Episode 348: How 1st Phorm Can Positively Impact Your RAGBRAI Experience

You're listening to another episode of the Just Go Bike podcast, powered by Ragbry. This is the award winning podcast where we are all about the culture of cycling. Just for the fun of it. Your hosts are Murphy from the Morphology podcast and AP from Parrot Talk with tales from all over the nation. Come for the bikes, stay for the fun, and leave with a smile. And now, here is Murph.

Hey, that's me.

And ap.

Hey, that's me. Hi, Murph.

Hey, AP what's new?

Well, I've been out in the garden doing garden stuff. I've been on the Zwift bike doing Zwift bike stuff, I guess. Actually, none of that's new, but I've been out enjoying the spring weather.

Well, okay, so in mid April.

You taught me this last year that it's. Even when it's really nice out here in Iowa, it's not the time to start planting seeds. So what do you do this time of year in your garden? Just get it ready?

Well, it is the time to plant seeds, but indoors only, not outside. So my indoor seeds are growing strong. I got all sorts of peppers and tomatoes and flowers and stuff going on inside, but outside I'm doing things like weeding and tilling and admiring my bulbs that came up. Just, you know, fun stuff like that. Nothing. I. My boyfriend Cliff and I pruned our giant lilac tree and it was a massive undertaking. Took almost a whole day to kind of clear that thing out, but so that just that kind of stuff, like sort of preparing for the spring and summer to come.

Yeah. I was in Kansas City briefly this past weekend visiting a friend, and she had like, her lilacs were in full bloom, like it was fragrant. And I'm thinking, you know, it's not quite like this in Iowa, so it's not that far south, but enough, I guess.

Yeah, it makes a difference. They're in a different gardening zone, so that means they get stuff just a couple weeks earlier than us, which is why we're all jealous of them. But it's okay. We'll have our time pretty soon here. I'm actually glad for the extra week because it allowed me to do some of this cleanup stuff and prepare for it. So. Yeah. So what's new with you?

Well, I guess this is a biking podcast, so we don't want to get too deep into gardening. Right.

Or I could talk about sourdough too, if you want.

Well, I was. I went down to Bentonville, Arkansas this past weekend with a group of friends and we. I don't know, I don't know if it's self proclaimed or if it's actual fact, but Bentonville claims that they're like, mountain bike capital of the world. And it's because they've got. Bentonville is the home of Walmart. And so the heirs of Sam Walton are really big into mountain biking and creating mountain bike trails and paved trails and everything related to biking. So it is a mecca. And I went down with a big group of friends. We stayed in an RV park, and I was not on a mountain bike. I was on my adventure bike. But I still had a blast.

Ah, that's wonderful. I'm so jealous, because, as astute listeners may know, I was in Bentonville a couple weeks ago and it was too cold to ride. So super jealous. Sounds like you had just a wonderful time based on your Instagram pictures alone.

Yeah. And what's cool about Bentonville is almost. Not almost everyone, but a lot of the super popular areas. There'll be a single track that's, you know, meant to be more of, like, a black run, which is a higher degree of difficulty. And then paralleling it will be a tamer green trail. And then paralleling that will be a paved trail. So it's like you can be riding on the pavement. And then you'll be like, oh, I'm gonna go do this easy single track for a while. Then I'm gonna pop back on the Pave Trail, and then I'm gonna stop and watch. Oh. Do you know what the Bush push is?

No, I do.

Okay. So my friend Rob tried really, really hard. I hate to say this out loud, Rob, because he does listen. But he failed at the Bush push. What is it? You may want to know. I know. Sorry, Rob. I think he tried it like, 12, 13 times, but it is a super, super steep hill that's made of, like, loose gravel. And in 2010, President George Bush, who is an or was an avid mountain biker, he basically was doing like, some sort of, I don't know, interview with reporters and such. And he literally was all like, all right, watch this. And literally rode his mountain bike up this. It's straight up. I don't know what the percentage is. And nobody else could do it, so. Big sign that says, can you do the, you know, the George Bush? Like, can you go up this segment? Well, since 2010, it's not a maintained trail, so it has eroded tremendously, and there's huge ruts. So we watched Rob try many times. He was on his fat bike, and he kept. I bet he was down to, like, one pound of pressure of air in his tires trying to get up it. But guess who got up it?

You?

No. A mountain bike E biker.

Oh, yeah. That's not so exciting.

The guy just, like, you know, put the throttle all the way on and just. It still, it was. You know, you could tell he was really struggling, but he made it to the top.

So do you think George Bush had.

An E bike, too, or. I can guarantee you he did not. I don't even know if bikes were around in 2010.

No, I don't think so. That's impressive. I'm going to have to take a shot at that next time I'm down there.

Yeah, the bush push.

So that's cool.

It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, but, you know, when you're on those bike trails, look for the sign. So that was pretty cool.

Yeah.

But anyway, I did put a little segment in our Just Go Bike newsletter about Bentonville. So take a look at that.

That's right. Our Just Go Bike newsletter goes out on the 15th of every month. So if you're not subscribed to that, you probably should be. Dear listener, you can find the link to that on our page on the Ragbrai website, which is ragbrai.com jesco bike. Or I have it pinned to the top of our Facebook page. And you can find us on Facebook at Jesco Bike.

