Hammer Nutrtion: Endurance Fuels Review

    I have trained and raced in a few marathons, and have had enough experience using/or not using endurance supplements to know that when used properly they are nothing short of miraculous. Effectively integrating these products into a training routine is not an easy task, and requires a fair amount of experimentation coupled with a healthy knowledge of sports nutrition. When you devote 6 months of your life to train for an event, you want to be confident that what you are putting in your body does not jeopardize your performance. Ultimately, using endurance supplements correctly, really is the most important thing to think about when dabbling with the various bars/gels/powders out there.

    Only recently have athletes really begun to understand how to effectively utilize nutritional supplemets in training/racing. In early RAAM (Race Across America) events participants operated on the principle that you must eat as much possible to match the calories you burn. Today they have caloric intake ratios down to a science. For example, during an endurance event your body can replace at most 280 calories an hour (smaller athletes can replace less), and anything else passes on, unused, to cause problems in your bowels. During a race or important workout, you need to make those 280 calories count.

    When travelling across two continents with 60 pounds of gear, you can't exactly tackle each day like you are in a race. Nonetheless, we still ride hard for about 6 hours a day, up hills, through mud, snow, etc. After months of this, we have developed a very conscious relationship with the food we eat and our wellbeing/performance on our bikes. We do not calculate averages and mile times, but we do notice how we feel when we are riding. If I did not get enough calories I do not enjoy pedalling, even on the flats. If I eat too much my stomach will have a variety of issues and it feels more difficult to breathe, as if the food is pushing up against my lungs. Living on my bike gives me a unique means to test a few of Hammer Nutrition's products.

PERPETUEM

    We have been using powdered Gatorade on our trip and found that after about 2 hours of riding, your body needs something more than just water. The University of Florida invented Gatorade and used it successfully with their football program. It has since evolved into the "sports beverage" industry, with commercials of well-chiseled athletes sweating out neon liquids, demanding that you, "Quench Your Thirst." Anybody who has actually used the stuff knows very well that it does not quench your thirst at all, but operates to make you thirstier, for the same reason that bars have salted peanuts on the counter: when your body receives a bunch of salt, the balance in your blood gets tilted and your body responds by saying that you need to drink something to restore the balance. In a bar, that means more drinks that you normally wouldn't have. For an athelete, too much fluid can drastically reduce the level of performance.

    Gatorade has evolved into a mainstream beverage and is far too concentrated to be useful to athletes without dilluting it. Decades of scientific research has evolved our understanding of "thirst quenchers" but Gatorade has remained the same. Serious endurance athletes look for more advanced nutritional supplements

   The first thing I thought when I tried Peretuem was how delicious it was, just like an orange vanilla popsicle. Actually, it tasted nothing like an orange-vanilla popsicle, which is why I liked it. It didn't taste good or bad, just a benign and subtle orange-ish flavor. I have tried plenty of new "scientifically advanced" endurance drinks, and found that science and taste rarely mix well.

    The second thing I noticed about it was that it really did "quench my thirst." Gatorade always enhanced my thirst, and I would too quickly finish my Camelback, and spend every 15 minutes down the road emptying myself of the unused liquid. The Perpetuem infused water felt nurishing, it did not throw my body out of whack, but seemed to reinforce a stable level of hydration and energy.

    I didn't have the biggest meal that day, and after about two hours of riding, I began drinking Perpetuem. I nursed it for about 45 minutes. Usually after about 5 hours of riding I feel very hungry, no matter how many candybars I eat. We rode for almost 6 hours and I felt satisfied and enjoyed my ride the whole time.

    I have tried it a few times since and feel that a dose offers a reliable store of energy for about 2 hours. I never experienced any stomach discomfort from it, nor did I resent the taste of it. It is important for someone training for an endurance event to enjoy their longer rides/runs and not cringe at the thought of them. Having the proper energy available makes a big difference and Perpetuem is an excellent way to achieve that.

HAMMER GEL

    This product has commanded quite an audience in the mountain biking world. It has received the Mountain Bike Review (MTBR) Choice award from 2003-2005. We were given three flavors to try: Raspberry, Espresso (w/ caffeine), and Orange. I would imagine that the taste and preference is relative to the individual and with 9 different flavors, you are bound to find one that will work for you.

