Supplements can be incredibly confusing, chock-full of misleading claims and in some (extreme) cases, actually be harmful to your overall health. However, every once in a while a product comes along that reaffirms my belief in the industry. For the past two months, that product has been Cardiostrong.
Product Overview
From the website:
“Cardiostrong contains a patent pending blend of cardiac nutrients including Co-Enzyme Q10, D-Ribose, L-Carnitine and Taurine to help your heart function at its maximum efficiency. Cardiostrong contains a full complement of B vitamins, Vitamin C and Folic acid to give your trillion plus cells energy, help maintain your metabolism and keep up your immunity. Cardiostrong also has a full set of electrolytes to keep you hydrated, refreshed and to help you perform at your best in any athletic endeavor. Last, but not least, Cardiostrong also contains multiple proteins for real-time energy generation and to address ligament/tendon wear during exercise and recovery.”
What I like most about this product is its nutritional make-up. If you look at the nutritional profile, you’ll see ingredients that are proven.
Too often, supplements are made up of a hodgepodge of ingredients – some with names that can barely be pronounced and sound like they have more business being in a laboratory than in the human body. Furthermore, a lot of these products bury the true amount of each ingredient into a proprietary blend, making it harder to identify the amounts of what is truly being ingested.
A look at how the product stacks up to some competitors:
In addition to a sound ingredient profile, Cardiostrong’s (only) flavor, Orange, is incredibly refreshing. Though we all know taste is highly subjective, I can best describe the taste as something akin to the flavor of an Orange Crèmesicle.
The product mixes well, comes in easily transportable “sticks,” and at $1.92 per serving is highly competitive with other products on the market.
My Experience With the Product
Personally, I have noticed the biggest improvement in my short (4-8 mile) and mid-range (8-15 mile) runs. Since training with the product, my average pace has improved and my threshold for fatigue seems to be higher than it was before. I also ran a personal best half marathon, beating my previous best time by nearly 5 minutes.
This improved speed in my shorter runs has also translated to better long runs, too. I’ve started introducing Cardiostrong into my long training runs and have been incredibly impressed with the energy the product has helped provide on those runs. The product’s “ease on the stomach” is something that should be of note, considering these runs were often between 4-6 hours in length.
Cardiostrong has also helped me recover quicker and not feel so “banged up” both during and after my runs.
What Could Be Improved
While the Orange flavor is great, I’d love to see additional flavor offerings to help keep things “fresh.” Also, the single-serving sticks are a bit of challenge to open if you’re out on a long run and need to stop, open one, and reload. Perhaps a change to the packaging, such as a little tear strip would be beneficial.
The Bottom Line
In an industry where massive marketing budgets, outrageous claims and cryptic ingredient lists are the norm, I feel like I’ve found a hidden gem.
Cardiostrong’s product has a fully-disclosed nutritional profile, made up of ingredients that are backed by science. I feel comfortable taking the product and I have been very impressed with the positive effect on my training. I definitely plan on continuing to train with it.
Visit the Cardiostrong website to learn more.
Have a great week!
G
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored blog post, and all opinions expressed here are my own.
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