Bodivance On My... Body

Bodivance - when I first read about this word a few months back, I thought it was some kind of height increasing technology that has reached the Philippine soil.

At first glance of the catch phrases "speeds up circulation", "accelerates warm-up", "prevents cramps", and etc..., my initial internal-reaction was "lol! how can a topical cream can give such benefits"?

But then I continued to read the flyer just to give fair justice about what the product is all about. As you can see, I'm not the kind of guy who easily believes the marketing or sales talk about a particular product unless someone or somebody has already testified about it. To prove my point, I returned back the flyer after reading it and shelled-out a Php 55.00 for the sachet of Bodivance I was holding (is that enough proof? lol!).

Now it's my time to prove to myself if the science is really effective on the following events. Not wanting to give you information overload, I'll just cap out the things that were most noticeable during my attempts to prove what Bodivance claims. And to give you some background about my fitness status, I have been suffering from plantar fasciitis since January 16, a day after my trail run at the Road xTrail in Nuvali.

Actual thermogenic test of PKB's Nico D'Haenen during the Product Launch at ROX

1. The First Test - Greentennial Run
• Activity: 3k run
• Applied area: ample amount on my back, hips, shoulder blades, legs, knees, calves, feet and plantar muscles.
• Before the activity: During my warm-up stretching, I seem to sweat faster despite the cool breeze.
• During the activity: I was expecting that my plantar pain would surface, instead I was surprised that I was able to run from moderate to race pace speed for the whole 3k stretch.
• After the activity: At the finish line as I stopped running, I felt a tinge of pain on the mid-inner portion of my left heel. I rested for a bit and did some stretching (foot rotation) to relax my feet and muscles. Afterwhich, me and my buddies were still able to walk from BHS to EDSA for our bus ride going home.
2. Second Test - aNR 5th Sunday Run
• Activity: 1k sprint
• Applied area: a conservative amount on my legs, thighs, and calves.
• Before the activity: Since I wasn't able to immediately warm-up after the application of bodivance, I thought that the effect was no longer there. Instead, as I was doing my dynamic stretchings, I already felt that my muscles has already warmed-up that I only needed to loosen my joints.
• During the activity: Didn't notice anything since my mind was all focused in chasing our time.
• After the activity: Finishing my 1k part in 00:03:42.82, I felt that my thighs are going to explode; But the speed of recovery was remarkable just after a few cool-down stretches. I also noticed that for the first time, there were still beads of sweat on my shin and calves. Plantar pains didn't manifest.
3. Third Test - RunRio Trilogy 2011 Leg 1
• Activity: 21k run
• Applied area: me and my running buddy's knees, legs, and calves.
• Before the activity: After 15-minutes of warm-up jog before the race, and despite the cool breeze of air, sweat beads are still forming on my shin and calves.
• During the activity: With the lack of sleep the night before the race, as well as lack of preparation and training for a 21k run, I was expecting that I'd feel some cramps on my legs and knee (ITBS) pains. But none of these has occurred. While to my running buddy, she felt a build-up of cramps on both of her legs as we reached the 16k mark. She usually feels the cramps before reaching 5k distance.
• After the activity: Nothing hurts. Legs felt relaxed, except for a heartburn and some chest pains, probably due to zero hours of sleep!
4. Final Test - Mountain Climbing
• Activity: About 3km steep 706 masl (miles above sea level) ascent to Mt. Maculot
• Applied aread: left leg and left calf only
• Before the activity: Hardly notice anything since before the ascent, there was not much activity going on.
• During the activity: I totally forgot that I have applied bodivance in my left leg. I was only reminded when we were already about 2/3rd of the elevation. My right legs cramped, while my left leg still feels fine. It is unusual since I usually cramp in both leg at the same time. Also, I was constantly re-fuelling my electrolytes with 1.5L gatorade even before we boarded the bus.
• After the activity: Upon reaching the peak, we were still constantly moving doing some chores and checking out the other sides of the mountain. My right leg, which has no bodivance, is still feeling some tightness whenever the leg muscles contracts. The left leg with Bodivance is doing great.

You may visit bodivance's website to know more about the technical details of the product.