Testing MTN OPS Yeti Pre-workout

[robby denning]

Ok, I read through them all and the clarifying questions. Thanks everyone for throwing in, but I'd like to work with mtrunner260- time frame is right and a good mix of indoor/outdoor routines.

PM me your shipping address and I'll get it coming in the morning.

In the meantime, just watch this thread as this is where we'll post the 2 week test. I'm on my second day and am looking forward to start posting but I want to post concurretnly with mtnrunner so you can see how it affected us on same days. I'm just journaling it in a notebook right now.

Mtnrunner, you'll see I'll be posting a little bit about diet, meal timing, and carb intake as I know by experience those can affect how a pre-workout performs, so be ready for that too.

Thanks everyone.

On the Enduro question. Hit the MTN OPS site- I think enduro lacks caffeine.

 

[WRO]

I'm in if it's still available, I work out 5 days a week.

 

[Jimbob]

The Yeti taken late in the day like that might keep you from sleeping. It has 200 mg of caffeine so that would be like drinking a few cups of coffee before bed. Wouldn't want this to backfire on you. Your thoughts?

Good call, this stuff probably wouldn't be good for me when working out at night.

 

[robby denning]

mtnrunner260, I ordered your tub. Casey says it's on the way. PM me when you get it and we'll get this project rolling. Thanks

 

[timmy_ar]

Cant wait to see how this turns out. Mtnrunner260 what are you currently using?

 

[mtnrunner260]

Timmy,
I'm not using anything currently. I'm excited to try it.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Have not used pre-workouts in the past but picked up some MTN OPS at the show last weekend. I decided to go with the Enduro as caffeine can tend to jack my heart rate especially when doing cardio. They did let me have a couple samples of Yeti to try. All I can say is they Yeti appears to be great. I literally felt it kick in the first time I used it Monday. Had tons of energy when I lifted and didn't cause me any problems when running 4 miles afterwards. Didn't take anything yesterday for the same lifting routine and just felt blah the whole time. I will be experimenting with more Yeti in the future as I still need to figure out what it does to my heart rate on heavy cardio days. If its a problem I'll stick with the Enduro on those days.

 

[robby denning]

Ridge Runner, thanks for the feedback! Very helpful...

mtnrunner260, MTN OPS said your shipped, so any day now.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Just finished a boot camp at lunch where I took Enduro about 20 minutes before I started. Don't feel near the rush with the Enduro that I get with the Yeti. Will need to experiment more but will be ordering more Yeti in the near future.

 

[robby denning]

Maybe we'll run an Enduro test when this one wraps up.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Ridge Runner, thanks for the feedback! Very helpful...

mtnrunner260, MTN OPS said your shipped, so any day now.

Awesome. Way excited to give it a go. Could of used it for the 5 tree jobs today. We had some significant winds this week.

 

[robby denning]

Day 1, Robby

OK, let's get this 2-week test underway. I'll be taking the Yeti along with Rokslide member mtnrunner260 before our normal workout routines.

Our plan is to post 4-6 times each week post workout. We'll share what we did and how we felt after taking the Yeti. This is not scientific in anyway, just two separate individuals experience with a pre-workout drink.

For the record, we're not in touch with MTN OPS beyond receiving the product nor are we consulting with each other behind the scenes. We'll keep it pure and honest, Rokslide style. We both received the Yeti free and are not paid for this (other than I guess I am cause MTN OPS is a Rokslide sponsor). Also, on a personal note, a little ashamed but it's pertinent so I'll say it. In my late teens I struggled with meth and a little cocaine for about a year, so I know what it feels like to take heavy stimulants and what "amped" "skin crawl" and all that feels like. (By the grace of God, I just walked away from it all and never went back.)

I actually started my testing on Monday, February 15th, so mine's not in real-time like mtnrunner's will be. Initial post will be big cause I need to lay some foundations, but much shorter after that.

First, about me. I'm 46, manage a large group of personal trainers at the day job and have been with this company, Apple Athletic Club for 24 years http://www.appleathleticclub.com/

I weigh between 180-185 pretty much year round with body fat in the 14-19% range depending on time of year. You'd think working in a club of this caliber with access to some of the best trainers in the state and a $million in equipment at my disposal, my workouts would be out of this world. Not really. Other than all this is just a few steps out my office door, and I technically get paid to workout, workouts are a hassle for me like everyone else. I have 24 employees and two bosses, so I'm at the mercy of the moment. If I'm needed, even during a workout, I often have to stop what I'm doing and answer the call and sometimes never get back to the workout.

