I have had it with Hammer

Hi Greg,

I hear ya on the over-hyping and over-advertising of products like gels and supps.  It's annoying that they are being touted as essential when they're clearly not. 

But in their defense of using wiki... I just tried to find any stevia info sites that weren't selling products or hyping it as the latest, greatest, natural sweetener and found none.   I wouldn't call a wiki entry a scientific basis for research, but it's got to be less biased than the crap I was finding, and it would be a good place to start finding other, real literature in PubMed and the like.

Just my $0.02, -Sunny 

They do make it sound like a person needs to use all of their products to even complete an event.  After reading their advertisements I had to ask myself, how have I made it this far without Hammer?

Back when I lifted weights, it was the same thing with MuscleTech products.  I finally realized the it's better to keep it simple than to go with a variety of fancy products that are probably more placebo than anything else.

I too, have had it with Hammer...matter of fact I am gonna go make me a really nice screw driver in just a moment!

( Thought I'd throw a little levity in the thread)

i agree with two posts above, any product be it hammer, powerbar, cliff..whatever is going to endorse the single use of their product and their product only. i fall for it, or atleast used to. i wouldn't mix GU with heed, for example. infact hammer sold me on heed, even though my initial thoughts were it tastes gross, i bought it.

i'm going back to GU...the heed is ok on the bike, but makes me sick onthe run in the heat.

i'm also i big fan of trying to use natural foods (real food) as energy/recovery.

My exact reaction! I got free samples of heed, and mixed it with gatorade to be able to tolerate it. Now I drink basically water and the occasional gatorade (powdered, it's cheaper) and take the occasional gu. I've found that eating real food before a ride/swim helps better than trying to fuel up on gu during.

Interesting.  I first started using Hammer products for the sole reason that I thought Heed was the best tasting stuff I ever tried. 

I like the Hammer gels - but yeah, their advertising is way annoying. I've heard mixed things about HEED...not sure if I want to try it. Will probably just stick with the gels - I use GUs and Clif Shots all to the same effect - I just mix them up for variety. And I love the apple cinnamon Hammer gel...tastes like pie

My body reacts well with Hammers Insurance caps. I just started to use Heed on the bike and during Strength training. I only use one scoop and not the 3 recommended for my 205 pounds. Otherwise, the taste is too much.

In the past I used Endurox, which has the best orange flavor.

I just want to find a good drink that isn't full of crap. Always open for recommendations/suggestions

To indygreg. Yes, they make it sound like you have to take all sorts of sh*t even if your only exercise is doing the dishes. As mentioned, I like their Insurance caps...the Heed is questionable.

I think they get their list from USAT or if you've ever done a race that they sponsored......it's just a matter of time. I've never ordered anything from them and I received my second mailer in the last month yesterday. Their gels are okay but IMO, Heed is the by far the nastiest sports drink invented.

Oh jeez, me too. I wish they'd stop mailing me crap. I've never tried any of their stuff before and the inordinate amount of mail they send me almost makes me not want to - I'd prefer companies spend their money on product development and such rather than sending me stuff in the mail every other week. 

I've used their stuff for 3 years and also love their Hammer Forum, it's a posting site where athletes can exchange ideas on training, fueling etc..  Are they a little intense and passionate, yeah.  However they make excellent products and for me, the proof is in the result.  If I had more money I would use more of their products, but I've learned over time to cherry pick what works best.  I started using their products because I have trouble with simple sugars.  I get huge drops in my blood sugar levels and that can be a real bummer when you are training.  I use their products in the following way and have had excellent results-- I usually sip some HEED while I am getting ready for the swim and pop an endurolyte.  I pre-mix the Perpetuem in a flask with a little bit of water.  It tastes kind of like a pb&j sandwich.  That way I just use the flask and water on the bike and pop endurolytes once an hour.  If it's a longer ride I might pop a race cap once an hr.  I jump off the bike, take a gel and do that every 45 min.  I feel great!  How can I argue with that? I would recommend you all check out the Hammer Forum on the left side of their home page.  I have learned so much about training and fueling from the other athletes.  Just another point of view.

What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. 

I second the opinion that they are in the business to sell product.  The frequency of the ads drive me nuts, and my recycling bin gets a great workout.

I love Hammer gels, but my body cannot tolerate HEED, and I have started using Amino Vital for liquid fuel, with DOES seem to work well with my system.