Energy Gel Review and Breakdown

A popular question from new and experienced triathletes alike is “What kind of energy gel do you use/recommend?”  I can’t say I’ve tried everything out there, but I’ve gone through quite a bit of gel in the past few years and I’ve tried just about everything that you can find in your average store.  For this review, I picked up a few of my favorite brands and resampled the gels, both by themselves and during a 7-9 mile run.

Clif Shot Gel:

The first gel I picked up was Clif Shot Mango Energy Gel.  The Clif Shot contains 100 calories per serving, 40mg of sodium, 30mg of potassium, 25g of carbs with 8g being sugar.  One of my favorite features of the Clif product is the tab, called a Litter Leash, that prevents the tab from falling off when you open the pack.  After trying a few of these, I settled on the Mango as the best flavor.  Pretty thick tasting, with a decent balance of sweet and savory, but a bit heavy in your stomach.

GU Energy Gel:

The next gel I picked up was GU Espresso Love.  This is a great gel.  As with the Clif Shot, there are 100 calories per serving.  GU Gel has 50mg of sodium and 40mg of potassium, 25g of carbs with 5g being sugars.  You can certainly tell this gel has a bit less sugar.  The GU Espresso Love is much less heavy when it hits your stomach and doesn’t leave as thick of a taste in your mouth.  An added bonus is the additional caffeine, double the standard GU gel.  I was impressed to see that GU also produces caffeine free gel products, just in case your stomach doesn’t love the extra energy.

Hammer Gel:

The third and final gel I tried is Hammer Gel Vanilla.  Hands down, this is my favorite gel, though their Espresso gel is running a close second for me.  The Espresso gel has a bit of added caffeine, which is great, but I still enjoy the Vanilla a bit more, even without the caffeine.  Hammer Gel has 100 calories per serving, 25mg of sodium, and no potassium.  Sugar makes up only 2g of the 23g of carbs.  I noticed the drastically reduced sugar content as soon as I tasted the Vanilla.  The gel was also a bit smoother, a bit easier to eat and (possibly) easier to digest.  The Hammer Vanilla didn’t have the same heavy feeling when it hits your stomach.  I also noticed a bit less of an aftertaste, or a more pleasant aftertaste, than the other gels.

Overall:

I strongly recommend the Hammer Gel Vanilla or Espresso, if you need an extra kick.  This recommendation is based on the overall flavor profile, the low sugar content, and the ease of digestion.  Each of these gels performed well as an energy source.  The additional energy and endurance was noticeable after using each gel, I could not identify any significant difference between the brands.  Energy gels are one of the few products that are affordable enough to sample the entire field of options.  All three gels will provide a bit more energy and help you recover more quickly.  Sample and enjoy.  Just remember, don’t try anything new on race day.  If you’ve been using GU during training, keep it up.  Switching your nutrition before a race can lead to significant stomach and digestive issues.