I typically average 4-6 days per week 30-60 minute workouts with a mix of cardio (running 1x/week, cardio machines, outside walking) and resistance (super circuit, free weights.) This time of the year I get no mountain time, so other than my workouts, I'm pretty sedentary so I really have to watch the intake this time of year. I track my calories/macros/nutrients on MyFitnessPal to help control my weight. I wear a MyZone intensity monitor for almost all my workouts. I'll share data from these sources to keep it interesting. I'm not a big supplement guy, only taking glucosomine, chondroiten, Vitamin D (winter) and whey protien in my fruit/veggie smoothies. I don't know a lot about supplements.

For Day 1, I'd just returned from the Salt Lake Expo last night. With three days of restaurant food and late dinners, I was "carb-loaded" as evidenced by the scale for my ritual Monday morning weigh-in of 182. I was 180 the previous Wednesday.

Today, I took the 14 gram serving of Yeti (full scoop using scoop supplied in 30 serving tub) about 12:30 and was working from 1:10 for 46 minutes. (MyZone tracks workouts by the minute). I'd only eaten breakfast (429 calories) so far because I'm still full feeling from the weekend. My energy level felt good (likely due to high glycogen levels), even before the Yeti. I'll eat lunch after the workout.

Today is light cardio (60-70% Effort as determined by MyZone), with resistance (super circuit) and flexibility.

Super circuit is a 16 minute workout covering all the major muscles groups (except core) with cardio intervals between sets with no rest (45 seconds effort, 15 seconds to change station). Perfect workout for me cause it's on a timed light and hardly anyone bothers my workout. I try to do it 1x/week with free weights on the two days of resistance.)

Final workout report:

burned 471 cal in 46 minutes at an avg of 60% effort. About right for this workout.

I felt good energy all through the workout but I'm carb-loaded so it's hard to know if it's the Yeti or not. However, by 7:00 PM, I felt jittery sitting at my desk, so something was going on. It wasn't bad, but definitely not winding down for the day.

I had to work until 9:00 PM and I'm not very sensitive to coffee late in the day (can drink it and go to bed in an hour or two) so I had a small (12 ounce) latte (I do this several times per week with no problems).

I feel asleep normally by 10:30 and slept well. However, I was wide awake by 1:00 AM (normally could sleep till 6:30 easy) and couldn't go back to sleep. Ended up watching three hours of Homicide Hunter before finally falling asleep by 4:00 and wide awake (normal feeling) by 7:00. I didn't feel jittery or like I was on stimulants during the night, just could NOT go back to sleep. Plan on either working out earlier in the day or taking less Yeti.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Day 1

I guess I'll start with a little background info similar to what Robby did.

I'm 34 and have been married for almost 10 years. We have 3 boys ages 5,3 & 1.
I've hunted all my life and look forward to getting out with my boys as they get older.

I attended college on a track and cross country scholarship but a couple years after graduation family, work and the fact that I'd just taken 5 hunting seasons off lead me to stop running. I put on some weight as I ate like I was still running.

After a couple hunting season of not being where I wanted I decided to change and starting running again but an old injury flared up that required surgery. I did cross training as I keep putting it off but finally went under the knife in November.

My routine consists of some running, hiking and lifting in the gym. I also work two jobs, one is kinda physical sometimes and the other, (tree service company) is almost always physical.

I've never really taken products. Really the most I've taken is EmerC while on hunts. So I was pretty excited to have this opportunity. Thanks Robby and Rokslide.

Well enough of that and onto the Yeti review.
I received it yesterday (2/23) and took my first scoop this morning at about 5:45. The Blue Raspberry flavor tastes pretty good and it mixes with just a couple shakes of a normal water bottle. I was really hoping I wouldn't need to be one of the guys at the gym walking around with the whisk in a bottle shaking it every 5 seconds.

For my work out today I warmed up on the bike for 20 minutes and then did upper body on the cable machines that I feel is a help for bowhunting. Then I moved to legs. Deadlift, weighted lunges, squats, leg extensions and curls. Back to a couple arm exercises with dumbbells. I was not at the normal fatigue level and could have keep working out if I didn't have to go to work.

