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Have questions? We’ve got answers. Here are the top questions we received this week from Top Athletes.

1. How should I take Nitric Oxide?

While Nitric Oxide can be taken on an ad hoc basis before a workout, it is more effective when taken daily. We spoke with Dr. Kevin Sprouse of the EF Pro Cycling team about his recommended protocol.

Take two capsules every morning.
Take 4 to 6 capsules 45 minutes before a high-intensity training session.

If you wake up and go straight to your workout, then take six capsules in the morning. This protocol helps build up Nitric Oxide reserves for your training and has other daily health benefits of more blood flow.

What Can I Expect to Gain?

When you boost your body’s production of Nitric Oxide, it dilates your arteries, so more oxygen-rich red blood cells flow to your working muscles.

More oxygen means you can push harder for longer before you go anaerobic and the pain related to lactic acid kicks in. Boosting Nitric Oxide is next to caffeine as one of the most common performance boosters.

2. How do I correctly take Maurten’s 320 and 160 Drink Mix?

I get this one all the time! Maurten’s drink mix uses Hydrogel technology. It is a liquid in your bottle, but when it reaches the different Ph levels of your stomach, it converts to a gel. As a result, it must be mixed with precisely 500ml of water per packet.

Now athletes with 22oz bottles (650ml) or larger struggle to get Maurten mixed right or have only 2/3rd full bottles. The same goes for a hydration pack.

Here is how I mix up Maurten Drink Mix:

Take a 1.5L container (blenders work well)
Add in 1.5L of water
Add in 3 packets of Maurten Drink Mix
Mix well for a few minutes.

Now you have the optimal Maurten to water ratio. Pour the mixed Maurten into your bottles right to the top or fill your hydration pack.

Pro Tip
You can use 3x Maurten 160 or 320. You can also mix them up. So you could do 1x Maurten 160 and 2x Maurten 320. This will create a solution that is 66g of carbs per 500ml, which many athletes prefer.

You can do this the night before and put your pack in the refrigerator to keep it cold. Once you are ready to work out, give your pack a little shake, and you are ready to go.

3 How to make Kyoku Performance Shake.

When I’m training consistently, I supercharge my Kyoku breakfast shake to get everything I need for fuel, nutrients, and performance. Here is my recipe.

1 Pack of Kyoku
20oz of oat or non-dairy milk
1/2 Banana
4 Ice Cubes
Optional: Dash of Ceylon Cinnamon

Now here is the performance part:

1x scoop (5g) of Creatine
1x scoop (3g) of Beta-Alanine

Creatine and Beta Alanine are the pure performance boosters you ideally take every morning and help with strength, anaerobic capacity, and mood.

4 Why don’t I put my hand in a bucket of ice instead of buying a Coolmitt?

CoolMitt is a new device that launched in July that, in my opinion, is the single most significant device to increase performance in the last ten years or more.

CoolMitt helps you rapidly cool your core body temperature. Think of your body as an engine, and performance declines when the engine heats up. CoolMitt lets you directly cool your core body temperature rapidly. So fast, you can do it between interval sets.

What is actually happening as your body heats up, it decreases the amount of ATP being produced (i.e., energy), and your performance declines quickly.

CoolMitt is a glove you slide your hand into, and it has precisely 13℃ cold water running through the glove on the palm of your hand to cool you.

The top question is, why not put your hand in a bucket of ice?

The answer is vasoconstriction. Putting your hand in a bucket of ice will cool your hand, but that’s it. You will have cold hands. The reason is your body’s vasoconstrictor mechanism stops the blood from flowing back to your core.

This is why the creators of CoolMitt’s technology at Stanford spent over a decade perfecting the ideal amount of cooling without triggering vasoconstriction.

How do I use a CoolMitt in Training?

I’m using mine mostly during indoor training, especially during intervals. I pick a challenging workout with 90 seconds or more rest periods between intervals. I then cool between each interval with the CoolMitt.

My personal experience has blown me away. I’m finishing workouts I have never been able to finish before. I know I’m working hard as the muscle soreness I get for the next few days is significant.

For my money (and CoolMitt is not cheap), I have not found a better way to increase my performance than doing intervals with CoolMitt cooling in between.