Product: Asend Nutrition Hydration Mix (Strawberry Acai).

Test conditions: Tactical Athlete Training, run training, cycling training, and ruck training.

Serving size: one scoop

Servings per container: 16

Price: $22.00 (resealable bag)

Price per serving: $1.37

Macronutrient breakdown: 0g Fat; 0g Protein; 25g Carbohydrates

Additional Nutritional Facts of note: Sodium 400mg; Sugars 24g; Potassium 100mg; Vitamin-C 41 mg; Magnesium 50mg.

Ingredients: Cane Sugar, Dextrose, Sodium Citrate, Strawberries, Citric Acid, Magnesium Citrate, Calcium Citrate, Potassium Citrate, Potassium Chloride, Acai, Asorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

I received this product as a courtesy from the manufacturer via Spotter Up through Gear.com so I could test it and give my honest feedback. Thanks guys! I am not bound by any written, verbal, or implied contract to give this product a good review. All opinions are my own and are based off my personal experience with the product.

Review:

While working on my masters degree in sports and health science I spent a good majority of my time digging into how psychology and nutrition impact performance. I felt these were important to spend additional time on as they are areas which are often under-utilized, improperly implemented, or forgotten about all together.

With nutrition everyone focuses on the pre-workout mixes and post-workout shakes with minimal attention being spent on intra-workout hydration. Being able to hydrate during training will help you to perform physically and mentally at a higher level than if you skipped the hydration.

If you have the resources available to do a sweat test, I HIGHLY recommend jumping at the opportunity as it will allow you to know how your body needs to be refueled, with what and how much of it. If you are in the military you can reach out to your physical therapists, nutritionists, or trainers at your local gym. If you are in college, or near a college, reach out to physical trainers, nutritionists, and the coaches within your sports programs (or the Kinesiology classes) to see about getting tested.

Knowing those results will help you to focus your nutrition and hydration specific to your personal needs. However, if you do not have those resources, or are not interested in getting that down and dirty, you can look into hydration mixes, which brings us to this review.

This review is going to be rather subjective giving my personal experiences in taste, perceived effort during training, and perception of recovery after training. As someone who usually uses their favorite hydration mix for endurances races, it was going to take a lot to make a positive impact on me. To my surprise, Asend Nutrition did just that!

Over the course of two weeks I utilized Ascend Nutrition Hydration Mix (Strawberry Acai) every day in at least one workout. I found that during the workouts I was able to stomach the drink (there was no gas or bloating associated with the drink), I felt energized, and I was able to perform well physically and cognitively.

Here is a breakdown of my training and when I incorporated Asend Nutrition’s hydration mix:

For training I mixed one serving (1 scoop) with 20 oz of water. I alternate sips of Asend with sips of water during endurance training and just sips of Asend during strength/METCON training. This has been my standard approach to hydration with hydration mixes for training/races. Post training use I mixed one scoop with 24 oz of water and drank over the course of 15 minutes, usually while driving to work.

When using Asend during training I felt more energetic and focused. The inclusion of dextrose (a simple sugar) helps your body to maintain glucose (blood sugar) levels which is what your brain needs to function properly. This could have been why I mentally felt better and more focused during the training. Having the additional electrolytes helped replenish what was being spent during training which helped me to feel better physically as well.

Asend definitely did their homework when constructing their product. I can honestly say that compared to most other hydration mixes the combination of flavor, impact, and effect was much better. I love the fact that they use simple ingredients to include FRUIT, super foods, salts and sugars. You can definitely taste the difference when comparing it to other electrolyte mixes on the market.

For those of you only interested in results I have the following for you: 1 = worst / 10 = best

A final comment about my thoughts on this product; I am planning to purchase more of their Strawberry Acai very soon as I think I found a new favorite hydration mix.

• Chet Stone

Material Disclosure

I received this product as a courtesy from the manufacturer via Spotter Up through Gear.com so I could test it and give my honest feedback. I am not bound by any written, verbal, or implied contract to give this product a good review. All opinions are my own and are based off my personal experience with the product.

*The views and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Spotter Up Magazine, the administrative staff, and/or any/all contributors to this site.