Cool.

So, yeah, sign up to that newsletter, because we have all sorts of. We have all sorts of episode roundups and fun facts from about what Murph and I have been up to. It's just kind of a fun little thing. And, you know, only once a month, so it doesn't annoy you too much by filling up your inbox.

Right. Okay, so today our episode is about FirstForm. And I got to interview TJ from FirstForm. It was so interesting.

Yeah.

And I know what FirstForm is, and you know what FirstForm is, but why don't you tell the listeners just a little bit about FirstForm in case they don't know yet.

Yes. So you can go to firstform.com to learn all about it. And it's first, as in the number one stick, and then form is P H O r m. So firstform.com but it's like, at high level, it's a supplement company, but they have so much more than supplements. They have protein bars. They have mixes to put into your drinks. They have electrolyte stuff. They have apparel. So their approach is. And TJ's gonna talk about this but their approach is to help people lead healthier lives utilizing their products. You don't even have to use their products cause they also have an app and you can get connected with an actual trainer who can help you. And if you don't use their supplements, it's still available to you. But I thought it was really, really cool.

Yeah, that's super cool. And I think we could all probably be better at leading healthy lives.

Yes, I'm raising my hand very high on that. So, okay, here's one example. My morning routine is to eat. I won't say the name, but a very popular nutrition bar for breakfast. Like it's a protein bar. I feel like I'm doing the right thing. It's got protein and vitamins, all that stuff. And I like the taste and it's easy. But recently somebody pointed out to me the amount of sugar in those bars and I was like, oh, there can't be that much sugar because it's good for you, right? Oh no. This particular bar, it's like eating a candy bar for breakfast.

Yeah, yeah. That can sneak up on you. But to make it easy to eat healthy or take your healthy supplements, first form is going to be on rye bread this year and they will have a variety of products available. So maybe they can help you get into a healthier, less sugar filled routine.

Yeah, I can't wait to check out what they have available as far as protein bars or anything. Any sort of bar that's gonna be healthy, taste good and not give me a sugar rush. Cause I can get that with pie and ice cream.

Yeah, we got that covered.

So anyway, tj, he's gonna give us some great ideas on what to consume while you're riding Ragbraai and also what you should consume after the ride so that you can be your best self the next day. Because as we all know, your today you is going to help you be a better tomorrow you.

Oh, okay. Ooh, I love that. Ye love that. Well, watch out world for AP and Murph during the ride because we're going to be supplemented up in our healthiest selves.

All right. I can't wait.

Yeah, I can't wait to hear this episode. So let's get to it.

Okay. A very warm welcome to TJ La favor. How are you doing, tj?

I'm doing great, Murf. Thank you so much for having me today. I'm excited to to talk about your first form and just the Ragbrai connection and the big event this year.

Oh yeah, we've been talking A few minutes before we push record. And I already feel like I know you and I feel the connection between your company and Ragbry. So this is going to be a great interview.

Yeah, I definitely agree with that. It's, it's been really cool to learn more about, you know, you and Ragbrai and just, you know, the Just Go Bike podcast and everything. It's going to be definitely a fun time today.

Yeah. Well, before we get into first form, which is what the topic is on today's podcast, will you tell the listeners where you live and if there's even a cycling culture there?

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, I live in St. Louis, Missouri and the cycling culture is pretty strong, you know, especially when you get out to like west county area, like Chesterfield Bottoms, you know, Wildwood area. There's a, there's a big cycling culture out there. I mean, you go out on a spring Saturday morning, you know, off like Wild Horse Creek Road, I mean, you're going to see hundreds of people cycling and it's, it's really, really, it's a beautiful area too. So it's definitely a strong cycling. A lot of road biking, you know, much like Ragbrai is really where a lot of people, you're. A lot of people spend their time.

I've done a couple of bike rides in the St. Louis area and totally it started and ended in Chesterfield. So right away I knew what you were talking about. And there was a little bit of elevation on those rides.

Oh yeah.

Like, wow.

Yeah, it's, it is a mix of, you know, there's some greenways. Right. So like if you were just wanting to go out for just a casual ride with some friends and, and take it easy, there's some greenways that are very flat, especially Chesterfield bottom, the levee trail. Um, you know, I think you can get about 16 miles with zero elevation, but as soon as you get off onto Wild Horse Creek Road and some of those back roads like you, you're climbing, you there. There's some that you are in your, your, your highest gear and you're spinning as much as possible and you're about to fall over because you're going up a straight up pitch.

Well, you mentioned Chesterfield and you mentioned a little bit of greenways, but is there any particular place you'd highly recommend people go to check out?

Yeah, I mean, I would say the Wild Horse Creek Road is a beautiful road to ride. The thing that I like about that road is that anybody you know, because for me, I don't know if everybody's this way. But I always get nervous just about riding around cars and stuff like that. That's why it'd be on the Greenways. But in the, the Wildwood area, it's so regular that most cars are very aware of what's going on on those back roads. And so if you can go to. It's the, the Levy Greenway, they have a parking lot there. If you can jump on Wild Horse Creek Road, you can basically take that all the way up into to St. Albans, which is a beautiful neighborhood. There's a lot of beautiful houses. You know, there's pastures like, with horses and cattle and like, it's just a really beautiful ride throughout that area. There's tons of maps and stuff on Strava that you can follow that can guide you through the whole thing.

