Donating Blood & Athletic Performance

Donating blood is an incredibly valuable way to help others in need.

However, for athletes, it’s important to understand how blood donation affects performance.

What Happens After Donation

Recovery time:

You will need to rest for 24 hrs to have your plasma levels normalize before doing hard exercise
Red blood cells (which carry oxygen to muscles) take 3-6 weeks to return to prior levels.

Impact on performance:

Research shows endurance athletes may see a temporary drop in VO2max, work rate, and time to exhaustion for up to 2-3 weeks.
One study reported about a 9% drop in VO2max and a 13% decrease in max work rate immediately after donation.
The American Red Cross states that it takes 4-6 weeks to fully recover red blood cell counts.

Impact on your season:

If you donate during the season, you will have to reduce your training quite substantially.

This will make it unlikely you will set PRs during most of the season.

You will therefore be unable to improve as much as you would have otherwise by the end of the season.

We are ONLY discouraging blood donation during the season.

Athletes on our team should not donate at the school blood drives since these typically happen during the season.

To schedule a blood donation outside of season, click the buttons below!