Neo-Fit muscle gel

Neo-Fit contacted me to have the opportunity to try out their muscle gels as a runner and OCR enthusiast. After a long chat on the phone regarding my current training, it was agreed that I would receive the a 100ml bottle of both the pre and post workout gel for me to use as part of my routine. Yassin Mamade, the founder, was really knowledgable and very interested in what I did – he also ensured he was available for me as part of the review process – should have I had any questions about the products.

The Science of the Neo-Fit muscle gels

The muscle gels come in two versions: pre-work out and post-work out. Both have different ingredients as they (of course) have different objectives to your workout, training and recovery. Taken from the Neo-Fit website the muscle gels are designed to “Maximise muscle efficiency. Deliver essential nutrients to muscles exercised with our gels. With a controlled release mechanism, feel the effects for hours during and post workout.”

• Pre Work-out muscle gel contains 7 amino acids (including Arginine, BCAAs and Glycine) which (according to Neo-Fit) “…promotes muscle repair and reduce Net Protein Loss DURING workout.”
• Post Work-out muscle gel has “Sea kelp extract containing essential electrolytes in exercise including Sodium, Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium.” which “… attenuates muscle fatigue and exhaustion that comes with intense and strenuous exercise, which blocks training stimulus and impairs performance.”

My routine with the Neo-Fit muscle gels

After receiving the gels, I ensured I left it a few days to pay attention to my body and legs – making sure I understood how they felt on my easy and hard running days. I then used the muscle gels and prescribed in the instructions until both bottles were empty. The gels lasted me just over two weeks – through the two weeks, I ran every day splitting the training between “easy” runs and “hard/tempo/interval” run. Each container held 100ml of gel. Each day I pumped 6 times – 3 for each leg – one for the calf, one for the hamstring area and one on the quad/thigh. Overall I think I got around 15 days (15 x 6 = 90 squirts!).

I run in the morning, so as soon as I wake up I would apply the pre workout gel, put on my running gear and get out of the door – this would give the gels between 5 and 10 minutes between application and starting my run. When I returned, I would jump straight into the shower and then apply the post workout gel once I have dried – usually around 20 minutes after the end of my run

The gels were really easy to apply and rubbed into the skin pretty quickly. The pre workout had a slight orange tinge, whilst the post workout was colourless. However, once they were applied, there were no signs of the gel (wasn’t like I was trying to self tan. One of the gels had a very feint scent (I can’t recall which one, nor could I pin point what the smell was!) but again, once the gels were applied, I couldnt smell the scent.

My thoughts using the Neo-Fit muscle gels

Once I finished the bottles I gave myself 2 weeks off – again taking note of my body before I wrote this review post. I felt it would help me remain objective on the gels and their effectiveness on my body.

I must admit I was a little sceptical coming into the test – I understand that “topical” gels need to get through the skin layer down into the body before they make a “real” difference to the muscles – “Deep Heat” for example don’t really do much to your muscles – the warm sensation you are feeling are to the nerve endings towards the top layer, but the cream doesn’t really penetrate deep enough into the muscle layer to make a difference.

However, I felt a difference to my legs on the hard days – less tight through the day after the hard workout and feeling good even on the following easy run day. Could this have been a placebo effect? Possibly, but this feeling was repeated through the two weeks and really more noticeable once I had run out of the muscle gels.

Final thoughts

The Neo-Fit gels are not “cheap” coming in at £12 per bottle or £20 for the pair. Looking back, I would not use the gels everyday – only using them on “hard” days rather than on the easy / recovery run days which would mean the bottles last longer. Recovery runs are just that for “recovery” so the muscle gels are probably a moot for this.

Definitely worth a look, there is no disputing the science behind the gels and for the cross-fitters, weight-lifters and OCR athletes, would be worth investing in to see if it helps make a difference to their training.

Finally, the muscle gels are vegan friendly and have been tested for banned substances, so the professional athlete can use them without fear of positive testing.

Neo-Fit have had no editorial input to this post, they have not seen an early version, not have I been paid to write this review – all thoughts are my own.