Excellent. All right, well, you may have some people coming into St. Louis maybe on their way to Iowa for Ragbrai though.

Yeah, it'll definitely get you warmed up, that's for sure. I know Ragbrai's got a little bit of elevation in it, and so the, the elevation in the, in the Wildwood area will get you warmed up for that.

Okay, cool. Well, before we get into a little bit more about first form, any Iowa connections, either with the company or with you personally?

Yeah, so, I mean, both. We have a few specifically. So I work in and I run all of our direct consumer sales. We have a few remote sales employees that live in Iowa. And you know, I think one is in Des Moines. The other, I can't remember if she's in a very small town, which. There's a lot of those.

I was gonna say we have a few of those.

Yeah, yeah. And then we have some of our independent sales reps and legionnaires that live in Iowa that have made a big impact on their community. And then me personally, I have one of my best friends that lives in Des Moines. And I was actually just up in Des Moines in December for his son's first birthday. So we've got quite a few people up in Iowa.

Yeah. All right, well, that's good to know. So, okay, first form. I think the very first question and AP and I talked a little bit about in the intro, but what exactly is first form?

It's a great question. So, I mean, at surface level, we're a supplement company, really. We like to consider ourselves like a high performance lifestyle brand. And I don't want to get that confused with this super elite level of fitness. It's just, we're really just a community of people that are working to be the best versions of ourselves physically, mentally, spiritually, inside of our relationships. Really the way that we kind of approach that is, you know, we push ourselves in the gym and really try to get the best results we can physically. And how that, you know, really just translates to the rest of our life and you know, just know that we're not, we're not in this alone. You know, like our, our mission, our mission as a company is help as many real people get real long term results as possible. And you know, it's kind of one of those things of like, we've all only got one life to live, so let's work together to make it the best that we possibly can while we're here.

So at the time of this recording, you know, we're in the springtime, which of course Ragbrai riders are really getting serious about their training because you know, Ragbrai's over 400 miles of biking in seven days, which isn't something you typically can just jump off the couch and do. So I know that people at this point who are listening are thinking about getting miles, thinking about saddle time, but they should also be thinking about what they're putting into their body, which is a great segue into, you know, what's the connection with Ragbrai and first form this year?

Yeah, so really, you know, we had one of our guys which we have, you know, a solid group of us that you know, over the years we will do, you know, Ironmans and triathlons and stuff like that. And so there's been a few guys that have really become accustomed to cycling. And you know, we had one of our, our guys was up at Rackbride last year and you know, as soon as he experienced like, man, we got to be a part of this and so you'll just learn more. But as far as the connection goes, like we want to support the rag by riders in fueling their bodies. And so there's a couple, couple pieces of this, right? Because obviously there's like you said, the, the lead up time and then there's the during the race and then there's the, the after the race and I would say right now leading up to the race. And you know, I think a lot of people would anticipate that I start with take this product, take that product, take this product. And while there's certainly products that you know, I'm going to talk about and I would recommend that people utilize, the first thing I always want to remind people of is that supplements are just supplements. You Know they, they are there to supplement a whole food, a solid whole food nutrition plan. And I think for the typical Ragbrai rider and really just the typical fitness enthusiast, you know, making sure that you're consuming, you know, an adequate amount of high quality protein. Right. You know, typically you want to lead more animal based, but if somebody choose to be plant based, making sure that you are, you know, combining the right types of proteins together to get, you know, complete amino acid profile so we can actually give our body what it needs to recover. Because the, there's nothing that you can eat that will make up for what protein does for our body. And you know, especially if you're starting to get miles in, like you're going to be breaking down your muscle and you're, that's why you wake up the next day and you're sore, right? Because we've created these microtrauma tears. And so typically I recommend people to consume about one gram per pound of their goal body weight and protein. And if you don't know what your goal body weight is, you know, roughly around your, your current body weight would be a good number to shoot for in protein because it's going to give our body enough protein to not only, yes, support our muscle recovery, but even before that, like protein is used for so much more than just our muscles. I mean it's hormones, it's neurotransmitters, it's blood glucose regulation, it's hair, it's skin, it's nails, it's immune system. Like protein is really the king of the three macronutrients of protein, carbs and fats. So I would certainly have a protein forward nutrition plan, try to eat three to four. And if somebody doesn't want to track their food in like an app or anything like that, you would just really want to shoot for probably about three to four servings of a palm sized serving of protein every day would be a good kind of just easy way to do it. And then after that.

