Does Optygen do anything?

Helped me lower my BA^2: Bank account and blood alcohol (because I had no money for beer.) Your mileage may vary.

Mean Joe Green wrote:

Helped me lower my BA^2: Bank account and blood alcohol (because I had no money for beer.) Your mileage may vary.

Nice, good to know.

There are no shortcuts.

Here is what it says on their website:

A study done by Dr. Andrew Creer (2007 South Dakota State University) showed Optygen reduces cortisol levels (the primary stress hormone) by 26%. Researchers concluded that Optygen is beneficial for trained athletes undergoing high training volumes because it decreases baseline stress and improves training sessions. Cortisol is a catabolic (breakdown) hormone that the body produces when under stress, such as after hours of running. Chronically elevated cortisol levels can prevent an athlete from recovering, increase the risks of overtraining and supress the immune system.

Another study done by Dr. Karlton Larson (2007 Luther College) showed endurance athletes who used Optygen increased the time to lactate threshold by 42%. Results of this study show Optygen is effective in reducing lactic acid production and delaying onset of lactate threshold (the exercise intensity at which lactic acid starts to accumulate in the blood stream), therefore improving endurance.

How Optygen Works

Optygen works on three different levels all working synergistically with the goal of increasing endurance. Endurance is defined as your ability to perform work over a period of time where there is oxygen delivered to the muscles. There are three critical components necessary to increase your endurance capacity.

Efficient Oxygen Transfer

Rhodiola and Cordyceps are the key ingredients in Optygen. Clinical research on elite athletes has shown both these adaptogenic herbs increase oxygen utilization, increase the body’s ability to adapt to high levels of physical stress, increase anaerobic threshold and reduce lactic acid. These herbs are both found and cultivated in Tibet. Clinical studies on Cordyceps have shown it increases endurance. In a 1998 study, Dr. Edmond Burke demonstrated how these two adaptogenic herbs improve the efficiency of oxygen transfer in the cell leading to improvements in oxygen uptake and VO2max.

ATP Production

Endurance athlete’s VO2max is directly proportional to their ability to efficiently produce Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). Clinical research has shown that endurance athletes diminish their ATP stores in exhaustive exercise, which can lead to a reduction in aerobic metabolism and endurance. Since ATP is the final step in aerobic energy production, it’s critical that the nutrients feeding the ATP cycle are readily available. Calcium pyruvate, sodium phosphate, potassium phosphate, adenosine and d-ribose all play critical roles in glycolysis and the citric acid cycle, leading to efficient ATP production. Optygen’s proprietary ATPro™ matrix of five key nutrients is designed to assure ATP production.

3- Efficient Glucose Metabolism

The Optygen formula utilizes chromium for its ability to break down fuel. Chromium is an essential trace mineral that aids in glucose metabolism, regulation of insulin levels, and maintenance of healthy blood levels of cholesterol and other lipids. Chromium forms part of a compound in the body known as Glucose Tolerance Factor (GTF), which is involved in regulating the actions of insulin in maintaining blood sugar levels and, possibly, in helping to control appetite. It’s critical that any drink, bar or meal consumed prior to a race or exercise gets broken down efficiently in order to maximize your fuel delivery. Insulin spikes or lack of insulin response can cause the nutrients to either be rushed into your bloodstream too quickly or not quickly enough. Chromium regulates this nutrient breakdown so you have equal and sustained nutrient delivery to the working muscles.

I can't tell you that it doesn't work, but I can tell you that that information is kind of useless. All they are doing is giving interpretations of data without showing the data. It's impossible to say if their conclusions are correct without reading the full published papers (if it's published at all).

Obviously, they have no reason to be honest and every reason to tell you that it works. So far it seems like we have one dude saying it's a waste of money.

The Rhodiola in it seems to have some benefits:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15256690

Not sure what the cordyceps does.

Yeah, but based on the thread a few weeks ago, Folgers coffee seems to be the better option. Far less expensive too.

I do drink Folgers coffee, so I guess I have that going for me, which is nice.

This is the research packet they have on the Optygen site, but I'm not advanced enough in science to interpret everything.

http://www.firstendurance.com/optygen_packet.pdf

Interesting. I agree with the poster above though, it sure sounds a lot like caffeine.

Hmm. I have a degree in biology, but don't know more than the basics of exercise physiology.

After glancing through that packet, it seems like there is plenty of evidence to suggest that stuff may have effects that could contribute to increased running performance.

However, I also feel like the mechanisms at work in high level distance training are very poorly understood, and it would be tough to say for sure that any of this stuff would help you run better. Caffeine has shown similar effects in studies, and doesn't seem to get talked about much as a performance enhancer for whatever reason.

Maybe I'll buy a smaller pack of the pills and see if they do anything. I was hoping someone had done an individual study, maybe two VO2 max tests a week apart or something. The first one normal and the 2nd one with Optygen.

Any others try Optygen?

marathondude wrote:

Any others try Optygen?

I tried Optygen a long time ago when it was a new product and I was racing bicycles. It smelled horrible and you had to take a ton of pills. It was also expensive. I trained with a power meter at the time and can say that I definitely did not get faster. I believe they have tried to improve the product since then, but I have no intention of trying it again.

I have no idea, but I'm guessing an extra 20 min of sleep a night would probably do as much.

I did a quick review of it recently because someone was telling me that it's doing the rounds on the cycling scene down here:

http://atlascoached.com/2012/01/06/supplement-review-optygen/

I use Optygen Hp, EFS, and their recovery drink Ultragen and love all of them. I by no means am intelligent enough to read through a study and understand the science, but the first time I tried Ultragen I knew it had a positive affect.

Using the Optygen Hp last year I pr'd in everything from 5k on the track in Spring to a marathon last January. That was enough evidence for me. I really believed it allowed me to train at a higher level than I had previously. Just my two cents.