Strive 40 Servings/Cherry Limeade

Omega Sports Strive 40 Servings Description

The premier Intra-Workout product for superior performance enhancement!

There are many BCAA and intra-workout formulas currently on the market for you to choose from.  The problem is, however, they all fall woefully short in providing a complete solution to help propel your workouts to be longer, stronger and more intense.  Even worse is that the vast majority of these products use inferior-grade ingredients that only benefit their bottom line at the expense of your results.  Why use an intra-workout product that does not work as hard as you do?

Strive is different.  Formulated using only the very best ingredients in existence, Strive presents a complete performance solution designed to work as hard as you do.  Absolutely no expense was spared in creating this unparalleled formula.  Our only concern was constructing Strive so that it pushed your workouts to the next level and allowed you to come back bigger, stronger and faster than before.

Strive Starts with BCAA´s...

We all know that BCAA´s are the building blocks to any intra-workout formulation.  BCAA´s have been shown to elicit muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth), decrease muscle soreness and help athletes recover more quickly.

Sadly, however, not many people know that the wool is being pulled over their eyes in regards to what kind of BCAA´s are being used to formulate their favorite product and how they are being charged a premium price for less-than-garbage quality ingredients.

...Ajinomoto iBCAA´s

Quite simply, Ajinomoto produces the highest quality amino acids in the world.  When you hear "pharmaceutical grade", most of the time, it is an empty marketing term.  Not so with Aji-Pure iBCAA´s.  Strive uses the very same amino acids that are used daily around the world in IV solutions for the hospitalized, infant formulas and pharmaceutical preparations!  Aji-Pure iBCAA´s mix instantly with just a few stirs of a spoon.  No more foamy mess and trying to choke down the dreaded BCAA chunks.

Did you know that most BCAA´s being used in other formulations come from hair or duck feathers?  It´s true!  And have you ever smelled BCAA´s in their natural state?  If you have, you know that they can smell absolutely rancid - even the ones that test out to be ´pure´ on the standard supplier´s COA.  With this information in mind, you´re probably asking yourself why in the world anyone would ever use anything other than pure Ajinomoto Aminos.  The simple answer..."Follow the money".  Aji-Pure iBCAA´s cost about 2.5 times what normal BCAA´s do.  The fact is that not too many companies are willing to use these superior ingredients and cut their profit margins.  Ask yourself, "What is more important; my health and athletic performance or some CEO writing himself a fat end-of-the-year bonus?".  Now at least you know the truth!

The Only Hydrolyzed Protein that Matters - PeptoPro

Over the last year or so, you´ve probably seen a lot of companies incorporating the use of something called a hydrolyzed protein into their products.  Hydrolyzed proteins are proteins that have undergone a process called hydrolysis.  What hydrolysis does is breaks the protein down into tiny segments called di and tri peptides.  These small peptides are absorbed much more readily and much faster than normal, intact protein, and have shown in clinical studies to promote muscle growth and recovery far more than normal protein ever could hope for.  And you may have guessed by now, but PeptoPro has the absolute highest amounts of di and tri peptides in existence - over 60%!

Pretty cool, eh?  But not so fast!  Remember our greedy CEO and his unwillingness to sacrifice profits for product excellence?   Well this same CEO is not using the patented Hydrolyzed Casein PeptoPro, which has numerous human clinical studies showing its superiority.  No - most companies are using a generic hydrolyzed whey.  Why whey?  Again, follow the money.  A typical hydrolyzed whey costs about 5-6 times less than the proven, patented PeptoPro.  Worse still, most products using a hydrolyzed whey do not even tell you the percentage of di and tri peptides in their ingredient, only saying that information is ´proprietary´.  Now if you were using an ultra-high grade ingredient, you would want to tell people about it, wouldn´t you?  Of course you would.  Now admittedly, PeptoPro does not contain as many amino acids as a whey hydrolyze does (and the difference is absolutely miniscule at normal doses), but the fact that Pepto Pro absorbs far faster and far more efficiently than any whey currently available, still means that with PeptoPro you are delivering more amino acids to your muscles, period.  PeptoPro is the undisputed king of hydrolyzed proteins, and it is backed by science.  

