Liquid Shot: Traditional Gels Are History

Developer’s notes for the ultimate endurance gel.

For the latest generation of Liquid Shot, we changed everything.

It’s a different world today than when the original Liquid Shot launched in 2008. We’ve been following those new advances, and we’ve also been in conversation with the athletes who use our product. Flavor systems, fueling technology, my own research into cramping and electrolytes – there wasn’t a single aspect that we left unexamined. We even redesigned the package for easier use while in the saddle or running!

The most important change is to performance, of course, and today’s Liquid Shot uses the latest research and know-how available to give you gut-friendly energy, faster, when you’re bonking, ramping up, or otherwise don’t have time to waste.

Liquid Shot delivers a usable amount of fast-acting carbs and an optimal electrolyte dose in a convenient package that’s easy to use (tastes great, less filling!). It empties from the stomach FAST, gets absorbed into the bloodstream almost instantaneously, and delivers more energy-producing glucose molecules into cells. Every ingredient was chosen to meet this end, so it gives athletes the quick energy they need when they need it most.

With new fueling tech, there’s no reason you should have to wait 5-10 minutes for something to kick in. With Liquid Shot, you don’t have to.

Availability

One immediate difference you’ll notice with Liquid Shot compared to gels is that it’s not a thick, viscous sludge. It’s not really a “gel” at all – it’s a ready-to-drink shot of liquid fuel – hence the name, which hints at our design intentions.

Traditional gels are thick and viscous, because they contain thickening agents. True to their nature, those thickeners gum-up the digestion and stomach-emptying processes.

In contrast, Liquid Shot is isotonic, meaning it has a similar concentration of solutes as the body for fast digestion and absorption. It’s pre-engineered for balance with your body, which is a key reason it starts working almost immediately so you can maintain a high level of intensity – or save yourself from an imminent bonk! That isotonic-tuned quick absorption means it also limits GI distress, even when you’re at or above threshold, and the light consistency is easy to consume while breathing hard without having to choke it down with a bottle of water.

Scalability

Another very obvious change is the size. Instead of the old refillable flask, the new Liquid Shot comes in 110-calorie individual use pouches that lets you take as much – or as little – as you need for any training session or race.

While the flask was a great option for some situations (long solo rides, IRONMAN-distance triathlons, etc.) it wasn’t ideal for short to medium-length training sessions or races where you do need additional calories and electrolytes but you don’t need an entire flask, which is the equivalent of 4 LS packs. We were bombarded with requests for single-serve packets by pros and competitive amateurs worried about every gram of excess weight. We listened.

The new formula is not only superior from a performance perspective, but it’s also convenient because it has everything you need and it has a lot more practical applications. That addresses another key finding from our research and user feedback: convenience is a huge – yet often overlooked – aspect of proper fueling. Make fueling easier and athletes are more likely to fuel the right way.

Preventability

More of those advances: Research clearly shows all five electrolytes more effectively prevent cramping and dehydration than the usual sodium or sodium/potassium combos. For example, the latest research even shows magnesium is just as, if not more, important than sodium. Similar to the prior version, the new Liquid Shot formula contains clinically effective doses of all five electrolytes in the levels that endurance athletes require to help prevent cramping and dehydration. There’s no need to carry extra electrolyte tablets in your pocket, which can be a nightmare to dig out and take during a race.

Endurability

Ultimately, this is what Liquid Shot is for: fast energy that helps you endure when others are falling apart.

Exercise and endurance-related studies have been growing in number for years. That’s given us a lot of resources for understanding how to improve glucose delivery, digestion, and cellular uptake during exercise. It has also shown us that certain common ingredients and inveterate formula designs are actually impediments to net energy production. Unlike most of the endurance industry, we didn’t settle on a formula based on decades-old research.

The collected insights of recent research led us to a mix of maltodextrin and glucose to maximize fast fuel delivery. Tweaking the proportions allows for fast stomach emptying for a quick boost of fuel energy, with a sustain for 15-30 minutes (depending on your intensity and remaining muscle glycogen). It lets us bypass the limit on absorbing pure glucose, pushing fuel levels beyond where they’d be with glucose alone.

We intentionally left out fructose and sucrose for two very good reasons. Based on real-life field testing, sucrose and fructose versions became sickly sweet and were not preferred. Fructose was also associated with GI distress not seen with the maltodextrin-glucose LS – that’s the last thing you need when you need more fuel fast.

Palatability

It’s impossible to overstate how important flavor can be for endurance fueling. We’re including it as the last consideration in this designer’s blog on LS, but it was anything but an afterthought.

Something that tastes good in the lab can be horrible when you’re three hours into a race in extreme heat. There are a lot of different variables at play. You’re probably dehydrated, you’re at or above your anaerobic threshold, you might not have anything left in your bottles, it’s too cold to even drink, you might be ready to pop – you get the picture.

The most extreme circumstances are when Liquid Shot is most effective, so the taste can’t be overpowering, but it has to be pleasant enough to encourage use, especially when you’re at your most miserable – after all, fuel does no good if it’s sitting unused in the packet.

We spent over a year testing prototypes with some of the top athletes in the sport to dial in the flavor. We tested and retested them in all kinds of racing and training situations and conditions (hot, cold, humid, wet, arid, etc.) to make sure we had something that checked all the boxes.

It took over a year, but we incrementally introduced the two flavors currently available: the ever-reliable Wild Berry and the caffeinated Kona Mocha. There are other flavors in the works, but – again – it’s impossible to overstate how important it is to get flavor right, so we’re taking our time and not rushing it.

Conclusion: LS + The FE System

Liquid Shot is formulated to be used in situations where you need additional calories and electrolytes quickly – right before a race, at intervals during a race or hard training, when you’re starting to fall apart, just before a final sprint or critical effort, etc. That means it’s also designed to be used as a supplement to our EFS and EFS-PRO hydration mixes, which should be your primary fuel and hydration during exercise. 

In the past, you had to mix and match your endurance nutrition. You’d get gels from one company, hydration mix from another, and your recovery mix from yet another. That created all kinds of problems. The combined levels of ingredients could be too high (which can cause havoc on your GI system and take you out of a race), and there are risks of significant nutrition gaps (not enough calories and electrolytes or no BCAAs, which causes bonking, cramping, and other issues). As a result, there was a significant amount of confusion and guesswork surrounding endurance nutrition.

We recognized this problem and engineered the First Endurance line to work together, as a comprehensive system. Each product has a specific purpose, complements and works with the others to give you everything you need to be your best. No overlap, no unnecessary issues, and no confusion.