I had a little stomach discomfort towards the end of the workout but not bad and thinking if I eat something small so it's not on an empty stomach it may help. It didn't affect my workout in any way.

There was a definite pump during the workout. I always try to do a circuit type deal with no rest between lifts per body group. I was able to go even faster today. I kept the weights the same so to keep some variable out of the test but it did feel easier.

Then I had a full 9 hour day of a webinar on sage brush. Most of which enthralls me but there are some dull parts for sure. Usually I would have to grab a Mtn Dew to not fall asleep in my chair. Not today. I felt good the whole time. I really feel that is more impressive to me than the gym.

I don't keep tract of my food like Robby does but do try to eat "clean". Today I had plain eggs for breakfast. Sweet potato and chicken for lunch. Apple, cashews, almonds and snap pees for snacks, and elk steak over rice for dinner.

It's 16 hours after I took it and I still feel that I would be more tired without having taken it. I'm not sure I would ever take it after noon like Robby did. I think I'd be up all night.

Tomorrow's plan is to spend an hour on the treadmill varying between running and incline walking. Then another 9 hours of sage brush talk.

Thanks

 

[robby denning]

Day 2, Robby

Cool beans mtnrunner

If you noticed in yesterday's post, I'd only eaten 1800 calories and burned almost 500, so I was no longer feeling "carb loaded" from the weekend.. This usually means I might get a drained feeling if I did a high intensity workout.

Really wanted to workout before lunch (I don't like working out on an empty or full stomach) but kept getting interrupted so with no lunch, I took my Yeti at 1:00. I felt a little drained because it was getting late in day and hadn't eaten since about 7:30. Because of what happened last night, I cut my Yeti to 5/8 of a scoop. Started working out within 30 minutes or so

The only running I do is short distance and try to push to just below my anaerobic threshold but stay aerobic (like on the mountain).

I ran a mile at 7.1 mph for an 8:45 minute per mile. Last week's without Yeti was 6.7 mph and 9 minute per mile.

Placebo? Could be but I know it was easier to push myself than usual.

Rest of the workout was core training. Felt good especially since I was working out till after 2:00 with no food since breakfast. I was very hungry by end of workout though and ate lunch like a bear.

Here's my MyZone report. You can see the yellow, which indicates 80-89% effort, upper aerobic for me. Compare to yesterday where I only hit blue (by design as it was resistance/light cardio) in the 60-69%. Today's was 553 calories burned over 64 minutes.

Speed maintained for 1 mile

Because I'm not doing my report in real-time like mtnrunner, I can tell you that I slept fine all night, not waking up at all. I did have late coffee just like last night, so it was probably the Yeti that caused last night's sleep disturbance (combined with the coffee). Didn't feel jittery after the workout either, so 5/8 of a scoop for me was better.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Day 2

Woke up and had a serving of Yeti with half a banana. I did 8 oz of water today after doing 12 yesterday. The label says between 8 and 12. No difference in how well it mixes or tastes.

Got on the treadmill and did 5.2 miles and 723 vertical feet in 60 minutes. Could feel the pump from it but not so jacked up that I wanted to just start sprinting. No stomach issues at all. Small sample size of 2 days but a little food seems to help in my case when taking it.

Again I felt it lasted all day. No need for an additional caffeine shot in the early afternoon despite being confined to our overly warm conference room all day.

Some of my thoughts about the Yeti is you could definitely increase you capacity (lifting, running, etc) with it. I am not sure if it would be better to do it in phases of a couple weeks are just once or twice a week over a longer period. Personally I am not going to take something everyday for long period of times. We will have to see how it goes when not taking it. Will my body become accustomed to it and not perform as well on a day where I don't take it?

 

[robby denning]

Day 3, Robby

As I said, no sleep issues last night so I stuck with 5/8 of a scoop for today and 8oz water

I only took in 1900 calories yesterday and burned 550, so I was hungry in the AM.

Plan was for a workout before lunch, but as I said earlier, I'm a slave to this place and got stuck at my desk from 8:30 to 5:00. I was draggin' butt from no activity after lunch (about 2000 calories in between breakfast/lunch) and I had to be home early, so it was going to be a quick workout. Took the Yeti at 5:00 and went right to my workout.

