. And I know you guys have had a nice close working relationship. And there is in fact a newspaper story written about your experience in your journey with InsideTracker and how it helped. But most people watching probably haven't read it so it would be great if you could take us through that journey.
Mark's journey with InsideTracker
Mark: Well, it all started when I was at Red Sox in 2012. I got introduced to Gil and he showed me what he was doing, what he was thinking and kind of threw out some ideas at me. And I was on board from the get-go. So we started working together, I think it's 3 years later and I'm still doing it and I've been getting tested personally every two months. So, it's been great.
Erin: What are some of the most critical takeaways that you took from that? Because, I know, just in your journey as a player, a lot of things changed as well.
Mark's most critical takeaways
Mark: Well, first off I think it was just getting educated and understanding what these different biomarkers can do for your performance. And then from there, getting more detail and learning how to change those and make them to fit your sport and your performance and getting more detail as we want.
Erin: And obviously your performance definitely improved which is a fantastic thing for you and your career, and all of your fans I'm sure. So fans listening, just so you know, InsideTracker had a hand.
Why Mark is so amazed and excited
Mark: Well. Really, it's an amazing thing because I never thought I'd be so into "blood work". It's just crazy to think about that. But, you get these results back and I'm just so excited in giving back each time because everyone's seeing what I've worked on, what I got better at, and as time goes on, things change. And so you have to beat different things and hopefully improve on a lot of things. But it's really exciting, and Gil's helped me out, and there's a big team of people that are around and on my side at InsideTracker as well that tell me different things about my biomarkers. So it's been a huge help. I really do appreciate every bit of them.
What Mark learned about rest & recovery
Erin: Well, we appreciated you, obviously. It's good to have a pro athlete that sees great results. I mean, you're not the only one, but we love you from working with you for so long. So baseball, in particular, obviously you guys have the most demanding schedule of any of the pro sports leagues. Right? Constantly playing back to back games for pitcher, it's extremely hard. I don't know if everyone knows that. So from a rest and recovery perspective, what did you notice looking at your results from InsideTracker. How did it help in that sense?
Mark: All the biggest things that InsideTracker helped me with was my cortisol level. You know, that's kind of your stress level. As a pitcher, especially as a reliever, you break it down by positions even depending on which sport your in.
Erin: Yup.
Mark: Relievers are thrown at, possibly, four to five times a week, back to back days. And that's between plane flights. It doesn't matter, we have to throw, literally everyday, for a certain amount of days. So your cortisol level just skyrockets. And that's something that I really have to be careful of because if that level gets too high, it's an indicator of injury. Through Gil's help and everybody at InsideTracker, they pointed that out to me, that my levels at one point were high, not alarmingly high, but high enough to where I need to put attention to that. So we attacked it that way, and sure enough, I brought those levels down.
Erin: And so you were able to bring them down significantly?
Mark: Yes. It's been down and it's great. It kind of relieves me confidently, from a confident set point that I don't have to worry about injury in that perspective.
Erin: Sure. And the psychological impact of that is huge.
Mark: Yeah
Erin: It's not just about the physical impact of food interventions, it's also mental. So that's really great to hear. Before I let you go (cause I know you've got a busy family over there), was there anything in particular, (I always find it interesting to ask people after they've used it for a while like you have), was there anything that surprised you about the results? Maybe the first time you saw them or was there anything that you just went, "Oh my God! I never knew that."
The thing that surprised Mark most: Vitamin D
Mark: Yeah, like my Vitamin D levels. As a baseball player, we're out of the sun everyday for multiple hours. I've always been told sunlight is the way you get Vitamin D; its the biggest part of Vitamin D. But they're still low and so I need a supplement to enhance those levels. Without that being tested I wouldn't have known that.
Erin: Well, you can't measure, what you don't know or you can't see. We're so happy that you've loved InsideTracker and that you've benefited from it. And I'm sure your fans are happy too.
Mark's use of the website as an educational platform
Mark: I've really benefited from it and there's no harm in it. It's really a great program and an educational thing for me because the website is laid out in a way that I can go to it anytime I want, look at all the past history since 2012 when I started, every test that I've seen, I've had. I've seen where I've been and where I'm at now. And then, there's also a piece that shows you the science behind each biomarker and the reasons it's important and how it's going to affect me. It's been a great educational piece like I've said. It's a lot of fun and I really appreciate it. I'm a big InsideTracker fan. Thank you.
Erin: We're big Mark fans. It's a mutual fan club here. Thank you so much, Mark.
Mark: Alright. Thank you. Take care.
Erin: You too.