On June 30th, I started my review of the Fluid Recovery drink. I have gone through the complete tub using it exactly as directed consistently. This is my first experience with a recovery drink of any kind, so I can only comment on how the Fluid product performed.
About Fluid Recovery
The founders of Fluid, David Brown and Richard Smith, started making Fluid products in the kitchen for themselves and all their athletes while at school at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Fluid Recovery was released to the public in early 2006 to offer the industry a quality recovery drink.
How Fluid Performed
Since this was my first experience with a recovery drink, my expectations were pretty low. I had often seen products like this in the past, and I often thought it was just a placebo effect. I was wrong. After every ride over the past month, I drank two scoops of the Tropical Escape Fluid Recovery drink out of a water bottle.
At first, I didn’t notice too much of a difference, but then it happened…the long weekend ride following the local hammers. We went to Rich Mountain in north Georgia and this area is known for its brutal, technical climbs. To make matters worse, I had to keep up with some of the faster guys in the area. This was going to be one of those days where my legs hated me for a week. We finished the ride, I drank my Fluid and went home.
Normally, the next day I would not be riding at all after an epic like that the day before. My legs would be too sore and the ride would end up being counter productive. That Sunday morning, I woke up with fresh legs and went on another hammer of a ride. That was the first time I have ever been able to have two riding days like that back to back without any real consequences. I was extremely surprised and I finished that ride with a Fluid Recovery drink.
The entire testing period went exactly like that. I ended up emailing Richard Smith at Live Fluid to explain what I was going through. I wanted to make sure that I was seeing the result of using a recovery drink. Below is his answer to my email.
Email from Richard Smith:
The feelings you are describing are spot on. Basically, you have a very brief period of time (15-30 min) immediately following exercise where your body can heal itself much faster IF it gets some carbs & protein INTO A MUSCLE CELL, not just into the stomach. Its awesome, marines have shown 37% fewer injuries going through basic training, athletes lifting weights have shown 300% improvement in muscle protein development, and cyclists have shown 5 times less muscle breakdown and damage when they use a recovery drink like Fluid. (All these stats are in Fluid school, http://www.livefluid.com/school.php, and come from real science papers, not muscle & fitness mag.) So the number 1 thing people feel w/ faster repair and recovery is less aches, pains, and soreness, and the ability to come back to your next ride, race, or training session much stronger. If you can train harder than your opponent, that’s a huge edge, and if you can be pain free (or at least a lot more comfortable) w/ Fluid, you can get outdoors and get after it again sooner w/ more pleasure. Cool huh?
Yes…very cool. Richard Smith and Dave Brown have backgrounds that include nutritional biochemistry and an exercise physiologist, so I tend to trust what they have to say. I was also seeing first hand the results. I was very careful not to read anything online or even talk to anyone about recovery drinks before or during this review process. I wanted to compile my own results and opinions without outside influence. What I was feeling was exactly the goal of the Fluid Recovery drink.
Is It A Placebo Effect?
Do I think your brain will convince you that something is better when it isn’t? Of course I do, but in this case…I do believe that the Fluid Recovery drink was performing exactly as advertised. I also like the fact that the owners are as passionate about their athletes and the sports that they are involved in as we are. The Fluid Recovery drink surpassed my goals for this review and I highly recommend that any rider use this drink or one like it. I have had a great experience with the crew over at Live Fluid.
What’s Next For Live Fluid?
Live Fluid is releasing a flavor of the recovery drink that they believe is the best tasting drink on the market…BERRY TREASURE. This should be pretty interesting because I found the Tropical Escape flavor to be much better than most health drinks I have tried in the past. Be on the lookout for this new flavor out of Fluid.
For more information on the Live Fluid products…visit FluidRecovery.com.