Sports Drinks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hi all Welcome to the third part, |
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Sports,Drinks!!!!! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
How They Can Work For You ? The heat produced by your muscles during exercise can be as much as 100 times that produced by inactive muscles, and when you exercise in hot conditions, your body can lose up to 2 litres of water an hour. Here's how to stay hydrated and delay the onset of fatigue. |
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Tip: If you get thirsty when you are training YOU are dehydrated. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sports drinks, or sugar drinks, have received much attention relating to endurance exercise and performance effect. These fluid and energy replacement drinks have a huge market and are now big business with drink companies investing huge sums of money into market research, athlete endorsements and advertising. But do they really work, and are they beneficial to exercise performance? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Does Red Bull give you wings? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Firstly, it's important to understand what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to do it. We all know that during prolonged exercise we should be ingesting fluids at regular intervals to prevent dehydration, especially in warmer weather. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tip: Take at least one drink break in every 40 minutes that you train | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There are many dangers associated with dehydration not to mention their implications on performance for instance, the impairment of muscular endurance and decrease in aerobic capacity, the effect on mental function with decreases in blood glucose concentrations and its implications for decision-making. In addition, dehydration slows the rate of gastric emptying, increasing the risk of gastric discomfort, especially during endurance activities. And these effects are more pronounced in a hot environment with further impairment of the body's temperature regulation mechanisms. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tip: Your aim is to provide fluid replacement to offset the loss of body fluids and to aid in thermoregulation. (Body temp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By their very nature, sports drinks provide valuable carbohydrates (normally glucose and sucrose) to maintain blood glucose levels to delay the onset of fatigue during strenuous endurance exercise, as well as providing important electrolytes such as sodium and potassium which are lost in sweat. A major function of these electrolytes is to modulate fluid exchange within the body. These components are vital, as exercise in the heat produces an increase in sweat loss and usage of muscle glycogen. In the past there has been quite a deal of controversy and conflicting evidence as to the best type of fluid replacement drink. For many years the ingestion of plain water was recommended during endurance or any other exercise for that matter. In 1984 the American Collage of Sports Medicine stated that water was the best fluid however, many other studies have shown that it is advantageous to consume drinks with added carbohydrate and electrolytes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tip: So drink water if nothing else when training Cool not cold. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Form the late 1980s and onwards, the formulation and attitudes to new sports drinks changed due to more recent findings in exercise physiology research for example, the importance of carbohydrate intake during prolonged exercise 1hr+ and we do 1.5hrs+ as an additional fuel, once endogenous glycogen stores were depleted; also, improved research data on gastric emptying, with the discovery that glucose and sodium in correct concentrations enhance intestinal fluid uptake; and the need for controlled sodium replacement, particularly during endurance events, to reduce the risk of hyponatraemia. The primary purpose of carbohydrate ingestion through sports drinks is to maintain and restore blood sugar levels and maintains carbohydrate oxidation throughout exercise. This is important, as the ingested carbohydrate becomes the major source of energy late in exercise when muscle glycogen stores are low. During the latter stages of prolonged exercise greater then 2 hrs, blood glucose supplies 75 to 90 percent of the energy substrate to muscles, compared to 10 percent and less at rest. Studies have shown that when carbohydrates supplementation is provided during moderately intense to high intensity endurance exercise, athletes can exercise longer and produce greater power during short-term performance tasks at the end of exercise. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conclusion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We are made up of many different compounds, but the most readily available is water. So why deny are body, you can live for weeks without food but five days without water? That in its self must tell us something. Don't neglect your water intake before, during, and after your workouts. The end result, will be, better performance. Sports drinks could now be considered an ergogenic aid, simply for their value as a fuel during exercise and before and after activity. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Take Care Train Hard So that's it for now but see ya round the dojo and next time. |
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