Search this and you'll get a ranked list of five mushrooms for strength, power, endurance and recovery. The human trials support one of those four, in one species, on one measurement — and the measurement is the one with the biggest known placebo component in exercise science. The only controlled trial that put a cordyceps supplement inside a real 14-week training programme found no difference in bench press, squat or body fat against placebo.
The category's ergogenic signal is confined to time to exhaustion. Dewi and Khemtong's 2025 review in Current Nutrition Reports found cordyceps supplementation from 2 to 16 weeks improved aerobic performance dose-dependently, measured as longer time to exhaustion, while effects on aerobic fitness stayed inconsistent. Hirsch 2017 matches that pattern: time to exhaustion rose at one and three weeks, but VO₂max only shifted at three weeks in ten people. And Kreipke's 14-week concurrent-training trial found bench press (+4%), squat (+8%) and body fat (−1.3%) improved identically in supplement and placebo groups.
So the honest ranking has one plausible entry, several honourable mentions for reasons unrelated to performance, and a lot of empty space where the marketing is loudest.
What Has Actually Been Measured in Athletes?
Aerobic endpoints, almost exclusively, and mostly with cordyceps. Dewi and Khemtong reviewed the human literature in 2025 and reported a consistent pattern: supplementation over 2 to 16 weeks improved aerobic performance in a dose-dependent way, shown by increased time to exhaustion, while effects on aerobic fitness remained inconsistent.
That distinction carries the whole article. Performance is how long you last. Fitness is your measured physiological capacity. The literature moves the first and can't reliably move the second.
Why Time to Exhaustion Is the Weakest Endpoint to Win
Because the participant decides when it ends. A VO₂max test has a physiological ceiling and a squat has an objective load, but time to exhaustion is volitional: you stop when you choose to stop. It's the endpoint in exercise science most exposed to motivation and expectancy.
None of that proves the effect isn't real. It does mean a result that shows up only on the softest available measure, and vanishes on the two hardest ones, deserves less confidence than the same effect size on a 1RM would. Our cordyceps versus caffeine article makes a related point about which constructs are being compared.
What Happened When Someone Tested It Inside Real Training?
Nothing separated the groups. Kreipke's team gave 21 active college-aged men either a multi-ingredient supplement containing Rhodiola rosea and Cordyceps sinensis, or placebo, across 14 weeks of concurrent resistance and high-intensity interval training.
Both groups improved body fat by 1.3%, bench press by 4% and squat strength by 8%. Serum cortisol fell 11%. There was no difference between groups on any of it. The supplement did improve some weekly measures — sprint performance, bench press volume, total workload — but that didn't translate into better overall training outcomes.
This is the study that answers the question most people are actually asking, and its answer is no. It's also a multi-ingredient product, so it can't isolate cordyceps — a limitation that cuts both ways.
Is There Anything for Strength or Hypertrophy?
No. Not one randomised trial of any functional mushroom has shown a benefit for maximal strength, muscle growth or power beyond placebo. Kreipke's is the closest thing to a test of the question, and it came back null.
Anyone selling you a mushroom for muscle is selling you a mechanism story. There's no result behind it.
Where the Category Might Genuinely Help an Athlete
Indirectly, through the things that limit training rather than the things that produce it. Two routes have better support than the direct ergogenic claim does.
Fatigue and sleep. Reishi has the category's strongest fatigue result: 132 patients with neurasthenia took a polysaccharide extract for eight weeks and their sense of fatigue fell 28.3% against 20.1% on placebo, with 51.6% rated more than minimally improved versus 24.6% (p = 0.002). Recovering better is a training input. Our reishi and sleep article covers the mechanism side.
Immune load in heavy blocks. Shiitake at food doses raised γδ-T cell proliferation 60% and doubled NK-T proliferation in healthy adults over four weeks. Nobody has shown that translates to fewer missed sessions, but a hard training block is one of the few contexts where the immune question isn't purely theoretical. See our immunity ranking for what that evidence does and doesn't say.
Neither is an ergogenic claim. Both are more defensible than one.
The Ranking
| Mushroom | Best evidence for an athlete | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Cordyceps | Time to exhaustion, dose-dependent over 2–16 weeks; VO₂max inconsistent | The only real candidate |
| Reishi | Fatigue −28.3% vs −20.1%; indirect via recovery and sleep | Underrated, for the wrong reason |
| Shiitake | Immune markers at food doses in healthy adults | Plausible support role |
| Lion's mane | Cognition trials only; nothing physical | Not a sports supplement |
| Chaga, Trametes, tremella | No exercise data of any kind | No basis |
| Any mushroom, for strength | One 14-week RCT, null vs placebo | Not supported |
Does the Species Matter? Yes, More Than the Dose
The most-cited cordyceps endurance result used Cs-4, a fermented Cordyceps sinensis mycelium, at 1 gram a day for 12 weeks — and reported no VO₂max change in either group. The C. militaris data comes from Hirsch's blend at 4 g/day, where the three-week arm was ten people.