    I tried the Espresso first and ate it straight out of the packet. I've always been somewhat hyper-sensitive to stimulants like Caffeine, and enjoyed the extra rush it offered. There have been many articles in the past two years discussing caffeine and it's effects on athletes, from National Geographic to Adventure Cyclist. Few articles will take a stand and say that caffeine is beneficial or not for athletes, but a few agree that it helps our body utilize fat stores for energy, a source more difficult to access than carbohydrates. Personally, I am a huge proponent of caffeine, and believe that it makes a significant difference in my performance. It is worth experimenting with, but may not be for everyone.

    The Hammer Gel is intended to give you energy for workouts lasting less than 2 hours. It is extremely easy to digest and process into useable energy. For the most part I've just eaten candybars for that quick fix, but inevitably discover that it is too quick a fix and leaves me feeling hollowed out within 40 minutes: because the simple sugars break down too quickly. You can see this happen with kids around Halloween, as they practically vibrate from all the simple sugar intake, and then suddenly fall asleep. Hammer Nutrition is very conscious of providing wholesome, healthy ingredients in their products that offer lasting energy from complex-carbohydrates.

The product is designed to give you energy for up to two hours. Our rides last at least 6, and I always begin fueled by a large meal. To get a better sense of what the gel offered I had to ride until I bonked and then tried the orange Hammer Gel. It felt like it took about 10-15 minutes before I could feel any noticeable effects. It did not restore me to my pre-bonk state, but it came pretty close and I think that is about all I could ask from an energy gel at the end of a long ride.

    The instructions say that you can mix the Gel with water so I attempted to dillute the raspberry packet I had. I put water in the little Hammer Gel container they gave us, and shook it, again, and again and again. The stubborn red goo just settled at the bottom. I waited a couple hours, thinking that it would eventually mix, but it didn't.

    Overall, Hammer Gel is a very convenient way to get energy quickly without upsetting your stomach during a rigorous workout/race. At just over a dollar for a single serving packet, it would be worth having around to help you finish that long workout a bit stronger.

   As a sidenote, I would like to see somebody make the gel packets with at least a bio-degradable tear top because that foil/plastic material will never disintegrate and even after extensive post-race clean-ups, you will still see the wrappers littering the site.

RECOVERITE

    I have never tried an endurance supplement that you take to help prevent that 'next day fatigue" which is inevitable after a hard workout. It seems like a brilliant idea, especially, considering I am generally too exhausted afterwards to think about the next day.

I waited to try this out after I had a good workout, one that would surely leave me lying stiff the next morning. After a 7 hour day off-road with a good 4,000 foot difference in elevation I knew that I would be "hurtin for certain." Mixed the appropriate dose with a bottle full of water, shook it up and drank.

    Another miracle of Hammer Nutrition is that it tasted pleasant enough, not strong or overly powdery. It mixed easily with water and was not too thick. Recoverite is an athletes version of one of those meal-replacement shakes, and if you've ever forced one of those down your throat, you will appreciate what Hammer has created.

    I awoke the next day without the expected stiffness, and lack of will to get up. It still felt like I had a hard-workout the day before, but in a good way. Usually on these post recovery days I have to ride slowly for thirty or so minutes and stretch for another thirty. Post Recoverite, I could just get on my bike and go. It felt blissfully weird.

    I wished I would have known about this marvel of sports nutrition when I trained for marathons. Those long saturday runs could wipe me out for a few days and send me off of my training schedule because I just couldn't recover quick enough. And longer you get off schedule the easier it is to stay off-schedule.

IS IT FOR YOU?

    With the average marathon training schedule lasting about 6 months, it could get quite costly to supplement every single workout with Hammer Products. Nor is it possible to afford to ride for the next two years with Hammer Gel, Perpetuem and Recoverite every day. It would be nice, but not practical given the casual nature of our riding. Unless you are a real serious athlete it is unnecessary to supplement every workout However, it is not necessary to supplement every workout with gel and powders, unless you are a very serious competitor.

    For the rest of us, there are times when our workouts would really benefit from some Perpetuem and Recoverite, but it is difficult to know how to use it as efficiently and effectively as possible.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

    Having knowledgeable athletes to correspond with over the phone/email makes all the difference. Whether you're a week from race-day and nervous about pre-race nutrtion, or wanting to budget your workouts as efficiently as possible, Hammer Nutrtion can really help. You might be able to find products comparable to Hammer, but I doubt you will find customer service that is.

CONCLUSION

    If you are currently training for an endurance event, you should absolutely check out Hammer Nutrition. At the very least, give them a call and see how they can help you. They can set you up with a nutritional regimen that matches your athletic aspirations and budget.