Leandro Barbosa is still going strong after all these years. The 33-year-old backup shooting guard is averaging 13.4 minutes off the bench in the postseason for the Golden State Warriors and playing well. What’s his secret? The answer might surprise you.
Barbosa credits his longevity to a green liquid extract made from the leaves of a South American shrub called arnica do mato. What’s arnica do mato?
“It’s a medicine you give horses,” Barbosa said, via the New York Times‘ Scott Cacciola. “Whenever they get hurt, it helps them recover very quickly. Because they have to run.”
Barbosa says he gets his delivered direct from Brazil as an extract. He drinks it straight up, twice a day — once in the morning and once at night. It is not particularly delicious, he said. Then again, it was not originally intended for human consumption.
“It cleans out all the bad things that you have in your body,” Barbosa said. “All natural.”
Barbosa’s personal trainer recommended that he start drinking the arnica do mato extract in February 2013 as part of his rehabilitation from a torn ACL. He hasn’t sustained any serious injuries since he began taking the Amazonian elixir.
“It burns going down,” said Barbosa, who scored seven points in 13 minutes in the Warriors’ 110-99 win Tuesday night against the Portland Trail Blazers. “You kind of feel dizzy if you’re not used to it. I got used to it.”
Barbosa’s teammates, however, were not fans of the arnica do mato.
“Tastes like acid,” Harrison Barnes said.
“I almost threw up,” Festus Ezeli said.
It’s certainly working for Barbosa, though.
