Product review: Torq Gels

The lovely folk over at Torq Fitness have offered to provide a prize for the first ever Foot4ward competition (details below) and have also sent me a sample of their energy gels to take out for a road test. Not only that, but they’re offering a free performance guide (which normally sells for £5). Generous indeed.

Torq Gels are available from http://www.torqfitness.co.uk

The first thing that struck me about the gels is the flavours. I’m used to a choice of orange or, well, orange, but you might as well describe Torq’s range of flavours as being a menu. There are yoghurt flavours (strawberry or black cherry), fruit flavours (orange and banana or forest fruits) and there’s even banoffee flavour. In fact, the forest fruits and the banoffee gels come loaded with naturally occurring caffeine from guarana.

I will admit to being a little skeptical about the flavour when I set off for a trial run with a strawberry yoghurt gel. However, it tasted surprisingly – and pleasantly – just like strawberry yoghurt. It was a pleasant change from the sometimes claggy and overwhelming taste of pure orange that I’ve been used to over the years on my long runs.

The gels are also packed full of electrolytes and use a combination of maltodextrin and fructose to give an immediate kick as well as provide longer-burning energy.

Get your free performance resource

Torq is a fitness consultancy, so alongside the various endurance potions and lotions they produce, they also coach cyclists and put on guided rides. More importantly for runners, they pay quite a bit of attention to peer-reviewed science, which runs through the advice provided in their performance resource.

Want to know how to use Yakolev’s theory of periodisation to make improvements in your performance? Want to know how blood glucose and hydration affect your performance? Then you should email Torq at enquiries@torqfitness.co.uk, mention Foot4ward and they will send you  a free copy of the resource (which normally sells for £5).

Win two boxes of Torq Gels

As the nights get longer, the runs get longer, and before you know it the spring marathon season will be on us. If you’ve been successful in getting into the Virgin London Marathon, or if you’re eying up a different 26.2-miler, you’ll need to have a stock of tried and tested energy products ready for race day. Getting your hands on a couple of boxes of gels should set you up nicely for the winter long runs.

To enter this competition you simply have to Like Foot4ward on Facebook – either click the ‘Like’ button at the top-right of this website, or go to the page here and click the ‘Like’ button on the left.

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