Really I always just say, you know, it's really the best diet for anybody's, the one that they can stick to. But you know, when it comes to the other pieces of your nutrition, making sure that you're eating quality carbohydrates, your potatoes, your rices, your fruits, and obviously getting in some vegetables and then high quality fats, avocados, nuts, seeds, different things like that, that would be, if somebody can do that, that's going to be the vast majority of the battle. Right. And it was something that I was thinking about when I was driving in this morning. That I wanted to say today on the podcast is I think, a lot of what we. What could help us, not only just as cyclists or, you know, people that, you know, are, you know, prioritizing our fitness, but you have to understand, you know, because our society has. Has really moved away from understanding what food is actually intended for. And I think a lot of it's about, you know, food is for enjoyment, but really food is fuel first, you know, So I really would encourage somebody to think about as they're eating throughout the day, like when they're starting to get those mil in. Because, I mean, if you're going to ride hundreds of miles over the course of a week, like, leading up to that, you're going to be riding probably every day. And, you know, instead of thinking about, oh, I want to eat this or I would like to eat that, like, think about how is this going to help me in my training, you know, and that perspective shift I've seen not only for myself, but the thousands of clients that I've coached over the years has made a big difference. So that's on the nutrition side. I don't know if there's anything you want to dive deeper into there before I jump into the products or I can just go to the products.

Well, what I'm hearing, what you're saying is that we all need to be better, or at least I'll just speak for myself, better about consuming real food, meaning actual food that doesn't have a lot of additives, preservatives, crazy chemicals in it. Real food. That's the first step, especially if you're training for Ragbrai. And then will you tell us again that ratio of protein to body weight?

Yeah. So typically, you know, again, with what we do, we're, you know, the majority of the people that we're coaching, we're helping people lose weight. Right. We do have some people that are performance athletes or, you know, trying to gain weight. But typically, you know, you have one gram per pound of gold body weight of protein.

Okay?

So let's say if I was, you know, like, right now, I'm about 210 pounds. Let's say I wanted to lose 15 pounds. My goal weight would be 195. And so I would be shooting for 195 grams of protein. Protein a day.

Okay? So that's just a good, you know, for people to think about right now if they're like, well, I. I typically take in 20 grams of protein and that's it. So, I mean, I'M assuming if you increase your protein, you're going to feel a lot different or you're going, your body's going to react to stress and training a lot different.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the main thing is one, you will be way more satiated. You know, protein is the most satiating macronutrient. So you're to struggle with, you know, as many cravings or feeling like you're hungry all the time. It can stabilize your energy levels because protein helps, you'll stabilize blood glucose levels. You know, you'll notice that you're recovering a whole lot better. You're not nearly as sore. Like all in all, like the biggest, you know, switch that, that anybody could make is, is moving to a protein forward diet just because like that is like again, that is everything in our body that has any sort of a structure. So again, hair, skin, nails, bones, organs, hormones, neurotransmitters, muscle, tissue, like it all is made up of protein in some capacity. And I know there's, I'm just going to call this out because I know there's probably somebody listening that thinks, oh, that's way too much protein. Right. And you know, you may look up online and it says, you know, it's 0.8 grams per kilogram or whatever, which for somebody like me would be, let's call it 80 grams of protein. That is enough protein to avoid a nutrient deficiency. Like, and when the, the, the FDA or RDA and people like that, they're putting standards out, they're not, they're just putting out minimums. You know, they're not, they're talking to the person that has a sedentary lifestyle that's just kind of not really doing much. So when you are training and you're putting in hundreds of miles, like then you are not the sedentary person anymore. You need something different. Right. And you need more so that your muscles can actually recover.

O. Okay, okay. Well, great segue into what kind of products does first form offer to like your everyday person that does ragbry?

Yeah. So I mean we have, I mean I think at this point we're at like over 80 different SKUs. So we have a lot of different products. But for just, and this goes for whether, you know, it's rag bar rider or somebody that's in the gym. Like we always start with our foundations first, you know, so making sure that you're getting in, you know, your multivitamins. So we have, have, you know, microfactor, which is a, you know, all encompassing daily nutrient packet. It's Got a multivitamin antioxidant and essential fatty acid, a CoQ 10, a probiotic and a fruits and veggie capsule. So really that's formulated because I, I'm sure you know, there's somebody listening to this or maybe even you. Murph has felt like you're kind of like a mad scientist sometimes with all these different pill bottles trying to get everything that you need. And so we put it all into one packet. Makes it super convenient. And really.

You know, that's just to fill in all the micronutrient gas. Because I think a lot of times people, we've, we've all been told to eat our fruits and vegetables, but one thing especially nowadays is our fruits and vegetables are not, you know, not as high quality as they were 50, 75, 100 years ago. Just with the way mass, you know, production of those things goes. And you know, even you get into it, there's like different ways that vegetables are cooked. Depends on then how many nutrients you get out of it. So like, starting with that foundation will give your body really what it needs for your energy levels, your immune system function, your cognitive function, like all of that.

Then past that, I would move to our Optigreens 50 product, which is, you know, it's a, it's a superfood. It's a green superfood blend that has really the benefits of over 11 servings of, of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in it. But really what I love the most about Optigreens 50 is that it has a probiotic and a digestive enzyme complex in it as well, which, the gut is the second brain, you know, and the probiotics in there will really help to improve the immune system, decrease bloating, you know, improve nutrient absorption and just really help, you know, an individual improve their overall gut health. And the digestive enzymes will help break the food down. Because there's the old adage of you are what you eat, but really it's, you are what you eat and can digest and absorb and utilize. So if your, if your gut health is off, which the average person, you know, my and myself included, just with the standard American diet, like we don't eat a lot of gut friendly foods. And so taking something like that every single day can make a big difference on how somebody feels and how somebody can recover. And you know, there's a lot of tons of great benefits of really a combination of both of those products. And then the last foundational one that I, I mean this, you want to get me On a tangent, I can talk for the next three hours about this, but is is full mega, which is our Omega 3 product.

