Let's Talk TORQ
Part I: An Introduction to TORQ Sports Nutrition
Part I: An Introduction
I’m very grateful that TORQ Fitness is supporting my current season with nutrition products to enhance my racing performance. However, my association with the brand extends well beyond this year. I have been using their products for a decade, beginning with my first race win in Belgium, which was fueled by their now staple product, the Raspberry Ripple Energy Gel.
Over the past decade, since that initial victory in Europe, my fueling strategies have evolved alongside the increasing demands of my races, which have nearly tripled in length. My power output has also grown significantly. I have progressed from consuming 30 grams per hour to comfortably ingesting over 120 grams per hour of TORQ nutrition products. And they’ve got a new range of exciting products, which could help me extend this number even higher, or at the very least, more comfortably. I believe no other brand is currently doing what TORQ are going to do with their nutrition, so keep your eyes peeled!
It should be noted before I go any further that I have received product support from TORQ, but all opinions you read in this piece are my own.
I’m sure a few questions are rattling around your head when reading these opening remarks: What led me to buy TORQ gels in the first place? Why have I, and continue to, use TORQ products all these years? How did our relationship develop? Why are you telling me about this?
The last of those questions will become clear by the end of this post. Let me start at the beginning and work through the logical timeline. I was first introduced to TORQ after my mum searched for a nutrition product she felt comfortable giving a 14-year-old, aspiring athlete. She knew that it was time to consider sports nutrition to supplement my growing performance level. But with the majority of performance nutrition brands manufacturing their products with ingredients we didn’t recognise, she made sure to read the packaging thoroughly to make an informed decision. She chose TORQ. The gel stood out from the rest, resoundingly. It had by far the fewest ingredients listed on the reverse of the packet. This was the one.
And that’s something TORQ holds particularly close to their heart. They have products which are certified Organic by the Soil Association. A true rarity in the performance nutrition market. Which may warrant their slogan #naturallysuperior.
I am conscious of this front, because we, as elite cyclists, race for hours at a time and train for days on end, and must consume copious amounts of these products to keep us fuelled and consistent in our day-to-day performance. And so, must decide what we put into our bodies. For me, I don’t want to be consuming inordinate amounts of chemical additives, artificial flavourings, or gelling agents.
[TORQ] do not use chemical sweeteners, colours or artificial flavours but work meticulously to deliver the finest natural flavour profiles available in any food product.
As I matured and took control of what I was putting into my body, I felt more and more assured that I was fuelling my performance as healthily as possible. By staying true to that philosophy, the product sits noticeably easier on my sometimes sensitive stomach. With TORQ, I don’t recall having an upset stomach after the race. That has only really happened when I’ve ingested other brands (with their occasional unique formulas) from the team’s bottles at the side of the road. That’s when I made my choice. I would use TORQ to supplement the often-limited amount provided by various teams.
That’s why you’re only hearing about them explicitly, for me, now. I’m hoping to inform you about some of TORQ’s exciting offerings. As that’s how our connection bloomed. We both believe in being educated by relevant information from different sources before coming to a conclusion. That information is assimilated (as deeply as the gels are on race day) into usable information (as much as the carbohydrates are used in my legs), to create a belief, a desire, and a result. That you should consider these nutrition products to elevate your performance and reduce performance-limiting stomach cramps.
We educate our customers based on our own education, knowledge and information gleaned from peer-reviewed published research.
They were a word-of-mouth company for so many years. They had a product which they were overwhelmingly confident in, having put those hours of work into the research. And now, they’re using a more direct marketing approach to tell their story with unwavering honesty, as they’ve always done. It’s a core value shared between us to #inspireexcellence. I’ve evolved in tandem. I’m now doing my part to share my decade’s worth of experience with these products as honestly as I can.
We also communicate positively on the non-scientific, more subjective virtues of our products, such as the flavour and texture, in the knowledge that we have worked harder than any other brand to get these right.
And, in my opinion, they are the tastiest products on the market. I will go into more detail in upcoming posts, sharing my tips and tricks for their Gels, Bars and Energy Powder.
In the meantime, you choose what you put into your body every day. It’s about informing yourself. Educating yourself on the up-to-date science and speaking with the company itself, if that’s what it comes to. It’s not about going back to pan e acua (that would be stupid), but instead educating how to get the best out of the nutrition products available to you, so that you can keep up with the modern nutritional demands of cycling racing, which are quickly becoming astronomical, in comparison to previous nutrition guidelines.
Yet, TORQ, throughout, have stuck to their guns and not shouted about it. The product has done the talking, which is a testament to their early days as a fitness consultancy. I believe an early tagline of theirs was “just talk” (and they’ve initiated a new podcast on that front: TORQ Talk).
The taste is steadfastly exceptional. The price of the TORQ products is middle of the range compared with competitors, especially when considering the Organic labelling, the in-house batch testing, and the innovative designs and products developed from discussing and understanding the research. Ultimately, asking the question of why and how we make a product we believe in, and coming up with a sensational product as the answer.
That’s why I chose TORQ. That’s why I continue to choose TORQ.
And that’s why I’m talking about TORQ to you.
For its honesty. For its authenticity and for its simplicity.
This is the cool part. You can choose them too! Have a gander, get a sample box, and enjoy the taste of pure performance nutrition, which is #naturallysuperior, and become yourself #TORQFuelled. Here’s the link to find 10% off your basket of TORQ products
