Tired of those plastic containers of premixed drinks? Get bloated easily from Gatorade or other sport hydration drinks? Need something portable, doesn’t require refrigeration and is inexpensive? Then there’s a good chance that Power Bar Power Gel might just be the thing you are looking for. Touted as a quick energy supplement, the gel is rapidly absorbed into the body and requires no mixing prior to consumption. It is recommended that you drink water with it to prevent dehydration but you won’t have to fumble around mixing a certain amount of water, shaking and having to worry about getting the gel all over the place. While you can mix this with water to make a drink, it isn’t necessary. This makes it perfect for those that are looking for a portable energy source when training hard, running, backpacking or just need a little boost.
Power Bar Power Gel
Take everything you know about sport drinks and toss it out the window. This is a completely new take on “liquid vigor” that can be a beneficial part of a work out when you need rapid energy and don’t want to wait around for a pill or tablet to kick in. I’ve tried several of the flavors that Power Bar offers and while not all of them have appealed to me, I do have to say that you do get a nice pump off them. Generally the energy you get from it will last about 20 – 30 minutes but that isn’t carved in stone and each person will have a different time frame. If you are larger, have more muscle or have just eaten then you might not get as much of a ‘rush’ from it as a 5ֺ, 120 pound gym bunny.
Now, let’s get this out of the way, this isn’t the same type of product as Stacker 2 and it doesn’t have ephedrine or ephedra compounds in it. What it does have is a hell of a lot of sugar and carbohydrates. For me this isn’t something that I use all that often since I am a recovering carb addict but I do use this when I hit the gym and need a little bit of extra energy but don’t want something that is going to last for hours on end. This is a great thing to use if you work out in the evening providing that you can justify the number of carbohydrates you are ingesting.
How Do You Use It?
Well, I have to admit this – when I first purchased this I thought that you snipped off the top and squeezed it into a glass or bottle of water. I did get some funny looks at the gym when I attempted to do this because the gel is rather thick. It wasn’t until one of the gym rats stepped in and give me a bit of advice, “snip, suck, sip”. Snip the top of the package, suck out some of the gel, sip some water. Each person will have their own way of ingesting this power gel but if you can’t tolerate the “snip, suck and sip” method you can add the packet to about six ounces of water. Remember to shake it well and try to drink the entire portion at one time – it does tend to lose some of the kick once it’s been sitting around for a while. A few of the guys at the gym said that they get great results when adding this to their protein shakes in the afternoon but as of yet, I haven’t tried it that way.
Price
I guess I am pretty lucky; my local Big Lots carries several of the flavors for .59 cents per packet. Now, before you balk and say that they are expired or that there must be something wrong with them – all the ones that I have purchased have had at least three to six months left on the expiration date and are in excellent condition. The normal retail price for a packet is about $1.25 - $1.75 per packet depending on where you shop. Sport nutrition stores often carry these for .99 cents however if they don’t you can ask them to stock them so you will always have a source to purchase them. Gyms aren’t too keen on these products and none of them in my area stock them. If you have fallen in love with a certain Power Gel flavor you can purchase them by the box [24 per] and save a few dollars. If you are going to do this, please check the expiration date on the box to make sure you’ll have the chance to use them in time.
Flavors
While I’ve only had the chance to try out three of the gels, it does come in a wide variety of flavors including green apple, lemon lime, raspberry, strawberry banana, tropical fruit, tangerine, chocolate and vanilla. The tropical fruit one is my personal favorite and it reminds me of Hawaiian Punch only a lot thicker. The lemon lime is pretty tart but tastes great when mixed with water instead of sucked right out of the packet. The tart flavor is a real thirst quencher but it’s pretty important to follow up this gel with water to avoid dehydration. Strawberry banana was a little too sweet for my taste and left me wanting to drink a ton of water to try and get rid of the taste. I haven’t been able to find the chocolate or vanilla flavors anywhere and chances are unless I can find them sold individually I won’t commit to purchasing a box of them without knowing exactly what they taste like. A few friends at the gym love the green apple but after an incident with a Jolly Rancher of the same flavor I haven’t been able to even tolerate the smell, let alone eat something of that flavor. All in all the taste is good but it isn’t something that you will find yourself craving or dying to get your hands on. For me, the taste is good, but not great – you might think otherwise.
Ingredients & Nutritional Values
Since there are so many flavors to choose from, I’ll use my favorite [tropical fruit] one as an example. There will be some small differences in regards to calories, carbohydrates and vitamins from flavor to flavor but for the most part they are all pretty close. The common ingredients you’ll find in almost every single flavor are: maltodextrin, water, fructose, dextrose, natural flavors, citric acid, potassium chloride, salt, sodium citrate, vitamins A and E and a few preservatives. Most of them carry leucine, isoleucine and valine, three essential amino acids that help deliver the energy to muscles. Each packet contains about 110 calories, 28 grams of carbohydrates and varying levels of vitamins. The serving sizes are all 41 grams / 1.4 ounces and are packaged in flexible, single serve foil packets with a rip top.
The Bottom Line
Since this is pretty dense with carbohydrates its not something that I use often. During the summer months I sweat almost non stop so this is something that I do like to have on hand when I am feeling run down but I also need to drink a good bit of water to prevent dehydration. The bottom line is this – it is convenient. It’s a lot easier to toss a few of these in your gym bag and carry them around then bottles of pre-mixed drinks. They don’t require any special handling or need refrigeration and the top can be easily ripped off when you need a burst of energy. As I said, these are packed with carbohydrates so if you are on a low carb diet, this is something that you should use sparingly – if at all.
Power Gel energy gel from the makers of PowerBar. This convenient, efficient energy source helps you reach new endurance levels. Formulated with simpl...More at Bike Nashbar
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