Okay.

And you know, I will go as far as to say is there is no miracle supplement, but if there's one that's close, it's omega 3s. I mean there is, you know, and for anybody that doesn't know Omega 3s, I'm talking specifically about fish oil.

Okay.

And fish oil is like you just type in official, like go into Google, just type in what are the benefits of fish oil? And you will get a litany of research articles from cardiovascular improvement, cognitive function improvement, joint health, decreased inflammation, improved eye health, improved skin health, like, improved muscle recovery, improved insulin sensitivity, blood sugar regulation, like, the list goes on and on and on. And this is one thing that you know, if you're going to get the amount of omega 3s that you need through your whole food diet, you would need three to five servings of. And this is going to be a mouthful, but wild caught cold water, fatty fish on a weekly basis.

So things like salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardine, herring, like you'd need three to five servings of those on a weekly basis to get the amount of Omega 3s that you need.

Wow.

And last time I checked, I don't know that I've ever done that well.

And just even finding that, you know, like when it's actually naturally caught out in the wild.

Yep. And just specifically about, you know, full mega and why this is a product that I recommend to like absolutely everybody is not all fish oil is created equal. And a lot of times you may go to a big box store and you can get a big bottle of fish oil that has, you know, 500 capsules in it. It and it says 1,000 milligrams of fish oil. But when you turn over that ingredient panel, what you'll see is you'll see two specific, you know, call outs for EPA and DHA, which are two specific omega 3s. And these are the two omega 3s that we actually get all of those benefits from. From the decreased inflammation to the improved cognitive function to the insulin sensitivity, to just everything that we get from Omega 3s comes from EPA and DHA. And unfortunately you will look at that and it'll say 1,000 milligrams of fish oil, but it'll only have, let's say 200 milligrams of EPA DHA. So you're getting 1,000 milligrams. Sure. But you're only getting 200 milligrams of what you actually need stuff and. Exactly. And you may have to take five, because typically recommend at least 1,000 milligrams of EPA and DHA a day. So you'd have to take five servings of that product, you know, on a daily basis to get what you need. Whereas Full Mega has 900 milligrams of EPA and 600 milligrams of DHA. So in just two capsules, you're getting just as much as you would from, you know, six or seven servings of the other big box store typical fish oil. So not all fish oils create equal. And I would strongly encourage anybody that takes one to look at the EPA and DHA amount because that's what you're really taking that fish oil for.

That's the first thing I'm going to do when I get home is go check out my bottle of fish oil and see what, see what the grams really are for the good stuff.

Yep.

So that's a, that's a great tip right there.

Yeah. So that's really the foundation. But past that, you know, that. And that's whether you're preparing for Ragbrai or, you know, after Ragbrai, just those are just good daily overall health and wellness supplements to fill in really a lot of the gaps of things that we don't get through a whole food nutrition, but again, like we talked about that is they're just supplementing what you're. It's very hard to get our regular basis from your whole food. Could you get them through whole food? Absolutely. It's just going to be, it's going to be challenging. And so more on the, the training side of things, you know, we have our hydration sticks products which has a ton of electrolytes, which I know a lot of people know the importance of drinking water. You know, but it's important to make sure you get enough sodium, enough potassium, enough magnesium, because those are going to be critical, you know, electrolytes to help, you know, offset some cramping, you know, offset brain fog, improve recovery, you know, all those good things. And then, you know, we have a product that's called Ultraformance because, you know, really when you're, you're cycling for long bouts or you're getting into intense cycling sessions, your body's really using carbohydrates primarily for fuel. And, you know, I'm, I'm sure there's some listeners out there that have heard of the term, you know, bunk cooking. Right. Whenever you. And really what happens there is you've burned through the stores that you have. And there's really no making it up. And so Ultraformance is a three different blend or three different types of carbohydrate blend powdered supplement that will kind of give you a faster digesting carbohydrate to give you some immediate fuel, some intermediate to really keep you stable and then a longer digesting carbohydrate. And if you're sipping on that while you're riding, your body will primarily use that fuel and it won't really tap into your reserves which will keep you from bunking. Excellent.

Okay.

And it's, and it's also got some electrolytes in there as well to help out with overall performance.

Okay, so I may be jumping ahead, but I think this is an important time to say this, but let's just say. Well actually we don't have to say it because I am going to be on Ragbrai. And so if I'm looking at first form products, can you maybe give me a high level look at what I should do before I get to Ragbrai? But also can I take products during. Right Bra?

Yeah, absolutely. It's a great question. So I, you know, this is one thing I am close friends with the president of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, Dr. Chad Kirkcich. And one thing that I do think people overlook when they're getting ready to do rides and stuff like this is just the benefit of caffeine. Because caffeine, not only can it give you energy and it gives you focus, but it can actually delay fatigue. And so as somebody who's getting ready for Ragbrai, what I would encourage, let's say, you know, what time does the typical Ragbrai ride start?

Probably about 6:00am okay, so if you.

