Ashwagandha for Female Athletes: What a 28-Day Trial in Pro Footballers Really Showed
Summary
If you're a female athlete (or coach one) who's seen ashwagandha marketed as a "stress and recovery" supplement, this is one of the few studies that actually tested it in women who train and compete at a high level. Most ashwagandha research to date has been done in men, so a trial built specifically around professional female footballers fills a real gap.
Researchers at a Spanish professional football club randomized 30 female players to either 600 mg/day of ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) root extract or a matched placebo, taken once daily for 28 days during normal training. Neither the paper's methods excerpt nor the trial registration describes how blinding was actually implemented, so treat this as randomized and placebo-controlled, but not confirmed double-blind in the way a Jadad-scored trial ideally would be. Recovery was tracked with three well-established sports-science tools: the Total Quality Recovery (TQR) scale (a self-rated "how recovered do I feel" score), the Hooper Index (a wellness questionnaire covering sleep, fatigue, soreness, and stress), and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) after training. Strength and power were measured via hand grip strength, medicine ball throw, countermovement jump, and peak power output, at baseline and after 28 days.
The headline result: players taking ashwagandha reported better overall recovery (TQR) over the course of the month, with the gap between groups reaching statistical significance by day 28 (p = 0.039). Perceived sleep quality — a Hooper Index subscale — improved significantly in the ashwagandha group as early as day 14 (p = 0.038), suggesting a fairly quick subjective effect on sleep. Grip strength and medicine ball throw also differed between groups by day 28, though these analyses statistically adjusted for carbohydrate intake, which turned out to be a significant influence on strength outcomes in its own right — a reminder that diet, not just the supplement, was doing real work here.
This fits a growing body of evidence: a related 2025-2026 study using KSM-66 ashwagandha in mixed-sex team-sport athletes found it blunted the usual pre-season rise in cortisol, particularly in women, alongside improved recovery and lower fatigue and soreness scores. Together, these studies point toward ashwagandha's most consistent, reproducible effect being on the stress-hormone axis and subjective recovery/sleep — rather than a dramatic jump in raw strength or power output, which remains less consistently supported.
What This Means For You
If you're considering ashwagandha for training support, this trial suggests 600 mg/day of a standardized root extract (taken consistently, once daily, for at least 2-4 weeks) is the dose with actual female-athlete data behind it — not the 250-300 mg doses seen in some general wellness products. Effects on subjective sleep quality showed up within two weeks, while whole-recovery perception took closer to four weeks to separate from placebo, so this isn't a same-week fix — plan for at least a month of use before judging whether it's working for you.
Who might benefit most: athletes and heavy trainees dealing with accumulated fatigue, poor sleep during high-load training blocks, or subjective "flatness" between sessions — this is squarely a recovery and stress-modulation supplement, not a strength-building one. The strength and power findings here are muddied by a strong independent effect of carbohydrate intake, so don't expect ashwagandha alone to move the needle on your grip strength or jump height if your diet isn't dialed in first — fueling adequately around training may matter as much or more.
When buying, look for standardized root-only extracts (the study used a commercial root extract; other trials commonly use KSM-66 or Sensoril, both root-derived and third-party tested) rather than products blending leaf and root, since leaf material has been more frequently implicated in liver-related case reports. Athletes subject to anti-doping testing should also verify batch-level informed-sport or NSF Certified for Sport certification, since herbal supplement supply chains carry contamination risk. Cost-wise, a 600 mg/day habit is a modest, low-risk addition compared to many recovery products, but it's an adjunct to sleep, nutrition, and training load management — not a replacement for them.
Important Considerations
This was a small trial — 15 women per group — at a single professional football club, so statistical power was limited and the findings need replication in larger, more diverse athlete samples before being treated as settled. The Jadad quality assessment for this paper scored 0 out of 5: the text available doesn't describe the actual randomization method, doesn't describe how (or whether) blinding was maintained for participants and assessors, and doesn't report dropouts — all of which matter for ruling out bias, expectation effects, and selective reporting. A self-reported outcome like "how recovered do I feel" is also inherently more susceptible to placebo and expectation effects than a lab-measured biomarker, especially in an unblinded or unclear-blinding design.
The study was funded and supplement-provided by the manufacturer (Zenement/BITIO PROJECT SL), a common arrangement in supplement research but one worth factoring into how you weigh the results — the authors themselves note the results shouldn't be read as a product endorsement. The population was elite professional footballers in their 20s with structured training loads, which may not generalize to recreational exercisers, older adults, or other sports. The paper itself flags that optimal dosage hasn't been established and that ashwagandha research in female athletes specifically remains sparse.
Separately, be aware that while root-only ashwagandha at typical doses (300-600 mg/day) has a generally favorable safety record, rare cases of liver injury have been reported internationally, often linked to higher doses, leaf-containing products, or contaminated supplements. Anyone with liver conditions, thyroid disorders, autoimmune disease, or who is pregnant/breastfeeding should talk to a doctor before starting ashwagandha, and stop use and seek care if jaundice, dark urine, or unusual fatigue with nausea develops.
Terms Explained
Technical Study Details
Study Design
Total Score
JADAD Quality Assessment評価詳細
Randomization
0 / 2Blinding
-1 / 2Dropouts/Withdrawals
0 / 1Study Population
Interventions
Ashwagandha root extract
TreatmentPlacebo
ControlOutcomes
| Outcome | Type | Effect | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Quality Recovery (TQR) | Primary | - | p=0.026Significant |
| Perceived sleep quality (Hooper Index subscale) | Primary | - | p=0.038Significant |
| Hooper Index (overall) | Secondary | - | - |
| Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) | Secondary | - | - |
| Hand grip strength | Secondary | - | p=0.005Significant |
| Medicine ball throw (MBT) | Secondary | - | <0.001Significant |
| Countermovement jump (CMJ) | Secondary | - | - |
| Peak power | Secondary | - | - |
| Body mass | Secondary | - | <0.001Significant |
Conclusion
A dosage of 600 mg of ashwagandha root extract for 28 days may improve Total Quality Recovery (TQR) and enhance perceived sleep quality in female footballers.Limitations
- Study population limited to professional female footballers, which may limit generalizability to other athletic populations
- Optimal dosage of ashwagandha for this population has not been established
- Research on ashwagandha's impact on female athletes remains limited overall