Almost every cordyceps product on a European shelf is C. militaris fruiting body. So the evidence base and the products are only loosely connected, a mismatch our species comparison works through properly.
What About Our Own Blend?
Forest Cardio Power is the product in our range aimed at this use, and its ingredient line is turmeric plus Cordyceps militaris at 0.5 g per capsule. Split across two ingredients at the recommended intake, neither reaches the amount used in any of the trials above. Our guide to it runs that arithmetic in full, including where the label contradicts itself.
If your goal maps onto a published dose, single species is the only way to reach it — the point our blend versus single species article quantifies.
How to Test This on Yourself Without Fooling Yourself
- Pick a hard endpoint. A 1RM, a time trial over a fixed distance, or a power output. Not "how long until I quit" — that's the measure most likely to move for the wrong reason.
- Give it 8 to 12 weeks. The trials that found anything ran that long; Hirsch's one-week arm found nothing at all.
- Don't start it alongside a programme change. Kreipke's placebo group gained 8% on squat from the training alone.
- Use one species. A blend at four capsules a day still leaves each ingredient far short of any trial dose.
- Check your sport's anti-doping rules. Mushrooms aren't prohibited, but multi-ingredient sports supplements are a recognised contamination risk, and that's a supply-chain problem rather than a botanical one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do mushrooms improve athletic performance?
Only on one endpoint. Cordyceps has repeatedly increased time to exhaustion over 2 to 16 weeks, but effects on aerobic fitness are inconsistent and no trial has shown a strength or hypertrophy benefit over placebo. The 14-week concurrent-training study found no between-group difference at all.
Is cordyceps good for endurance athletes?
It's the only defensible candidate. Long-term supplementation improves time to exhaustion dose-dependently, per a 2025 review. But the most-cited trial used Cs-4 fermented mycelium rather than the C. militaris fruiting body most products contain, and reported no VO₂max change.
Can mushrooms help build muscle?
No trial supports that. In the only controlled study inside a real training programme, bench press rose 4% and squat 8% in both the supplement and placebo groups over 14 weeks, with no difference between them.
Which mushroom is best for recovery?
Reishi has the strongest fatigue data — a 28.3% reduction against 20.1% on placebo in 132 patients over eight weeks. That's a fatigue endpoint in a clinical population, not a recovery endpoint in athletes, so treat it as suggestive rather than established.
How long before cordyceps does anything?
Between three and twelve weeks in the trials that found effects. Hirsch's one-week arm showed nothing significant on any measure, including VO₂max at p = 0.364. Anything shorter than a month is not a test.
Shop Endurance Support
Cordyceps militaris capsules (120 caps €49) hold 0.5 g each; dried cordyceps (100 g €49, 500 g €199) is the cheapest route to a gram-scale daily dose at €0.40–0.49 per gram. If recovery and sleep are the real limiter, Reishi capsules (120 caps €39) are the better buy on the evidence. Forest Cardio Power (120 caps €69) is the blend option — read the dose arithmetic first. Free shipping on orders over €50.
Related Articles
- Cordyceps vs Caffeine for Energy
- Cordyceps, Endurance and ATP: The Human Studies
- Cordyceps for Recovery and Fatigue
- Cordyceps militaris vs sinensis
- Forest Cardio Power Guide
- Best Mushrooms for Energy Without Caffeine
- Mushroom Blend vs Single Species
Sources
- Dewi L, Khemtong C. Ergogenic aid by Cordyceps: does it work? Curr Nutr Rep. 2025;14(1):97. PubMed 40768109
- Kreipke VC, Moffatt RJ, Tanner CJ, Ormsbee MJ. Effects of concurrent training and a multi-ingredient performance supplement containing Rhodiola rosea and Cordyceps sinensis on body composition, performance, and health in active men. J Diet Suppl. 2021;18(6):597-613. PubMed 33078636
- Hirsch KR, Smith-Ryan AE, Roelofs EJ, Trexler ET, Mock MG. Cordyceps militaris improves tolerance to high-intensity exercise after acute and chronic supplementation. J Diet Suppl. 2017;14(1):42-53. PubMed 27408987
- Chen S, Li Z, Krochmal R, Abrazado M, Kim W, Cooper CB. Effect of Cs-4 (Cordyceps sinensis) on exercise performance in healthy older subjects: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. J Altern Complement Med. 2010;16(5):585-590. PubMed 20804368
- Tang W, Gao Y, Chen G, et al. A randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of a Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide extract in neurasthenia. J Med Food. 2005;8(1):53-58. PubMed 15857210
- Dai X, Stanilka JM, Rowe CA, et al. Consuming Lentinula edodes (shiitake) mushrooms daily improves human immunity: a randomized dietary intervention in healthy young adults. J Am Coll Nutr. 2015;34(6):478-487. PubMed 25866155