before there was a brand name, a label, a canister, or a website…

I was just an athlete trying to get through another brutal day of training.

With the Olympic Games on right now, that feeling has been fresh on my mind. Watching the athletes representing the U.S., it’s impossible not to respect the years of quiet discipline, sacrifice, and unseen work it takes to earn that moment.

If you’re watching too, know this:

every one of those athletes has put in far more than what shows up on screen

- and they deserve every bit of support and stoke coming their way.

When I was training for the Olympics, I had basically no money. That part usually surprises people. Racing on the World Cup circuit with the U.S. Ski Team looks glamorous from the outside - but the reality is long days, constant travel, and living very lean, trying to make ends meet with the little bit of money I could self-raise from sponsors. 

What mattered most was training. And recovery. And being extremely careful about what I put into my body.

I was being tested by WADA and USADA regularly. That meant everything I took mattered. One contaminated supplement could end a career. I also really cared about my long term health. So when I looked at the pre-workouts on the market at the time, I didn’t see anything I trusted.

So I started making my own.

...or early morning interval sessions, I’d mix together I had concocted after my own research - high-grade beet root extract, tart cherry, beta-alanine, and creatine. Nothing flashy. Nothing artificial. Just ingredients I believed in, that I could feel supporting me through those painful training days.

That little blend became part of my routine on the way to the Olympic Games.

After the Olympics, I went looking again - surely by now there would be something clean, right?

But when I asked other athletes, busy professionals, parents who trained hard and cared about their health… I kept hearing the same thing:

“I don’t use pre-workout. That stuff is sketchy.”

That moment stuck with me.

Because I knew what pre-workout could be. I had lived it. I had relied on it. And I knew there was a better way- one built on real ingredients, transparency, and long-term health.

Not a hype product. Not a shortcut.
Just the pre-workout I always wanted -

Made for people who train hard and care deeply about what goes into their body.

As the Games continue, I’m rooting hard for the athletes out there right now - many of whom are navigating the same pressures, testing standards, and trade-offs I experienced years ago. The pursuit of excellence hasn’t changed.

The need for trust hasn’t either.

If you use Antidote today, you’re using a refined, better, more nutritionally complete version of that original Olympic-era blend - developed with sports nutritionists, tested to the highest standards, and still grounded in the same philosophy:

No sketchy ingredients.
No fillers.
No compromises.

Thanks for being part of this with us - and enjoy the Games.

- Reese
Founder, Antidote