Multipower Sports Nutrition

Iv lost track of how many wonderfully coloured and diverse flavoured energy products I have tried over the years. Various industrial looking tubs full of wonderfully multicoloured potions and labelled with claims basically promising to turn me into a lean, mean pedalling machine.
Now, I will have to confess to being an incredibly fussy eater, and even more so when it comes to sports nutrition products. I could probably count on once hand the amount of products I have tried and can get on with on a regular basis. I think the problem is a lot of them are made so synthetically that they often end up with the consistency akin to chalk sweepings off the factory floor, coupled with a nice injection of E-number 007 to enhance the subtle undertones of Cillit Bang on your palette. So its fair to say im quite a tough crowd when it comes to the world of drinks and gels and such.
MultipowerUK were a brand I had not really heard of before. The two brands I usually run with are High-5 (mainly due to flavour preference) and also ZipVit, although I stopped buying Zipvit recently as I found they hiked their prices up around the time their marketing push because more prevalent, strangely around the same time they got into bed with that infamous pro tour team RadioShack. Where I once found their products good value (often BOGOF on tubs of drink), take the example their 15 protein recovery bars for around £16 (I refer to this incident as Protein-gate).... now the exact same box of bars sells for £24.75. I kind of take objection for a price hike of around £8 considering I'm certainly not getting £8 worth more product or research, rather I feel I'm subsidising their marketing push.....and that troubles me. 
Anyway reader, I digress..... as for MultipowerUK, a cursory glance at their website reveals prices are very easy on the pocket. I tested some products from their new 'Active' range, aimed at endurance athletes and those looking to boost energy levels and recovery from efforts ready to do the same thing the next day in training. Below are my thoughts on each of the three product I tried, over the space of a few weeks, using them on training rides from 1hour-4 hour efforts.

First up is the 'ISO Drink Mix'. An ample sized tub containing 875g of energy drink in the inoffensive taste of lemon. Multipower claim the tub will make 25 servings, so at its offer price of £9 that works out to approximately 36p per bidon. Now, I know not all cycling purchases are wallet driven, but you have to admit that's quite amazing value. Consider that a box of 12 sachets of High-5 costs around £9... that's double the amount! So full marks to MultipowerUK for the numbers. So whats the product like!? well, upon opening the lid, greeting you will be a handy serving spoon, a good idea. The powder looked quite crystal like, initially worrying me it might be hard to dissolve.

However, my fears were alleviated, this actually dissolves incredibly easy. The colour wasn't too nuclear, which was also a good sign. for every serving this drink will give you a serving of around 31g carbs... not bad. The thing that I really liked about this drink though was the inclusion of BCAA's and the supplement L-Carnitine. BCAA's are Branched Chain Amino Acids, that in layman's terms help make the most out of post-workout period and are the building blocks of muscle protein. L-Carnitine is a nutrient that helps turn body fat into fuel. Iv been taking L-Carnitine for a while in pill form, so its great the drink has it already contained, saving some cash on additional supplementation. So that's the tech bit covered. What the heck did it taste like I hear you say? Well... it tasted... lemony. Not overly strong, no citrus kick as such, but it was quite pleasant. Id imagine its taste might not be great when boiling hot, but with cold water it was certainly refreshing. 

It went down easily on some medium length (around 80k) solo rides I did recently, and certainly felt like it was doing the trick. Recently i tried doing some early morning training runs with water only, and maybe its all in my head but the legs certainly felt dead when compared to 'fuelling up'. I like the ISO drink and I think i'l definitely put in an order for another pot when this one runs out..... Overall its inoffensive in taste, and I really like the added benefits of the ingredients, as opposed to just a straight carb drink. The formula is both wheat-free and nut-free so ideal for anyone worrying about intolerance's.


Next up I tried the 'Re-Charge' drink. Again coming in an 800g tub, the price is also a very thrifty £9. Billing itself as a product that can be used both during and after training, Its similar in High-5's 4:1 I guess, utilising a ratio of almost 30g of carbs to 10g of protein with each serving. Its also contains 6g of the curiously named 'PeptoPro' protein, which upon googling I found is basically a super fast acting protein, getting straight to the muscles after exertion. I tried to use this in my second bidon, usually to see me home on the last hour from Box Hill. That way one can think about starting your 'recovery' process whilst actually heading back from a ride.

The drink was 'Orange' flavour... and sure enough it did taste orangeycarb drink like the ISO drink for the main part of fuelling. BCAA's are again present making this an ideal beginning to ride recovery. The recharge drink is fully nut-fee.

The last product I tested out was the 'Recovery' protein bars. Weighing in at £25 for a box of 24 bars, they seem to represent decent value.

In the guise of a chocolate coated bar, each portion offers up 14g of protein for recovery after a hard ride (tradition dictates that products of this type are best ingested within a 20 minute post training window for maximum benefit). The bars are also packing 17g of carbs to replenish glycogen levels depleted on long rides. Id kind of liked to have seen slightly more protein content within the recovery bar, but I guess the trade off would be taste. The bar was OK, Iv tasted better, but iv also tasted much, much worse. The bar didn't do that awful thing where after endless chewing it disintegrates into a tasteless dust that's hard to swallow, in fact the choc coating made it quite like eating a mars bar (maybe a little harder) sans the caramel (the fun part!). The idea of the bars is to get one down your neck after a ride, and the protein heads to repair those tired and stressed muscles, ergo sum staving off that painful stiffness the next day, enabling training to be sustained. The price is certainly right on these, and a palatable starter for anyone wishing to aid recovery. Don't expect it to taste like a bar of cadbury's finest, sadly... its a little bland, but then the things that taste the best have a propensity to not be so great for mind and body.

All products from the active range over at > MultipowerUK.com