The Science of Energ-Ease

If you were to go to any of the online medical databases, like Medline, and type in “Cordyceps and Endurance” (or any of the other ingredients + endurance), you’d be sadly disappointed with the results. You would immediately notice that there is a distinct LACK of credible evidence for the ability of any of these ingredients to improve exercise endurance in humans. Bummer.

So, WHY do we combine them and try to sell them to you as Energ-Ease? Several reasons.

First, there are some very good metabolic effects documented in the available studies that SUGGEST a benefit on endurance performance in athletes. The overall “adaptogenic” usage in traditional medicine around the world gives us a clue, but it’s the improvements in mitochondrial function (cordyceps), oxygen capacity (rhodiola), stress (ashwagandha), energy levels (eleuthero), and mood (eurycoma) that are most exciting.

Second, we know that you can’t just throw a few herbs into a capsule and expect it to work because it’s a good idea. We know that this approach is standard operating procedure for most sports nutrition companies – but not here. That’s why we have (and will continue to) put the patent-pending Energ-Ease formula to the test – in REAL endurance athletes in REAL competitive situations. Click HERE to see our latest studies.

Third, we want you to TRY it before you buy it. As with our companion post-exercise recovery product, Recover-Ease, we want you to try a sample of Energ-Ease so you can FEEL it working for yourself. Recover-Ease users feel fresher legs and lungs the day after their hardest workouts – so they can go hard again without risking injury or illness (or feeling like crap). Energ-Ease users feel more energetic and stronger in the later/harder stages of their training and racing. Used together, Energ-Ease and Recover-Ease can HELP you go harder and recover faster – but YOU are still the engine behind the performance.

Lastly, we want you to know why nobody has done what we’re doing before = Greed (or ignorance). It’s easy to sell someone a product that claims to make them faster, or thinner, or smarter – but if it doesn’t work, then you can’t sell it to them again (unless they’re a sucker). One of the main reasons that so many natural nutritional products are ineffective is because of poor quality raw materials provided at sub-optimal levels. Basically, most products give you small amounts of junk. Our approach is a bit different in that we only use very high-quality ingredients and we combine them at fully-effective dosage levels – and then we test that formula in athletes like you. This makes our products insanely expensive to develop and manufacture, but we figure that if you get a real benefit from our products, then you’re more likely to buy another bottle and keep using them to support your endurance “habit” (we suffer from it too).

Cordyceps and Endurance Click here for the studies (pdf)

Wicked Fast Overview:
Medline lists only 5 published studies on the effects of Cordyceps sinensis (the type of cordyceps used in Energ-Ease) on endurance. There are additional studies that have been presented at international scientific meetings (some by Wicked Fast Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Shawn Talbott), but not all of these studies are indexed by Medline and related research databases. Of the available studies on Cordyceps, 3 were conducted using the CordyMax product from Pharmanex (1,050mg of Cordyceps per 2 capsules) and 1 used the Optygen product from First Endurance (1,000mg of Cordyceps plus 300mg of Rhodiola per 3 capsules). Only one of these studies found an increase in endurance – and that was in swimming rats and mice that were fed the “generic” cordyceps (Koh). Neither Cordymax (in studies by Parcell, Balon, and Dai) nor Optygen (in the study by Earnest) had any effect on endurance, but there were some metabolic effects suggestive of improved energy metabolism with cordyceps supplementation.

Why we have it in Energ-Ease?
Despite the apparent disconnect between the traditional use of Cordyceps as an enhancer of endurance and stamina, and the disappointing research results outlined above, there are 3 additional studies (available only as abstracts) that show positive effects of cordyceps supplementation in humans. These studies (Nicodemus, Talbott, and Zhu) show significant improvements in endurance, aerobic capacity, and fat metabolism during exercise in humans. As a part of the Energ-Ease formula, Cordyceps (1,000mg/serving) is intended to support endurance via its effect on oxygen metabolism.

Rhodiola & Endurance Click here for the studies (pdf)

Wicked Fast Overview:
A search of Rhodiola as an endurance aid turns up 4 studies – 3 of which are in humans and 1 in rats. Of the human studies, one is the same trial of Optygen (which also contains Cordyceps) by Earnest, which showed no effects on endurance performance. To be fair to the Optygen product, which contains the same amount of Cordyceps and Rhodiola as Energ-Ease, the Earnest study supplementetd the subjects for only 2 weeks – probably not long enough for cordycep or rhodiola to elicit their main effects on improving oxygen uptake and energy metabolism. That said, the other 3 studies of Rhodiola showed reduced inflammation post-exercise (Abidov 2004), and increased endurance in rats (Abidov 2003) and humans (DeBock).

Why we have it in Energ-Ease?
The positive endurance findings with Rhodiola supplementation in the DeBock study also showed an increase in oxygen consumption with 200mg of Rhodiola (Energ-Ease contains 300mg of Rhodiola). By combining 300mg of Rhodiola with 1,000mg of Cordyceps, no other commercial product delivers a more potent combination of support for oxygen metabolism as Energ-Ease

Eleuthero & Endurance Click here for the studies (pdf)

Wicked Fast Overview:
Of the 4 available studies on Eleuthero and Endurance, we find 1 review study outlining 3 reports of increased endurance performance and 5 reports of no significant effects (Goulet). One Russian study of Eleuthero showed a blood-thinning effect and an increase in endurance work capacity (Azizov). We also have 1 study showing that Eleuthero reduces stress responses (Singh), and another showing increased stress responses (Gaffney). Overall, a mixed bag.

Why we have it in Energ-Ease?
Eleuthero is one of the few herbal extracts that you can “feel” after a single dose (another in Eurycoma – see below). Both cordyceps and rhodiola take several weeks to exert their full effects on boosting endurance and stamina – but what you’re feeling with eleuthero is a more immediate burst of energy (within 30 minutes for most people).

Ashwagandha & Endurance Click here for the studies (pdf)

Wicked Fast Overview:
Both of the available feeding studies of Ashwagandha (in rats) showed adaptogenic benefits with increased endurance effects so if you’re a rat training for an English Channel attempt, this is your herb…

Why we have it in Energ-Ease?
Kidding aside – if you’re training hard, you have stress. The metabolic balancing effects of ashwagandha coupled with its traditional use for reducing anxiety and overall stress, suggest that endurance athletes may benefit from regular use.

Eurycoma & Endurance Click here for the studies (pdf)

Wicked Fast Overview:
If you were an aging rat or mouse with a low sex drive, then Eurycoma would be your first choice to get your libido back on track. Of the 13 studies of Eurycoma feeding, we found that every single one of them made old rodents horny. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of Eurycoma boosting endurance – but the metabolic benefits of increasing testosterone and reducing cortisol exposure could be of significant benefit to hard-training endurance athletes.

Why we have it in Energ-Ease?
As explained in a recent article in Nature Medicine (Cyranoski), “Malaysian researchers bet big on home-grown Viagra” – Eurycoma has some real potential as an herbal solution to boosting libido (sex drive). Why should you care? Because the metabolic effect at work here is maintenance of testosterone levels – so if you had low testosterone levels from overtraining or under-recovering (both quite common in competitive endurance athletes), then Eurycoma might be able to help bring those low levels back up to normal. That is exactly what we found that the Energ-Ease formula (which contains 50mg of Eurycoma per serving) can do in competitive endurance athletes.