Anyone who knows me well knows that I love mood altering substances, so much so that I have been forced to give most of them up due to overuse. With this history, I was more than a little hesitant to try FRS. Luckily, I came away from my sampling intact with a full bank account.
One of my teammates had ordered “free” samples of FRS. Samples from FRS are like the Time-Life book series subscriptions where you are free to cancel at any time, but you will automatically be billed and sent new installments until you jump through the considerable hoops to cancel it. My teammate has been having trouble cancelling the automatic billing and shipping with FRS's "customer service" and subsequently has found himself with a glut of the stuff. FRS’s dishonest and misleading sales practices are well documented on the internet. Here’s one example: http://hubpages.com/hub/FRS-Healthy-Energy-Complaint If you type "FRS scam" into a search engine, you can hear from some angry people. So do like Spaits and buy it at GNC if you are burning to try it.
I had the FRS drink mix for a week before I tried it out. I wanted to wait until I thought that I would benefit most before using my precious few samples. This last Saturday, I had a moderate 1.5 hour indoor workout planned. I was feeling sluggish and thought that the FRS may give me the needed boost to get through a workout that I was under-motivated for.
I mixed a batch of the orange flavored low calory blend according to the directions on the packet. The powder was very clumpy and difficult to stir into the water.
After stirring vigorously for longer than should be necessary I gave up and drank it down clumps and all. It tasted like orange Tang.
I didn’t notice an increase in energy. In fact the only discernible effect was a huge spike in my heart rate. While I was putting out base level power, my heart rate was 20-25 beats per minute higher than what it normally would be. I was just finishing a rest week and felt very good on the bike. In theory, and according to my data from past years, in a workout like this after a rest week, I should have been experiencing lowered heart rate, not higher.
I tried the FRS again in order to give it another shot at proving its worth. I used it before a 2 hour ride that included some tempo work. Again, I didn’t notice an increase in energy, only a higher than normal heart rate for a given power output.
While FRS also claims to be “healthy energy,” its ingredients list reads like a chemistry experiment. I won’t bore you with the details, but FRS will not be offered at Wholefoods any time soon. I am curious what FRS means when they claim to be “healthy.” Are they using “healthy” as a euphemism for “not immediately toxic?”
I don’t recommend FRS. It has none of the claimed benefits, it is not “healthy” as it is riddled with chemicals and their ordering process is misleading and predatory. If you simply must try it, contact me and I will be happy to hook you up with one of my spare packets. If I run out, I know a guy who is still stuck on “auto replenish” at $65 per month for more FRS than he can use.