This was supposed to be my free weights day and a 60 minute workout, but with the limited time and the fact that the gym was packed by 5:00 PM, I just warmed up cardio to 80% effort then hit the circuit. Within 10 minutes, I could feel the Yeti kicking in the draggin'-butt feeling was long gone.

I was just getting into the workout when one of my trainers comes over and tells me there's an old guy on a recumbent bike and "his squirrel has gotten out of the cage" The trainer was on session so I had to stop my circuit workout and check it out. He wasn't kidding. This guys balls had squirmed out of his too-loose and too-small shorts and he hadn't a clue as he pedaled slowly watching the TV screen. The cardio room was packed and a lot of people saw the action, so all eyes were upon me as I went over to tell him which there was no subtle way to do, so I just blurted it out. While I was embarrassed, it was nothing compared to him. Turned out that old guy could move pretty quick when he wanted to.
(this is the stuff that kills my workouts).

Anyway, five minutes wasted and I'm back to the circuit, finished my workout only clocking about 30 minutes. I was ready for more but had to get home.

Yeti definitely helped get this workout. I was nervous taking it so late in the day and could feel that I had all evening, but I wasn't amped, just alert.

Still a decent intensity too.

Fell asleep by 10:30 and slept fine.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Day 3

I did not take Yeti this morning. I was planning on having a lighter day.
I went to the gym in am and worked out for 50 minutes. Some cardio, stretching, lifts then abs.
Hit the office for a bit and then went tree cutting. We were only going to do a few jobs but the boss was able to get a few more on the schedule so it ended up being a long day.

I was ok at the gym this morning but definitely no pump from the Yeti. I wanted to go lighter so maybe not having it helped avoid the temptation of working harder then I should have.

Its one of our first "hot" days here at 55 and I am not used to it yet. The heat and sun zapped me over the day. Around 3pm I found myself wishing for some yeti.

Plan on taking it tomorrow and several hours of tree cutting so we'll see how it goes.

 

[robby denning]

Day 4, Robby

Had a family get together last night and ate too much- ending up at 4,800 calories for the day.

Usually wouldn't need any help from a pre-workout on the day after an intake like that, but I decided to take my now normal 5/8 scoop anyway.

Was able to start my workout earlier at 10:00 AM. This is when I prefer to workout, right between breakfast and lunch.

Low intensity Cardio and core day- felt awesome.

Ended up doing 90 minutes and over 1,000 calories. As usual, I got interrupted half-way through the workout and thought I was done for the day but put the fire out and was able to resume. But I'd taken my MyZone off, so I didn't get to record the last 360 cals- just went off the Cybex Arc Trainer calorie gauge. I'm posting from home so I just took a screen shot from my iPhone for the workout report.

I can tell this stuff works already but I'm committed to post for 10 workouts/2 weeks just to chart out enough data to take in any unforeseen reactions or results.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Day 4

Took the Yeti before tree work today.

I was pretty hammered yesterday so I was looking forward to the boost from it. I never really felt the pump that I had the two previous times. But that may have been because I was tired from a long week and last night my 1 year old did not want to sleep. I also did a poor job of re-hydrating after yesterday so work up in less than ideal condition.

Our first job was cleaning up wind damage and dead trees on a couple acre lot. Lots of dragging out branches. If you ever want a great leg work out grab a armfull of branches and drag them a couple hundred yards. Another suggested workout that really hammers your core is using a Stihl 660 with 28in bar above your head. Even though I was tired I was able to just keep going. I ran out of water pretty early around 9am and didn't drink again until 12 so that hurt as well. But we ate lunch at 1 and I pounded water.

At our second job I felt better than at the first. I think water was the biggest factor. I usually do pretty well but that was a poor 18 hour stretch for me.

Even though I was never really "amped" from it I do feel it helped carry me through the day. When I got home around 5 I was able to play with the boys and cook dinner while my wife just wanted to go out. Typically after a long day like that I would be bushed and in no mood to do much.

Not planning on taking any on Sunday unless I really feel like I'm going to fall asleep in church.

I am wondering if being dehydrated reduces the affect of the Yeti?

 

[mtnrunner260]

Day 5

Sunday.
No yeti today. Took it pretty easy. Smoked an elk roast and hung out with the family.
Gym first thing tomorrow.