Muc-Off Amino Ultra Endurance and Amino Recovery Balm

Muc-Off, best known for its pink bicycle cleaner, has been expanding into other markets, and the latest is a range of products intended to care for the body, including this Amino Ultra Endurance and Amino Recovery Balm. Although I found the cooling sensation of the Amino Recovery Balm appreciable after a hard ride, it didn't really make any noticeable difference in how my legs felt the following day, and as for the Amino Ultra Endurance, I found any improvements impossible to pinpoint.

Earlier this year Muc-Off unveiled four products in its new Athlete Protection Range. I've been testing the Amino Ultra Endurance and Amino Recovery Balm over the past couple of months, and as products intended to be used before and after a ride, it made sense to talk about them in the same review.

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Buy the Amino Ultra Endurance online here 

Buy the Amino Recovery Balm online here 

I must admit to being mildly sceptical when I first started testing the products, but I'm willing to try anything that might help me ride faster.

Amino Ultra Endurance, £24 for 150ml

The Amino Ultra Endurance contains Amino Taurine (isn't that the stuff in Red Bull?), which, according to Muc-Off, helps “convert glycogen into glucose” and “increases muscle's cell volume capacity”, working to “protect your muscle cells against lactate accumulation”. Still with me? The result of that complexity is the claim that the cream can reduce the onset of lactic acid build-up.

So I slapped some onto my legs and went for a ride. Applying the cream is straightforward. It's dispensed from the tube in a manageable form and, provided you don't squirt out too much, is quickly absorbed into the skin. There's not much sensation, no burning or cooling – this isn't trying to be an embrocation cream.

I tested the cream over a number of weeks, using it on every single ride, and then on alternate days, to try to see if it provided an appreciable boost in endurance. I even slathered it on just a single leg, to see if there was a noticeable difference.

The result? My legs still felt tired when I expected them to be tired, when riding familiar routes at a familiar intensity level. I was simply unable to detect any difference, and certainly no performance improvement, after applying the cream.

Amino Recovery Balm, £24 for 150ml

After a ride, it's all about recovery. Muc-Off's new Amino Recovery Balm uses a glutamine amino acid to, and these are the company's claims, “revive, recondition and freshen the legs and body”.

In use, the cream provides an instant cooling sensation, which is certainly very calming for tired and sore legs. As with the Endurance cream, I tested the product over a decent period of time. I applied it after rides of varying intensity, from short blasts to all-day rides. I ride my bike every day, so being able to recover quickly so I have good legs the following day is important to me.

Again, as with the Endurance product, it was hard to support the claims that it boosts recovery after a ride through my own testing. While the instant cooling sensation was very pleasant and did have a calming effect after a ride, it's possibly more psychological than physiological. So, good in the first hour immediately after a ride, but any improvement in performance the following day was a claim harder to support with my testing.

Can I recommend the Muc-Off products? This is the hardest part of the review. They're not cheap and their performance claims are tricky to validate, so no, I can't really recommend them. But you might get more out of them than I did. There are probably easier and cheaper things you can do to improve recovery and endurance, but if you want to try it out for yourself, each 150ml tube costs £24.

Verdict

Impressive claims but hard to validate through testing