Cytomax, is it worth it?

I know a coach who swears by it. Now, he's the high school coach of Westerville North High School just outside of Columbus, Ohio. That may not mean much ... except he coached Bob Kennedy and routinely gets far more out of his athletes than he should. Just an opinion.

I have used it before and in between events at track meets. It seems to help.

My first exposure was my third marathon. I was drinking it (and trying valiantly to dilute the foul, foul stuff with water. My throat and stomach didn't feel quite right during most of the race, and then I threw up a little in my mouth at mile 26.1. Just past the finish line, I let it all come out...its brilliant orange color was none the worse for its brief stay in my digestive tract. And I didn't just throw up a little...wave after wave came out - I thought I might die. I digested absolutely none of it.

Ran way the hell out of my mind in that race though.

I will honestly never touch the stuff again. In Florida a few years ago, I was on vacation and took 1 scoop of it in my H2O after a moderate run. I got a little headache later that A.M. , didnt think anything of it. The next day I ran hard, and had the full serving size, I cant remember exactly how much it was, but the suggested use, and an hour later I got the worse migrane that lasted for about 4 hours. It was literally like hell, the most painful thing. I know its from that since after taking smaller doses i had smaller headaches. There was nothing else i did different those days except for take the Cytomax. I asked around if others had heard of such a thing, and I called the company and tried to investigate any weird ingredients. Thats my story. I wanted to kill the company. Ive never had such a head pain that bad. It was hell. But, that was just my experience.

I got the worse migrane

He said "Cytomax" not "cyanide".

i've used it post-run during the summer months when it gets really hot. and i've given it to my athletes that i coach after hard workouts. we used it for recovery, but not as an energy drink. i just bought the small 1 time use pouches at the local running store on an as-needed basis. i find that a PBJ sandwich, banana, orange, multi-vitamin and lots of water work well following a run though, and it's a whole lot cheaper!

Funny you bring the migraine headache thing up, because I experienced the same problems. I became a devout user of Cytomax 2 summers ago when training to walk on to my college cross country team. It seemed to help my performance a lot. I could ride my bike 30 miles and then run 7 miles after that. So it had the energy boost I needed. HOWEVER, that summer I started using it I experienced the following:

1. Dizzy spells that became more frequent the more I used it

2. feeling faint

3. The WORST migraine of my life. I distinctly recall vomiting because the pain was so intense.

DON'T BUY CYTOMAX.

I I could have my story wrong, but I seem to remember Cytomax's parent company being bought out or the guy with the patent left the company or something like that. As a result, one organization kept the name while the other kept the formula (the original formula that WAS actually good). Point being, today's cytomax is not the same as the original that got so much attention back then. Even if I'm wrong about the company, cytomax changed somewhere along the way and totally sucks now.

The science still supports Gatorade and even more so the Gatorade Endurance Formula as being the best "replacment" formula for during and after endurance exercise lasting longer the 60 minutes. It's not fancy, but it does work when used correctly. The key to any successful intake is to not mix with gels or other on-the-go energy aids. Take the fluid drink alone with a 10 - 15 minute window of absorption isolation before taking water or a gel or bar (assuming alternating is desired).

My best results have come from alternating on 30m intervals with about 20 – 24 oz per hour:

1.Replacement (insert fluid replacement drink brand of choice here) only – about 12oz per 30 minutes

2.Water and Sports Gel or ¼ Banana only (no sports drink) – also about 12 oz per 30 minutes

I don't think Cytomax is a miracle drink, but I'm shocked people have had problems. For the past couple years, I've been drinking a quart or two at my desk during the day, although I dilute the mix by half. Mostly, I like it because the big vats of powder are easy to store at the office. It hasn't exactly propelled me to the ranks of elite distance runners, but Peachy Keen and Cool Citrus taste pretty good.

Plus, Deena Kastor endorsed it . . .

Yeah, I've heard Deena swear by it, and she apparently doesn't even get paid to

bottom feeder wrote:

I I could have my story wrong, but I seem to remember Cytomax's parent company being bought out or the guy with the patent left the company or something like that. As a result, one organization kept the name while the other kept the formula (the original formula that WAS actually good). Point being, today's cytomax is not the same as the original that got so much attention back then. Even if I'm wrong about the company, cytomax changed somewhere along the way and totally sucks now.

You are correct about the parent company being bought out, and the formula changed, but I cant' remember the full details either.

I tried to find some info on google, but couldn't. FWIW (which is probably nothing), what I did find was that this stuff is sold on many bodybuilding websites. Apparently it is not just marketed to endurance types anymore.

As far as the body building group being marketed to, I think it's Cytosport Muscle Milk you are getting confused with. Generally the Cytomax (made by Cytosport also)"Sport Energy Drink" is used with endurance athletes.

I was talking to a friend of mine that has been running marathons for the past 20 years, also a USAT certified level 1 coach, about Cytomax and what it did to me (correlated with headaches). He thinks it could be either a) messing with the insulin in your body, maybe causing it to get too high, or b) maybe hyponatremia?

I can't stand the powdered stuff, but haven't found any powdered drink I like..

that being said, I do like the ready to drink stuff and use it for both running and ice hockey

I also have wanted to try Cytomax, does it really work?

I have used Cytomax on and off for a few years and i think it is some of the best stuff out there. I have never had trouble with it although i do dilute it a bit. I find it doesn't taste as sugary as other drinks which i find helpful. I will say that the longer i go in a race the more i dilute any drink until the last few miles of a marathon are water. I have tried other stuff but find cytomax the best