eGel – Electrolyte Energy Gel Cranks Sports Product Review
Readers who followed my posts from the early days know that I am an avid mountain biker. I am very fortunate to live in San Francisco Bay Area where climate allows us to ride pretty much all year long. We never ever have a snow in a winter and it never rains from mid spring to mid autumn. Love it :). My house is about five minutes away from East Bay Regional Park – Lake Chabot. The trail can take a mountain biker all the way to Oakland and this trail connects all the way to Berkeley. I have never personally ridden to Berkeley due to the time limitations. A ride from a Ranger Station at Lake Chabot to Oakland is about 31 miles long with quite a bit of elevation gain. It takes about three and a half hours to complete with few small brakes on a way.
These long rides require proper fuel for your musculature. One of the products that I have been using since 2009 is eGel which is short for Electrolyte Energy Gel from Crank Sports.
Energy gels should be consumed with water and NOT a sports drink. The result is energy and hydration, but insufficient electrolyte replacement. This particular product has sufficient amount of energy, hydration and electrolyte replacement. With 4 to 5 times the electrolyte levels of traditional energy gels, e-Gel’s Electrolyte Energy formulation is designed to provide complete and balanced electrolyte replacement in addition to sustained energy and hydration when taken with water as recommended. And with 150 carbohydrate calories, e-Gel packs 50% more energy than most energy gels.
In the last couple of years that I have been racing Cross Country and I have never cramped or bonked during those rides. This product is one of the best on a market. I have tried many other products in a past but nothing would come even close to eGel. The following are the links that compare eGel to other products that are available on a market.
>> e-Gel vs. GU
>> e-Gel vs. Powerbar Gel
>> e-Gel vs. Hammer Gel
>> e-Gel vs. GU Roctane
>> e-Gel vs. Clif SHOT Bloks (must read!)
These are the reviews from other riders that I was able to find on www.MTBR.com
Best gel for me. I have used them training and racing, for mountain biking, triathlons, and running marathons. I keep them well stocked and have had a lot of my buddies get hooked on them as well. Crank Sports also has a good, free, on-line workout log that is set-up for multi-sports and is customizable. No, I don’t work for Crank Sports.
This product works and has never upset my stomach. The pre-mix drink packets are also great. If you use the gel and drink there is no Bonk.
Awesome product. Try their sports drink mix as well. The combination of the two cannot be beat. Reasonable pricing and seems to be an item that is wel stocked at many cycling stores – nice for a change to be able to find the product you like!
I highly recommend trying it. I always dreaded eating those Gu and Cliff shots because they made me choke. Great for long road and mtb rides. has more electrolytes so it keeps you from cramping.
Coping With Stress and Anxiety at Work
Working becomes harder when stress and anxiety becomes a redundant occurrence to the point that it affects how individuals do their jobs. Pressures are often the cause of stress and anxiety, from meeting deadlines, dealing with a demanding boss and having complex relationship with co-workers are just some of the things that make life at work difficult.
It is important to have a balanced life outside of your place employment to provide you with enough space to handle the pressures, stress and anxiety that the workplace brings. This can be achieved through a proper time management and a positive outlook in life.
Below are seven ways to cope with work stress and anxiety that can help you balance and enjoy life to the fullest.
- Find a job you love: having a job you love frees up a lot of pressures and stress for everybody. This kind of job often puts you in a healthy environment and doing the things you are passionate about. Look for a career that best suits your passions and talent. For example, if you love photography, indulge in a career that allows you to show your creativity through the camera of your lens.
- Spend more time with people you easily get along with: hanging out with people you love to spend time frees up the negativity that builds around a pressure packed and stress filled job. Try to spend more time with your friends by regularly scheduling a weekly get together to hang out and have fun.
- Listen to Soothing Music: listening to music soothes the mind and relaxes our senses. Play your favorite music during lunch break and incorporate it into your job for a few minutes in between. This will help you relax and flow along the rapid pace of your workplace.
- Do Exercises at Work: Try to practice exercises at your place of employment. Create a schedule for a 5 minute exercise every break time to just calm the muscles and put more energy to your body. A tired body often results to stress and anxiety and what better way to solve this than to have a regular exercise regimen.
- Relax at your Job: Every now and then try to relax at your job by closing your eyes for a couple of minutes to release the tension of staring at your computer screen for hours. By relaxing for a couple of minutes you end up clearing your mind of cluttered thoughts that results into stress and anxiety.
- Regular Workout at the Gym: balance your life outside of work by enrolling yourself in a gym. This affords you to gain a healthy lifestyle and with a regular workout program your body tends to reacts well with strenuous activity at your job as well as stress and anxiety. A healthy body helps you become more productive.
- Get 8 hours of Sleep: Lastly, make sure you get enough sleep each day you report to work. An average sleep length of 8 hours is enough to reinvigorate the body and prepare it for the next day’s workload. This gives you the adequate energy to combat stress and anxiety that usually develops in the work place. My teacher used to say: “Sleep is your weapon.”
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How Students Can Reduce Stress
Life as a student is full of stress especially when you reach the next level and have to leave home to go to a university. It can get overwhelming to be in a new school and not know anybody. Not only that, the pressure of getting good grades, the pressure of fitting in and even the freedom to do things on your own can really put a lot of pressure on a student and many can’t handle it very well. You must consider this stage in your life as practice for what lies ahead in your future. After college you will be living in the real world and you have to adapt and handle the day to day pressure of earning money for you and your family and the pressures of finding a job and how to keep your job. In order to overcome it, you should get yourself organized and prepared for what’s going to happen next whether it is an expected or an unexpected situation. What you will learn in the university outside the academics will also apply to your life after school. You need to learn how to handle the pressure and stress (affiliate link) both for your personal life and with all the requirements in school.
Here are some great tips to help students like you to manage and reduce stress. First most important tip for students is to manage time. Time management (affiliate link) is important because you should balance everything from classes, studies, parties, practice and everything else. In order to have time for all these things you should make your own timetable and write down all your activity there and stick with it. This way you can do everything that is important to you and still have time for leisure.
Now what if you have a lot of things to do in just a short amount of time? This needs the help of tip #2 which is to prioritize. You’re just human you can’t do everything so you need to learn to prioritize. Do the most important things first. If you have to choose between studying for an exam and partying with friends then you should ask yourself what is the most important to you. Of course studying is the most important and that should always be your top priority. If this is not your top priority then you shouldn’t have enrolled in the first place. Also, if you have to cram to study because you did not put this as your top priority you will be more stressed as you try to squeeze to learn everything in a short amount of time when you could have studied earlier and be stress-free.
With joggling time between school and leisure, relationships could get stressful too. In fact, relationships will continue to be stressful every once in awhile not just during your time in school but all throughout your years. As a student you must realize that studies should always be your top priority and you must consider that this is just the start of your love life and you will have many more relationships after college. It’s not worth being too stressed out with your relationship and sacrificing your studies.
Finances could be a problem to students too and can cause a lot of stress. You should create your budget of expenses and lower your cost as much as possible. If your budget is not enough, look for part time jobs or financial aids to help you out. Also, students get scared about their future that they lose their focus in their studies and worry about what lies ahead. It’s best to not think about those and just focus on your studies. Remember, the better you do in school the better your chances of landing a good job in the future. Problems in the economy are just temporary and won’t affect you forever. If you do well in school, your knowledge will stay with you forever.
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