Buyer Beware!

Before I start my latest rant, I wanted to take a second to send my condolences to a good friend of mine, Tim Foristall. Tim lost his father, Steven, to cancer this week. We here at summit health + fitness would like to send our condolences to Tim and the rest of his family. Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you.

I know that I said last week that I would be talking about our new BODYFLOWTM class. I have to veer off that road for the time being to get something off my chest. The purpose of this week’s blog will be to tell you about pre-workout “energy drinks” and how I STRONGLY recommend NEVER using them!

I had Wednesday scheduled as an off-day but I decided to come into the gym for a workout (Andrew’s Beach Body Boot Camp). I was really down on energy all morning and was having a tough time getting motivated to workout. I remembered that I had a free sample of a pre-workout energy powder (name of the product has intentionally been left out). The directions said to mix the powder with 6-8 ounces of water and to drink it 30-40 minutes prior to working out. I followed them to the letter. The drink was fruit punch flavored and was actually quite yummy. Before I could even finish the drink (remember it is only 6-8 ounces) I felt like I got slapped in the face with an energy kick. I began sweating profusely and could feel my heart rate increasing noticeably. It was unnerving to say the least. So I arrived at the gym, sweating heavily, heart pounding and on the verge of freaking out! I talked to Phil (one of the gym owners) and Andrew to see if this was normal. Their response: TOTALLY NORMAL. This is exactly what these drinks are supposed to do! How is that possible??!! Apparently, there are some who seek and crave this type of energy boost and overall crazy sensation. I AM NOT ONE OF THEM! Phil and Andrew were kind enough to make me aware of the impending “Crash” that lie ahead, but I will talk more about that later...

So now I proceed to the workout. This “magic potion” did what is was supposed to do. It boosted my energy and got me through a difficult class and a tough workout. What is didn’t say on the package is that it would make me sweat through two t-shirts, have the worst cotton-mouth of my life and make me feel like my heart was going to explode out of my chest.

I finished my workout and headed home to “ride out the storm” that I had created for myself. About an hour after I got home, the “crash” that I was promised had arrived. It felt like I had been hit by a train. I was exhausted. I ended up taking a two-hour nap in the middle of the afternoon. Needless to say, this mid-afternoon nap totally messed up my sleeping cycle and had me tossing and turning all night.

Obviously, I did not enjoy the effects of this product. Based on my research, there are a ton of them available on the market. There is a reason we do not sell them at summit health + fitness, nor will we in the future. If you are really dragging or lacking energy, try a cup of coffee and a banana. For most of us, this is sufficient. I do not recommend trying one of these drinks. If you are a fan of these drinks and are going to continue to use them, please be careful in doing so. The feeling I got did not seem right and appeared to be downright dangerous.

If you have stories related to the use of these types of drinks, positive or negative, please post them in the comments section. Please do not use any specific brand names when telling your story.

Thanks again for reading. My next blog will cover BODYFLOWTM, I promise!

Take Care,

Cal