Within this fist sized bottle is packed 400 calories.
This is a powerhouse of a nutrition product.
A little caloric grenade, if you will.
There are three characteristics of these EFS Liquid Shots that I really love.
The first is that it has 1,000mg of amino acids in it. Not protein, but pure amino acids. Research has shown that taking in amino acids during endurance sport can be beneficial. They may allow the body to push a bit harder because it has these amino acids to use as a fuel source vs body protein. In essence, these a.a’s kind of make the Central Governor feel a bit easier about letting go of the reigns a bit.
You can find further reading on a.a.’s here.
Second, is that it’s neither pure liquid nor pure solid. Almost like the consistency of pudding. This means that for a person like me who is not a big drinker, it works great for taking a mouthful of water right before an aid station and then chasing with gatorade. One could even take small sips of it along the way and be just fine, although having a bit of water is a bonus.
Finally, another cool thing about these Liquid Shots is that the bottles are reusable, they are basically mini water bottles. You can purchase larger 32oz containers of the shots itself. What I did was purchase one single flask of each flavor, and I’ll probably purchase a larger bottle of the vanilla or kona mocha to refill. The wild berry was good, but not something I’d want 32oz of I don’t think 😉
1st Endurance Liquid Shot in use
Uses:
The main time I can see this being used, and when I’m planning on using it, is during any half and full marathons. For a half marathon effort I would likely experiment during my long runs with removing about a quarter of the pudding and add some water. That would make it a bit easier to take it without any additional fluid whatsoever. During a marathon I would probably take 1 of these over the course of the first 1.5-2 hours plus on course nutrition, which would probably put me at 600 calories in a couple hours. I could even take the full container during that first hour while my pace is low and stomach is still feeling good, and do on-course nutrition for the rest of the run.
What I like most about First Endurance is that they seem to be a brand heavily invested into science. When I was in college I was actually a subject during a study looking at the effectiveness of their PreRace supplement (it was effective). If you browse their website you’ll see a great deal of education about their products.
It should be noted that it is extremely difficult to actually tell if a nutritional product worked or not. I obviously did not test this on myself in a laboratory in a double blind, however I used it during harder workouts and did not feel any adverse reactions. And I’m quite confident it worked in that it fueled that particular workout.
So be sure to check these and the other great products out at 1st Endurance. Any purchase made through the amazon links above give a few cents back to the blog here without costing you anything, and greatly appreciated!