Feel the ‘Beet’ in Your Workouts With a Shot of This

This stuff makes our heart “beet.” (Told ya the puns were easy to make.)

I have a healthy obsession with beets. I’ve shared my torrid love affair with the beet before (like a romantic comedy where the girl falls in love with her dorky high school best friend years later), it took me awhile to see its grandeur, but now that I have, I’m smitten. Plus, let’s be honest, you can make so many puns with “beet,” which is pretty fun. So when we were sent a big ol’ box of Red Ace, a ready-to-drink organic beet supplement that’s said to boost endurance, I was ready to try — what I began calling — the beet shot. (Remember, my stance? Everything is better as a shot. And this is what this song is about, right? Right?)

Honestly, I expected this stuff to taste pretty gross. Made from organic beets (three of them in each bottle, which did make my heart sing), lemon juice and Guayusa, a tea-leaf derived caffeine source filled with antioxidants, I figured it would taste pretty beet-y (read: remotely of dirt). But, surprisingly, shooting — or even sipping — on this stuff was pretty good. Fairly sweet and with a little citrus, it went down easy and actually didn’t taste that much like beets (says the beet lover). Erin, who hasn’t embraced the beet, like, at all, didn’t really know what to think of the taste, except that she found it quite concentrated. It is a whole lotta punch in a little bottle, which is another reason taking it as a shot may be the way to go.

And now for the million dollar question — or the $60 question since that’s what a 12-pack will cost ya — did it work? You’re supposed to drink a nitrate-rich 2-ounce bottle one to three hours before a workout and the benefit is supposed to be improved lung function, giving you bigger breaths, and strengthening of the heart, boosting cardiac output and blood flow. Basically, that’s a fancy way of saying, you can have a bad-ass workout and feel better pushing hard. And, honestly, I did have great workouts when using it, but it wasn’t life-changing. My cardio system did seem to perform a little better (I especially noticed it when I did a version of this workout), but, like any supplement, the boost still relied on me taking care of myself — listening to my body, sleeping enough, eating right. So no cure-all, but definitely a slight improvement. I can see it being something to try for people looking to PR or training for a more competitive event.

Would you try it? Think beet is a wonder supplement? Have a great beet pun? Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots! —Jenn