Start at 6:00am I would say at about 5:00am you know, you would have a good, you know, let's say some oatmeal and some fruit and some good protein. And then I would have, you know, one of our pre workouts, Megawatt, which is one scoop is 150 milligrams of caffeine. So about a cup and a half of coffee worth of caffeine. But it's also got some electrolytes and some, some stuff for focus in there. I would mix that probably with a scoop of Ultraformance. So now we've got some of those carbs and some electrolytes and maybe have some hydration sticks in there as well. So that would be how I would start my morning. You know, have a good solid meal. And then I would have, you know, I would have, you know, megawatt, got some carbohydrates and electrolytes, you know, as sipping on, leading up to starting the ride. And then during the ride, I'll really just share with you what I do because, you know, I've done a couple Iron Man 70.3s. What I will do is I will have one bottle of, you know, Ultraformance with two scoops of Ultraformance in it, which will give you roughly about 50ish grams of carbohydrates. And depending upon the intensity that you're riding, you may want to have multiple of those. But then I'll also just have a bottle of water because I think that sometimes, especially with cyclists or triathletes, we get so focused on carbs and salt and like, all that stuff is very important, but we forget just plain old water. Right. So I would be, I would have maybe a bottle or two of ultraformants, then I have a bottle of water and I would want to, at least for somebody my size, I would want to, you know, get through really two, both of those bottles and, you know, the bottle of water every hour to 90 minutes, again, depending upon how intensely somebody is riding.

Right. And the interesting thing, especially different from like a, you know, a mega event like an Ironman with Ragbrai, you might bike 60 to 70 to 80 miles in a day, but you also have to prepare for the next day because you go to bed. Most riders will be in a tent, so they're on the flat ground. It's usually hot and humid. And so they need to prep their body for the current day, but also the next day because it's the worst. If you go to bed dehydrated, you're going to be in a world of trouble the next day.

You're not going to hydrate while you're sleeping.

So, yeah, and with that, what I would say is one, you know, this isn't necessarily one of our products, but I would encourage everybody to have some sort of a foam roller or some sort of, you know, like a hyperice massage gun. Because, like, stretching is. This is something a lot like, I know that I didn't know for a long time is, is stretching isn't really beneficial for recovery.

Stretching can help improve mobility. But you know, when you stretch certain muscles, like, again, you think about, like, you, you've. You've just broken these muscles down and they're kind of torn and now you're stretching them even further. Like that does really actually help out with the recovery. It may make you feel good at first. Yeah, but doing that, that massaging is what actually can help break up some of that bad blood, that lactic acid, and improve, you know, blood flow to that area and recovery. But I would encourage anybody to utilize our post workout stack, which is formula one and ignition. And so what formula one is, is a whey protein isolate. And that is going to give your body very, and it digests very quickly. And that's really the important thing here because like you said, you've got a quick Turnaround, you're riding 60, 70, 80 miles and then you turn around doing the same thing by giving your body, you know, 20 to 40 grams of that fast digesting protein, that can help initiate that recovery very quickly. And then the ignition will help to replenish some of those carbohydrate stores that we've lost. But the benefit of that is with it being a fast digesting carbohydrate is it actually can spike your insulin, which again, a lot of people are like, oh my gosh, that sounds terrible. And look, I wouldn't want somebody to do that just on a daily basis. But when you're done writing, what that actually can do is insulin can be anti inflammatory and it can actually help promote recovery because it also will help shuttle all the protein and the carbohydrates to the muscle cells where it needs to be for recovery. And so that is one thing, you know, for me that anytime, you know, again, like for me when I'm doing, you know, the Ironmans, I'm going, you know, swim, bike, run, I'm having post workout in between, you know, but especially if I was going to turn around and ride again the next day, I'd have a post workout shake and then I would make sure that I had a very protein forward and carbohydrate forward dinner that evening as well. And don't let up on the water. Like make sure you are staying consistent with the water at least. I mean I would say from the time if you wrote 70 miles and you're going to turn around the next day and ride another 70 miles, like you want to at least get another half gallon in by the time you're done before you go to bed.

Wow.

And does light beer count as water?

Well, I think I would like to say so, yes.

I mean we can have a beer, right? It just, we gotta make sure we're also getting the water in no 100.

And that's the thing. I mean I just, I, we. And I didn't even realize this for a long time, but, you know, one of the biggest. And I know nobody's really trying to set any world records or anything like that.

Right.

But nobody wants to feel like crap either. And one of the main reasons people feel fatigued or sluggish or have brain fog is simply because they're just dehydrated. So have your light beers. I'm all for it. Good thing is they make plenty of NA beers now, too.

Yes, they do. Yep.

So if you just like the taste of the beer, you can get those. But making sure that you're still pushing water. And so if you're going to have a light beer, I would definitely have a couple bottles of water to offset that in addition to your normal water intake.

Okay. So if people are listening to this and they're like, okay, I really like this, you know how simple it is to add to what you already do as far as taking care of your body. Will any of these products be available during Ragbrai?

Yes, we are going to have our products at the different towns, the meeting towns each night, and you're at the campground each evening, I would imagine. You know, one of the. Some of the products that we haven't talked about that we will also be available there, some of our protein bars and protein sticks, which will be good, very easy food to eat on the go. And then we should have the hydration sticks and ultra performance and all that good stuff there as well for everybody to try out and utilize and feel free to try it out.

