I’ve pointed out a couple of times before that I used to be a bit of a chunker. And I don’t say this to make fun. I surfed plenty, and it was quite the struggle at just under 6 feet and about 215 pounds. You know physics, so you can picture the bogged down dude in the lineup paddling like a sleepy panda. That was me. So surfing was actually my initial motivation to drop the weight and start being active outside of the water.
The first lifestyle change was hitting the gym and plenty of running. It was only a marginally successful endeavor at the time as I’d yet to learn about this whole “nutrition” thing the witches and warlocks with healthy BMI’s spoke so highly of. Eventually I got tired of busting my behind so hard and (literally) running in circles that I made the significant lifestyle change geared toward fueling my body. I quickly learned that in today’s day and age it is nearly impossible to get all the nutrition your body wants, fully organic, paleo, or whichever”diet” philosophy you subscribe to, without supplementing some nutritional needs. Eating clean, and eating a lot, aided by certain supplements, helped me train harder and more often. It ultimately added up to dropping 50 pounds with the bonus of surfing the way I wanted with the equipment I wanted. But the annoying drawback on the supplement front was that there were always a million and one tablets to take. At one point I think I was using a green tea extract for energy, an aloe extract for digestion and absorption of nutrients, a multivitamin, aminos, and the list goes on. Take this 3 times a day with food, take 2 of these twice a day with food, take this the minute you wake up. “Can I just have one super sup?” I would plea. But nutrition supplements are typically made for gym rats and people looking to lose weight, with few products made with surfers in mind. It’s the kind of focus and precision needed for dedicating time to improving a specific function when you’re buying and consuming multiple separate supplements.
Enter Apsu. Needles to say, my diet, supplements and training are all very different from those above 200 lb. days. So when I was asked to give Apsu a test run I was more than ok with dropping the vitamins and tablets I’d been using, but stuck to mostly because nobody else (at least that I knew of) made an all-in-one appropriate for somebody spending several hours in the water as well as training out of it.
Energy is always #1. I don’t have a gnarly coffee habit, but I have either been drinking green tea or taking green tea tabs for a while now. I knew a drop or change in day to day energy would be the most recognizable result from switching things up. The caffeine wakes you up (duh) and adds a boost to your metabolism, which is why it’s such a staple of the active minded. It’s usually a tab a few times a day and I’m fine, so I was skeptical of something I’d only take in the AM and still somehow find the energy going for an evening session after work. All was well though, and I didn’t miss a beat when it came to the first thing I was looking for when I was introduced to this product.
Apsu‘s goal is to keep you in the water. Every once in a while a run of swell will roll through that cuts you off from the “normal” functions of life. A string of 3 or more days with successive 4 hour sessions can be grueling. Nothing is worse than surfing yourself out day 1 of an entire week of expected waves. Your arms are sore, shoulders are stiff, and your back is hosed. This is where Apsu separates itself as a supplement for action sports athletes, offering the macronutrients and micronutrients your body will use to break down that first post surf meal for tomorrow’s recovery. Digesting all of your nutrition is as key as eating the right thing to begin with. Unlike somebody training cross fit or playing football, we don’t often take breaks to stop and eat and end up “working out” for several hours at a time rather than quick bouts like the traditional athlete. So anything you can use to power yourself through a 4 hour session and stay as close to 100% as possible is a huge boost. And on the flip side, those 4 hour sessions leave your body’s immune system open to breaking down. Added to the fact that many of us are swimming in and gulping all that delightfully clean ocean water, we’re pretty much asking to get sick 365 days a year. Every season is flu season, so thankfully there’s plenty of Vitamin C and other anti oxidants in what’s pretty much become an all in one supplement for surfers.
Here’s the deal though, you don’t really need to wait on the thumbs up from somebody else in order to give Apsu a run. They offer a free trial for anybody interested.
Editor’s Note: The piece above is powered by APSU.