Furthermore, PeptoPro is virtually flavorless and mixes instantly - two absolutely vital factors when drinking something that must be light and refreshing during a grueling workout.  On the other hand, hydrolyzed whey (again what most companies are using) is so extremely bitter that it must be used in tiny amounts, or covered up with copious amounts of artificial flavoring.  Beware of companies touting anything greater than a 15% hydrolyzed whey and it not tasting extremely bitter - something is not adding up.  Besides, have you ever tried to drink a thick, bitter sludge-shake between your fourth and fifth sets of heavy squats?  Forget about keeping that down!   Strive has been formulated not only to be performance enhancing, but also refreshing to drink - a refreshing idea indeed!

Keep Going With L-Malate

While not as sexy as our first two Ingredient Superstars, L-Malate is starting to turn some heads in the world of academia for its purported ability to prolong exercise endurance and stave off exhaustion.

As early as the early 1990´s, researchers were administering  L-Malate to patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with amazing results.  They theorized that since L-Malate is a vital component to the Kreb´s Cycle (also called the TCA or Citric Acid Cycle), supplementing with extra amounts of L-Malate would lead to an increase in ATP (the body´s chief energy source) production.

And the researchers were right!  L-Malate helps the body produce more ATP an produce it more efficiently, especially under a low oxygen conditions (hey, does this sound like anaerobic, AKA weight training conditions or what?!).

For those of you unaware, the Kreb´s Cycle is the process by which our cells, and therefore entire body, obtain their energy source of choice, ATP.  Think of ATP like gasoline.  The more gas you have in your tank, obviously you´re going to be able to drive (or in our case workout) much longer.  The whole process is a little complicated, but here it is in a nutshell:

L-Malate converts into oxaloacetate, releasing the co-enzyme NADH and is ultimately used to produce ATP.

More recently, more researchers have begin to experiment with the endurance enhancing properties of L-Malate and have found, in animal models, close to a 30% increase in endurance capacity!  Who´s sexy now?!

Breakout With the Supplement Breakthrough L-Carnitine Tartrate

Most everyone is familiar with Acetyl L-Carnitine.  Fewer, however, are familiar with L-Carnitine Tartrate.  All of that may change, however, as research begins to pile up demonstrating that L-Carnitine Tartrate is superior to Acetyl L-Carnitine at helping you recover from exercise and prevent muscle breakdown.

In controlled settings, LCLT showed the ability to greatly diminish muscle cell damage and muscle soreness after exercise.  LCLT works in part by halting muscle catabolism during times of intense stress (such as weightlifting) thereby allowing you to workout harder, for longer periods of time.  Starting to sense a theme here with the ingredients in Strive?

LCLT has also shown promise out of the lab and in the real world.  Ask anyone who has a chance to use this great ingredient and all agree that LCLT is a rockstar.

Buffer Fatigue With BiCarbonates

Using BiCarbonates to buffer lactic acid and prolong endurance has certainly been known for quite some time.  The problem was that in order to preload your system with enough BiCarbonates, mega-doses were often used, producing annoying gastric disturbances.  However, those of us in pre-hospital medicine know that BiCarbonates do not have to be pre-loaded to obtain the desired effect and an IV of sodium bicarbonate (albeit in a delivery speed not attainable by dietary supplements) perfectly mimics the effects of BiCarbonates in Strive.

As a result of working out and the metabolic processes involved, your body produced a cascade of hydrogen ions (H+).  This is the stuff that causes the dreaded muscle burn that makes us all have to stop lifting or running sooner or later.  Along with an increase in H+, working out generally shifts your body´s pH lower and into a more acidic environment.  The more acidic your blood is, the less ability your body has to buffer these acids and the faster you feel the burn and have to stop whatever you are doing.  BiCarbonates will shift your body out of an acidic state, buffer the hydrogen ions and allow you to train with more intensity for longer periods of time.

Think of BiCarbonates as the hammer that drives down H+ and muscle burn.  By consuming Bicarbonates during exercise and slightly raising the blood pH to a more Alkaline (opposite of Acidic) environment, the better your body is equipped to handle the H+ produced during exercise.  You wouldn´t go out in the snow without a coat, would you?  Of course not - you´d have to quit playing and come back inside very quickly.  So stop exercising without sodium and potassium bicarbonate - or else you´ll never last as long as you would when using Strive.

