Product Review: Hornet Juice
Some time last year I became aware of a product called Vaam. It was a sports drink, but very unlike any other sports drink I knew. While most products concentrate on carbohydrates, and a few modern ones advertise their 4:1 carbs to protein ratio, Vaam consisted only of proteins. The intended effect was not to supply immediate fuel to your blood stream, but to stimulate your body’s fat-burning mechanism. I was intrigued. It sounded interesting to a budding marathon and ultra-runner like myself.
Then, several months ago, I stumbled upon a very similar product, this time called Hornet Juice. It works on exactly the same premises, a protein mix that helps your body to metabolize fat for energy from the start of exercise. If this worked, you would be able to avoid the famous Wall in marathons altogether, because your glycogen supplies are spared and you should never run out of them. The product was sold via the web from New Zealand for an affordable price, shipping was free and I decided to give it a go.
I have been using it all through my training cycle this summer. For each run of 18 miles or more I dissolved one sachet in a glass of water. The taste is very light but pleasant enough. It always left a residue at the bottom of the glass, but I don’t think that matters. The instructions are to take one packet anywhere between 0 and 45 minutes before start of exercise. Since I always run early in the morning, I would take it immediately after getting out of bed, which usually meant 15 minutes before I left the house.
How did it go? I can honestly say that of all the long runs I did during this training cycle (about 15) I cannot remember a single bad one. I generally ended my runs, even the 22 milers, with the feeling that I could have run further and/or faster. While I cannot say for sure that it was the Hornet Juice that was responsible for that, I am prepared to give it at least some of the credit. I generally felt pretty good after the workouts, even though I declined to follow the recommendations on their website to take a second packet after the workout for recovery (I used slim fast or chocolate milk instead). According to the advice given, you can even mix Hornet Juice with a carbohydrate sports drink, thus getting the benefits of both, though you should avoid mixing it with a protein drink, as that would reduce its effectiveness.
I’m not in any way affiliated with the product, apart from being a satisfied customer. I can recommend Hornet Juice to anyone wishing to run a marathon or further. If you want to try it out, you can order a test sample of 4 servings for 9 dollars (remember: free shipping). Just don’t humiliate me in my own race!
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I remember first hearing about hornet juice in 2004 when Mizuki Noguchi won the women’s olympic marathon. I googled to check this before I posted a reply, and lo-and-behold, she’s mentioned right on their site…
http://www.hornetjuice.com/olympics.html
When I first heard about the hornet juice thing, I didn’t realize it was something that was commercially available. I’m kind of intrigued enough to try it now.
Just like me to post, then think of something else to ask. You mentioned that it worked on the same premise as Vaam… did you get a chance to try Vaam out over an extended training period as you did the hornet juice? I’m just curious how they compared…
Hi Susan, no I never tried Vaam, but if you’re curious, it is available from http://www.vaam-energy.com . It contains a not FDA-approved sweetener, though.
[...] The concept does not sound completely preposterous, but it is hard to believe the claims made by the company. There are quite a few happy customer testimonials included on the websites, and Hornet Juice is known to have been used by at least a few Olympians. I recently read a positive product review by Thomas Bubendorfer over at Complete Running. [...]
I had heard of vaam since the original national geographic program
it defo works.. i have in the morning to keep me going at work all day
i order mine from http://www.vaampower.eu as they are UK based and delivery is fast, although they do ship worldwide free delivery.
How many Kcal in VAAM? Doesn’t say on their website.
PS I have been eating hornet larvae before my cardio for years, but only because they’re delicious and I dislike japanese cars.
I am no athlete! but I started training for water polo last week. I had some HJ samples, i took it half an hour before training on an empty stomach with some blue Powerade.
I only trained for an hour, (and wanting to dry heave!!) and the last 15 min I seemed to want to do a little more but had to go to work.
Then in the car to work, about 15 min later, I had all this energy!! I wanted to go for more…
it had to have been the Hornet Juice, because I have never felt like that after swimming training! And those of you who know what is like after not doing any training for over a year, when you’re done… damn! you are finished!
So in my opinion, Hornet Juice seems to work right at the end when your bdy really needs it the most.