Cool. So the company's called first form. And I guess how did the company come to be? I don't know if you are an owner or you're the founder, but tell us, like, how did this company come to be?

So I'm not the founder, I take as much pride in this company, I think, as your typical founder. But, you know, so our, we have our owners, Andy Frisella and Chris Klein. They were two local St. Louis kids and, you know, they went down to Springfield, Missouri to go to school at what then was Southwest Missouri State, but is now just Missouri State. And they really, you know, they, they figured that school wasn't really their path and so they decided to be entrepreneurs. And this is kind of funny and we, we joke about it now, but, you know, they like, they played sports, they liked football, they liked working out. And so they're like, well, let's, let's open up a supplement store. You know, that just seems like it makes sense. And we'll, you know, get Jacked make a bunch of money, get all the girls do the things right. Perfect. And so they started it 1990 or they started their first company, Supplement Superstores in 1999. And again, I, I could go on and on and on about this, but for the first few years they made $0. They actually were working 2, 3, 4 other jobs just to keep the, the lights on at the supplement store. And you know, then, you know, they started to see maybe a little bit of success. And you know, but really what it was is there was a point that they, you know, again, they, they struggled and made nothing. I mean, they, I think they sold $7 on their first day. It took them several months to have a day over 200 in sales. Like, they, they struggle pretty hard. And, and they will both attest to the fact that the reason that they struggled is because they were not trying to help help people. They were just trying to sell supplements. You know, they would, they, they would play little games where somebody was walking in the store, be like, oh, I bet you can't sell this to them. You know, and they were actually getting very close to, to closing down shop and going and doing something else. You know, Chris was going to go into, you know, being a pilot and you know, Andy was going to go, I believe he was looking into potentially, you know, open up a carpet cleaning company. And they had one interaction with this guy that he, there he was one guy that they actually took the time to help. And just about at this time, he came back to the store and he was down £50. And he was crying and just came and gave him a hug. It was just like, man, you guys changed my life. Like I've lost 50 pounds. Like everything about my life is different. And when that happened, that both triggered to them that they said, you know what, we never may make any money, we never may be successful, we may never do any of that, but if we do that the rest of our life, we'll, we'll be happy.

Right?

Right.

And so they completely shifted gears from selling to helping. And you know, over the next seven years, they, they didn't exactly crush it personally, but they were able to expand from, you know, one store to two stores in Springfield. Then they expanded up in here to St. Louis to a grand total of about six stores. And then so that's Supplement Superstores. And for anybody that's been around the supplement industry for any amount of time, you'll know that in like the 2008, 2009 time frame, the supplement industry came under a ton of fire because, I mean, there was pre workouts with amphetamines in them. There was, there was proteins that it would say there was 30 grams of protein in the protein powder, but there actually was only, you know, 15. So. And Andy and Chris, they didn't, they didn't feel right about that. They had their, their family, their friends and their loved ones coming in the store, spending their hard earned money on products that were not actually what they said they were. And so at that point they said, you know, hey, we're gonna, we're gonna start our own company and we're gonna do it the right way. We're gonna make, you know, we're not gonna be the cheapest product, but we are going to be the best product and we are going to be a product that actually drives results. And so that's when first form was founded in 2009 and Andy brought, you know, his brother Sal Frisella in and you know, kind of the, the rest is history after that. We've really expanded, you know, over the last, I guess 16 years, you know, from being supplements to now. We've got apparel, we've got a, you know, a health and wellness app, you know, we've got energy drinks, we've got corporate wellness. I mean, we've got.

Tons of different stuff. But it's really all founded, you know, in our mission being to help as many real people get real long term results as possible.

So you're really taking like taking that step to take care of people and then, you know, kind of a side note is you're making money doing it.

Yeah, I mean, that's what we always say. Like, you know, because we have a we anytime I have new employees come in and you know, they're, they're very ambitious and they want to be successful. And you know, we always tell them like, the amount of money you make will be in direct correlation to the amount of people that you help. And if you don't help a lot of people, you won't make a lot of money. And especially in today's day and age with social media and how fast information travels, like if you're not good at what if you're not doing right by people and you're not doing the right thing, like you're not going to make any money. And that's like, and again, that's one of the things, like we have 110 money back guarantee on all our products, you know, if you, if you purchase a product of ours and it does not actually meet the expectations that you have. Not only will we refund you all of your money, we will pay you 10% for the inconvenience. Oh, wow. So it is. And that goes to, you know, also and I, we were talking about this prior to recording. We also do a lot of things that we don't have to do, you know, to share the quality of our products. We manufacture all of our products in SQF Level 3, FDA inspecting facility, which is the gold standard of product quality and assurance. And so there's never going to be anything on that label that's, you know, not in that product and not anything in that product that's not going to be on that label and that amounts. Because, you know, at the end of the day. And you can go back to some of our, you know, owners, you know, first couple videos when he was talking about the company and he said, I don't care if we go broke. Like, we're not. We are going to do things the right way and we're going to take care of people and we're going to help people. We're going to do right by people. And our really goal is to, you know, we've done a good job as far as, you know, becoming a big player in the fitness industry and in the supplement industry. But really what we're trying to shoot for is we're trying to change the way business is done and really set the standard for all other companies on how to treat, how to treat their customers, you know, and I challenge any of your listeners, call into our customer service and see, you know, how great our customer service is. Like, we, we fully staff all of our customer service with people right here in St. Louis, Missouri. Like, you're not going to get a call center or anything like that because again, that's, I think everybody can relate to calling and needing some help from a company and you get a recording or then you get kicked over to, you know, this and that and the other, and you're on hold for two hours. Like, that's just not who we are or what we do.

