product review: mentalk

normally i won't ever think of doing any product review (since they may be controversial in nature) but i guess it is worth a shot.

mentalk is an all natural herbal candy that boasts significant benefit with little or no side effects for its user. at first glance, i was taken aback because i never tried any candy that has ginseng in it, let alone any candy that isn't meant for a child. i decided to test this candy out during the span of one week of my muay thai training, hoping to either get a kick or get kicked.

the first day of consumption (saturday):
in the morning i had a game of football. an intense 2 to 3-hour session with intervals of sprints and stops. i had suffered from a few minor injuries after the session: aching of my right knee, aching of my right ankle (probably due to the torn atfl) and sore feet. i consumed the candy in the afternoon after my nap but of course, effects do not come that quickly.

second day of consumption (sunday):
as a disclaimer, i was told that it was going to "awake the ache". meaning i will tend to feel sore on parts of my body that were previously injured. the day went by normally, no new aches or pains apart from the sores i got from football the day before. i ate the candy in the afternoon.

third day of consumption (monday):
training day. i ate the candy about an hour before my training commenced. training began with warm-up: 2.4km run (10:30-11:30), static tyre jumps (5:00), skipping (10:00) and bagwork (10:00). then we went into 5 sets of 1-minute bagwork, 100 kicks on each leg on pads, and some padwork punching. that was intense. somehow i felt that my energy levels were somewhat moderately normal during my bagwork and padwork, but endurance levels during the run was certainly greater than the previous week of training.

fourth day of consumption (wednesday):
i skipped tuesday cos i wanted to see if the candy would give me the boost for that day's training. one thing i noticed when i woke up was that the sore on my right knee felt horribly worse than before. i couldn't even walk properly for most parts of the day. it hurts as though it had been hit by a jackhammer.

again i ate the candy about an hour before training. this time for warm up i did 3.2km run, skipping (15:00) and bagwork (10:00). then we had a 45-minute long session of bagwork: 3 sets of 1-minute combo punches, 50 single roundhouse kicks per leg on bags, 30 double roundhouse kicks per leg on bags, 10 continuous roundhouse kicks per leg on bags, 50 knees per leg on bags, and to end it off, 3 minute of alternate knees on bags, continuous. yes, very intense indeed but amazingly i wasn't at all gasping and crawling on the ground after the whole session. my energy levels were pretty much still up and i was able to do some more.

now to summarise the effectiveness of the candy, i'd keep it short and sweet.

pros:

• increased energy levels during training (at least that's what i felt)
• for guys, it is really quite good (if you know what i mean)
• doesn't make you thirsty (because supplements usually make you pee like a dog and you have to drink like an elephant in order not to dehydrate)

cons:

• aching and headache (though i only felt the aching on the 4th day and headache on the 6th day)
• the taste of ginseng (for those who can't stand the taste of that dreaded root)

my personal opinion:
different people may react differently to external stimuli and supplements. i can safely say i'm quite a hardy beast and can handle high levels of potency. however, for some of you who are weaker, you may feel the full blow of the side effects way earlier. and as for the benefits, trust me, whether you come from ocs or commando, doing the routine i did may just floor you (unless you've been doing it for a few months). for those who are open to natural herbs as a form of supplement (be it for sports or for other activities), you may want to try this out.

for more infor, visit http://www.mentalk2u.com/