TORQ Recovery Plus Hot Cocoa

The TORQ brand originated in the UK, but has enjoyed a really high profile among mountain bikers in Australia for several years now, thanks to some pretty generous sponsorship of teams and events. Right now, TORQ sponsor about 20 riders, many of them youngsters, and are very active in the sport. Although their products are by no means designed exclusively for mountain bikers, it’s fair to say that TORQ has placed a lot of its marketing eggs in the bumpy MTB basket.

The packaging all looks great, and has a bit of fun, too, which is nice – the top of the lid says ‘Drink me’ and there’s another helpful reminder: ‘you’ll need to dig around for the scoop’. So many sports nutrition brands out there take themselves whey too seriously! The 500g bucket is also plastered with information, and anyone familiar with the TORQ brand will know that they’re a loquacious bunch – and this is a good thing – the more information, the better you can judge the quality of the product. Certainly TORQ put a lot of effort into applying genuinely sound research into their supplements, and they’re worth reading about, as I found out the hard way… but more about that later.

TORQ Recovery Plus is part of TORQ’s ‘Recovery System’, consisting of TORQ Recovery (a protein/carbohydrate mix designed for refuelling immediately after exercise), the Recovery Plus being tested, and TORQ Energy Natural Organic, a carbohydrate supplement designed for periods of intense training or racing, ‘for promoting continued glycogen synthesis and re-fuelling’.

TORQ state very plainly that the product tested here, Recovery Plus, is to be used strictly in conjunction with TORQ Recovery and taken twice a day, no less, for optimum results. With The TORQ Energy product to be taken up to three times a day, I wonder how comfortable I would be taking no fewer than six powdered drinks in for recovery, not to mention gels and whatever was mixed into my bidon while riding. I’m sure astronauts eat more real food than that. Still, if it meant I’d go faster and feel better on the bike, I’d give it a go.

TORQ Recovery Plus comes in just one flavour – hot cocoa. I’m particularly partial to a hot chocolate, with or without marshmallows, and was very happy with the taste of this one, just mixed into a paste with a dash of cold water, then topped up with boiling water from the kettle, it was easy to prepare and you could take it just about anywhere and be able to make it work. With other supplements I’ve had to get a bit chefy – adding milk, flavouring, etc to make them taste good – Recovery Plus is perfect as it is.

Not long after drinking my first hot cocoa, I jumped in the shower, thinking I must be having an allergic reaction to whatever plants I’d brushed against on my MTB ride earlier. When, dry and back to work, I still felt the prickly sensation on my skin, I turned to Google and discovered that it was, in fact, the Recovery Plus supplement that was causing it. The product contains a branched chain amino acid called Beta-Alanine, which, in the right amount, offers excellent lactate buffering qualities. Unfortunately it also makes you tingle all over. I’ve known people who can take this stuff and not feel a thing, but each time I took it (about 10), I suffered quite irritating tingling, a bit like an acid face peel, in my hands, feet, face, even (I’m convinced) my eyeballs. If I’d read the packaging a bit more carefully before digging in I could have saved myself the shower! TORQ’s labels and website are packed with lots of helpful info – be sure to read them to make sure you’re getting the most out of these products.

The supplement also contains HMB (Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate), a metabolite of the amino acid Leucine, and something pretty hard to get in the average diet (unless you like catfish and alfalfa sandwiches). It can slow down the degradation of muscle protein as well as enhance muscle gain, and may also help the immune system. The product also contains Sodium Phosphate, which could increase maximal oxygen uptake.

You can see from how specialised these ingredients are that the people at TORQ are absolutely right – this stuff should be used in conjunction with a more simple recovery product that covers the more pressing needs for protein and carbohydrate immediately after exercise – if you aren’t getting those in, these other nutrients aren’t going to help anywhere near as much as they could.

The biggest impediment with the TORQ recovery system, for me, was price. If you’re taking everything at the recommended dosage (and if you’re a serious athlete, you will), then you’re going to spend a fair bit on the stuff. A 500g tub of both Recovery and Recovery Plus will set you back approximately $50 each, and you’ll only get 10 serves of the Recovery Plus (you’ll need two of these a day, remember). If you’re an 80kg guy, you’ll get just 5 servings out of the 500g TORQ Recovery powder. So you’re looking at around $120 a week if you want to use the system effectively.

TORQ are realistic about this, though, and recommend the Recovery Plus just as a booster during times of really high load, like a stage race or training camp. I was given one bucket of the Recovery Plus, and although it’s recommended you use it twice a day for at least four weeks, I could only use it once a day for about two before I ran out, which is a pretty unsatisfactory kind of test, and I apologise.

I once attended a talk at the AIS on supplements, where we were told that Cathy Freeman used $700 worth of supplements per week in the lead up to her Sydney Olympic 400m race. You might ask why, but a lot of aspiring athletes might also ask, why not?

In the limited time I could test the TORQ product I had a great week of training. In fact, my threshold power values were higher than they’d ever been. I’m not silly enough to put that down to my (‘sub-optimal’) use of a supplement (and I was at the end of a very constructive ‘build’ phase anyway), but it certainly didn’t hurt. Most of us are out there chasing that elusive 1% improvement we can get over our rivals, and everyone also recognises that getting the training right is the easy part – it’s recovery that’s hard.

TORQ develop and sell the highest-quality products with genuine research and a lot of thought put into them. They’re a fantastic brand a do a lot for Aussie mountain biking. If you’ve got a big event coming up, and some spare cash, I’d recommend giving the recovery system a go.

My advice though: if you’re going to use the TORQ recovery products, invest the money and use it properly so you never have any questions about whether you could have picked up another 1%. Then again, if you have to take on extra hours at the office or a paper run to come up with the extra cash for these products, you might consider whether putting that time into extra training, a better diet, and more rest could be just as beneficial.

http://www.torqaustralia.com.au/nutrition-performance/67-torq-recovery-system

Hits: Great taste, excellent research behind the ingredients

Missies: Expensive to use and requires discipline to get the right doses, long-term

RRP: confirmed price in $AUD $50.95

From: Australian importer, or their website