And then the other thing we were talking about before we push record was the sense of community that you're creating that goes way beyond being a business owner. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

Oh, yeah. I mean, that's the thing we. So one of the things is a lot of supplement companies, what they do is they will go to a lot of different expos throughout the year. You know, whether it be the Arnold or the Olympia or, you know, and we will go to Ironmans and stuff like that or whatever. But a lot of times what you know, those big expos become is you stand in line for an hour, two hours, and you get a handshake, a T shirt and a package of free samples and a picture and you kind of get moved on. You know, there's not much relationship. It's very transactional. Right. And so instead of doing any of that, what we do is we take all the money we would spend on that and we put it into a three day customer appreciation weekend that we have here in St. Louis called Summer Smash. And you know, this year we'll probably have about 3,000, 3,500 people from all over the country that would fly in and you know, we'll just hang out, work out, you know, have a good time. And then the actual Summer Smash on Saturday we will typically have a big concert. And it is, I mean last year we had Ludacris, Vanilla Ice and Steve Aoki perform for all of our people. And we constantly, I mean that's our big event, but I mean we constantly have events throughout the country. Like this was just at the end of March, I traveled down to Scottsdale and we had Camelback. And literally just by posting on social media like a week or two in advance, we had 70 people go out and hike Camelbacks together on a set at 7am on a Saturday morning. And so the community thing for us is very important because you know, again, life's tough, life's hard, you know, and you need other people that are in your corner to be able to get you through some of that stuff.

Stuff for sure. And that just is one more great connection with Ragbrai because Ragbrai is all about community as well.

Yeah, absolutely. That's, I mean the, that is the coolest thing I think about the, the Ragbar. Obviously riding across Iowa is incredible, but just to have that many people coming year after year after year to do that. It is, it gives people hope and it gives people something to look forward to. And I think in today's day and age, that's hard to come by.

Yeah, for sure. So actually during Ragbrai riders will want to look for the first form tent which will be in the meeting towns, the overnight campgrounds, I'm sure at the expo at the beginning of the week. But where can people go if right now they're interested in your product line or just checking out more about your company?

Yeah, so the best way, I mean our primary for the products, you can go to our website, which is just firstform.com and it's 1S-T-H o-r m.com and as far as, you know, learning more about us as a company, we're most active on Instagram, which is just at firstform1s t p h o r m. And we also do a lot of stuff on YouTube. A lot of our longer forum content is on YouTube and you'll, you'll see a lot of our different athletes and our different, you know, community members and you know, all that stuff there as well.

Well, do you get to come to Iowa in July?

I'm hoping so.

Yeah.

It'll, it'll all come down to what other events we've got going on and you know, all that good stuff. And my wife's 30th birthday is actually in July, so I know I'm gonna have something to do with that. But I'm hoping to, to make it up there to experience the rag Brian, maybe even catch a leg.

Awesome. Well, tj, thank you so much for coming on the podcast to talk about first form and the connection that Ragbry writers can have with your product line.

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you, appreciate you having me. And the last thing I'll really say here is, you know, kind of back to the, the customer service thing. I understand when it comes to nutrition for an event like Ragbrai or just nutrition on a daily basis, it can be hard to know what to do. There's, especially in, you know, our, our society nowadays, there is no shortage of information and there's no shortage of quote unquote experts that, you know, you could scroll through social media and you'll hear seven different theories on that are the only theory, you know.

But if you have any questions, it is 100% free to call into our customer service. And they're all certified personal trainers, certified sports nutritionists. They'll write a nutrition plan for you, they'll write a workout program for you. We also have the first form app, which you know, can, will connect you with a certified personal trainer and sports nutritionist that can coach you on a weekly basis. You know, and that's, I mean if you do the app route, you're looking at 29.99amonth for essentially a one on one fitness coach. So whether you just call into customer service, you download the app, like just know we're here to do whatever we need to help you. And you don't have to be a customer of ours, you don't have to buy our products. You can use other products if you like. Those but we're here just to help you and support you and really give you the education that you need to really do what you're trying to do with your fitness or your cycling or go out there and Crush ragbrai.

So firstform.com is the website you can find out more about the products, the subscription, the app, all of that good stuff. So thank you so much.

TJ yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Murphy.

Well, listeners, that is it for today. We want to thank you for tuning in to listen to the Just Go Bike podcast. If you would like to contact Murph and AP with a comment about the podcast, or maybe even you have a topic in mind, you can reach us atjust go bikepodcastmail.com Please follow us on Instagram and Facebook and watch our intros on YouTube. And don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to this podcast, especially if you're a fan that is going to do it for this week. Until next time, just go.

Bye.

Theme song by ryan steer logo by suzanne melody produced by kathy murphy social media by andrea parrott intro by pumpkin until next time, just go bike.