The Electrolyte Equation

I am going to make a bold statement: You have absolutely no business using any kind of intra-workout product that does not contain an adequate and full-spectrum electrolyte complex.  To think in this day and age that companies would still be pushing intra-workout products as effective while overlooking something as simple - and as cheap - as electrolytes, really has to make you wonder what these other companies are thinking.  Maybe they just do not care about your performance and results as long as flashy marketing and absurd product claims keep reeling in unsuspecting customers.  Then again, maybe people who use these ´other products´ just don´t work out hard enough to even break a sweat.  But I digress...don´t be like these people.

The simple fact is, if you are sweating, you are losing electrolytes.  The longer you sweat, the more you lose and the more it can impact your performance in a detrimental way if these electrolytes are not replenished.

Now most companies would probably try and remedy this by looking at the total amounts of minerals lost in a given amount of sweat in a given amount of time and put this exact amount into a product and say that it is backed by research.  The problem with this approach is that electrolytes and their balance is very complex and a whole host of metabolic processes require that this balance be kept in harmony.  If you tried to just dump a whole mess of electrolytes in your system at once, it would inevitably throw off your body´s balance and would actually impede performance, not to mention would be rather unsafe as well.

Electrolyte replacement must be gradual as to not to overwhelm the intricacies of the body´s highly complex cellular systems, but must be adequate enough so that it improves athletic performance.

Also, a full spectrum electrolyte blend must be utilized.  The cheap and easy way would just to replace the old standby´s: Sodium and Potassium and call it a day and most everyone would be none-the-wiser.  However, that is not how we do things at Omega Sports.  

For instance, did you know that more Chloride is lost in sweat than both Sodium and Potassium combined?  And did you know that deficiencies in either Magnesium and Calcium may inhibit muscle contraction as well as heart function?  And did you know that Omega Sports utilizes the best forms of minerals available such as Magnesium Chelate and Calcium Chelate?  Well, yeah, you probably knew that last part if you know how we like to do things.

Whereas most companies will use the cheapest forms of minerals available, including magnesium citrate, which is used as a laxative (!), Omega Sports chooses to continue our practice of over-engineering products to exceed all expectations.

The B6 Connection

Vitamin B6 is needed by the body for adequate absorption and utilization of amino acids.  If you are deficient in B6, and many people are, the amino acids you are consuming may not be getting put to much use repairing and rebuilding your muscles.
B6 is also a big player in fat and carbohydrate metabolism, meaning it helps the body utilize these stores rather than your muscle stores for fuel when working out, which is something we all ´Strive for.  In fact, B6 is involved in nearly 70 enzymatic processes within the body, and is a the major player in most of them.

And actually, most amino acid supplements today do contain Vitamin B6, which is good, right?

Wrong!

Most of these other products, which we´ve already demonstrated show no concern for using top-quality ingredients or giving you the best results, use the cheap, inferior and woefully ineffective form of Vitamin B6 called Pyridoxine.

While Pyridoxine can be used in its own right, it is only a precursor to the more effective Pyridoxal 5 Phosphate/P5P (the metabolic active form of Vitamin B6). P5P is the real kingpin in the vast majority of the enzymatic processes needing or involving Vitamin B6, including amino acid metabolism and utilization, which is what we are most concerned about in these types of products.

So most products give you an inferior form of the extremely important Vitamin B6, that must be converted into the active form of P5P.  What is worse, is that some people may have trouble converting Pyridoxine into P5P, and therefore, may not be absorbing all of the amino acids that they should be.  But perhaps if you´re using these cheap amino acid products derived from feathers or hair, perhaps not absorbing all of it is a good thing...

Strive utilizes P5P, and in a whopping dose, to make sure that your body is taking advantage of every bit of superior Ajinomoto, pure amino acids to repair, rebuild and rejuvenate your body.

Really, did you expect anything else from Omega Sports?

Stop settling for inferior products that are nothing more than fancy-painted Yugos that are built on hype and marketing.  You deserve a workout partner that works as hard as you do.  You deserve Strive.

The Sum of it All

To say that Strive is the most advanced intra-workout on the market today is an understatement.  There simply is no comparison, and for those who care enough to do the comparison, there is no turning back.

Strive is the only choice for serious athletes and those who work too hard to be sabotaged by the effects of inferior products.

Keep going.  Keep lifting.  Keep running.  Keep winning.  Keep Striving.