Sport drinks (gatorade, powerade, etc)

[yzzil]

Which are the best sports drinks and when should they be consumed? I VERY RARELY drink them because I tend to think that they are just sugar water and empty calories. Are they actually worthwhile when it is very hot out, intense workout, etc?

[unconscious]

My opinion is:
-empty calories
-too high a sugar to water ratio leading to slower absorbtion
-loaded with chemical dyes and chemical artificial flavoring

Again in my opinion:
-As a non-marathoner your workouts don't demand anything more than extra water, extra fruits and solid whole food meals.
-If you are spending 2 hours or more working out you probably could use some glucose.
-But in the above case it is a healthier option to get it from whole foods or your own homemade beverage so you avoid all the bad stuff put into gatorade to make it look fancy and taste like candy.

[thugginrunnin06]

I find they serve their purpose in sports like basketball/football/soccer where it's more like sporadic sprinting and you get big breaks between halves/quarters/drives. As far as runners go, if you're running more than 100 minutes you'll want to get something similar in you during the run, particularly if its hot. Everyone knows the "get carbs in you within X minutes after your workout" rule, where X ranges from 15 to 35 minutes depending on who you ask, and drinking "sugar water" as you put it, is a good way to do that while at the same time replacing lost fluids. I personally prefer Gatorade because it tastes better and I've been indoctrinated to avoid high fructose corn syrup (the main ingredient of Powerade), but it's more expensive. However, if you buy the powder and mix it yourself, it's quite cheap. My nordic ski coach in high school who was a big nutrition and physiology guy recommended I use about 125-150% of the recommended amounts of powder, just to make the sugar a little more concentrated.

[sjm1368]

They are very useful for post workout recovery.

I tend to like something with protein too for longer or harder workouts.

But for just your typical easy 7-10mi run, gatorade works great. You WANT sugar and you want it relatively quick (within 15-30min). Gatorade/powerade does the job.

[rhartz]

Excellent posts everyone!

Sports drinks provide three major components necessary during long bouts of endurance exercise: carbs, electrolytes (particularly sodium), and obviously fluid.

Sports Nutrition 101: Muscles use carbohydrates as their primary energy source. The carbs found in sports drinks are typically in the simple sugar form (glucose and fructose are most common), but can also be found in other forms such as sugar/sucrose (which is glucose + fructose), and maltodextrin (a short chain of glucose molecules that provide easily-digestible glucose for the muscles). Glucose and fructose alone are very sweet; Sugar/sucrose is less sweet and, well, we pretty much know what that tastes like; And maltodextrin is really not that sweet, but brings the necessary fuel and not an over-powering sweet taste.

Post by thugginrunnin06: As far as runners go, if you're running more than 100 minutes you'll want to get something similar in you during the run, particularly if its hot.
Right on! According to the ACSM 2009 Position Paper on Nutrition and Athletic Performance, about 30-60 grams of carbs per hour are necessary to maintain blood glucose levels when events last 60 minutes or more. So with that said, if you go out for a short run of 60 minutes or less, consuming water as needed to stay hydrated is just fine. Replacing the carbs in a short exercise interval is not necessary, but feel free to do so if you enjoy a cool, flavored beverage on a 45 minute run.

The next important nutrient well-designed sports drinks bring to the game is electrolytes, sodium of highest interest. Sodium is lost in greatest amounts in your sweat, especially now as the weather becomes warmer, and pretty soon, hot and humid. Sodium is important as it assists in nerve transmissions, and maintains fluid and electrolyte balance. The average amount of sodium lost in sweat is about 1 gram/Liter of sweat. Aim for a sports drink with 500-800 mg sodium per liter.

Sports drinks are also used to replace the fluids you lose in sweat. Determine how much fluid you need on an hourly basis by conducting a sweat rate test (http://www.powerbar.com/calculators/sweat.aspx). Your urine should be light in color. If it is too dark, drink more. If it is light like lemonade, you're drinking the right amount.

Finally, to hit on the artificial colors or dyes comment:
Post by unconscious: -loaded with chemical dyes and chemical artificial flavoring
Not all sports drinks contain artificial ingredients. You can find some which are colored with natural sources, such as beet juice color for red, turmeric for dark yellow or orange, or beta carotene color for yellow.

So, what is the best sports drink? Ask yourself these questions and you'll find your answer... Can I tolerate the drink? Does it provide a fair amount of carbs and sodium to meet my needs? What will be available on course? If I cannot tolerate what's available on course, can I carry a bottle of my sports drink while I run or have friends or family meet me along the way to hand me my sports drink?

Hope this helps!

[ljstella]

I prefer accelerade and endurox... Gatorade and powerade have high acidic contents and are absolutely TERRIBLE for your teeth.

[sjm1368]

electrolytes are overemphasized.

Unless you are running for a really long time, it doesn't really matter if you have them in a sports drink or not.


Also, on some runs over 90min or whatever, it might be worthwhile to NOT take in anything. It's an increased training effect. The low blood glucose/glycogen levels act as signals to increase adaptations to prevent this. So, everyonce in a while you don't want to drink some sort of sugar drink on long runs.

[XC pwns]

e

Also, on some runs over 90min or whatever, it might be worthwhile to NOT take in anything. It's an increased training effect. The low blood glucose/glycogen levels act as signals to increase adaptations to prevent this. So, everyonce in a while you don't want to drink some sort of sugar drink on long runs.

Was going to bring this up after I read the part in hartz's post about taking in after 60 minutes.

[MoveonFoot]

Excellent posts everyone!

Sports drinks provide three major components necessary during long bouts of endurance exercise: carbs, electrolytes (particularly sodium), and obviously fluid.

Sports Nutrition 101: Muscles use carbohydrates as their primary energy source. The carbs found in sports drinks are typically in the simple sugar form (glucose and fructose are most common), but can also be found in other forms such as sugar/sucrose (which is glucose + fructose), and maltodextrin (a short chain of glucose molecules that provide easily-digestible glucose for the muscles). Glucose and fructose alone are very sweet; Sugar/sucrose is less sweet and, well, we pretty much know what that tastes like; And maltodextrin is really not that sweet, but brings the necessary fuel and not an over-powering sweet taste.


Right on! According to the ACSM 2009 Position Paper on Nutrition and Athletic Performance, about 30-60 grams of carbs per hour are necessary to maintain blood glucose levels when events last 60 minutes or more. So with that said, if you go out for a short run of 60 minutes or less, consuming water as needed to stay hydrated is just fine. Replacing the carbs in a short exercise interval is not necessary, but feel free to do so if you enjoy a cool, flavored beverage on a 45 minute run.

The next important nutrient well-designed sports drinks bring to the game is electrolytes, sodium of highest interest. Sodium is lost in greatest amounts in your sweat, especially now as the weather becomes warmer, and pretty soon, hot and humid. Sodium is important as it assists in nerve transmissions, and maintains fluid and electrolyte balance. The average amount of sodium lost in sweat is about 1 gram/Liter of sweat. Aim for a sports drink with 500-800 mg sodium per liter.

Sports drinks are also used to replace the fluids you lose in sweat. Determine how much fluid you need on an hourly basis by conducting a sweat rate test (http://www.powerbar.com/calculators/sweat.aspx). Your urine should be light in color. If it is too dark, drink more. If it is light like lemonade, you're drinking the right amount.

Finally, to hit on the artificial colors or dyes comment:

Not all sports drinks contain artificial ingredients. You can find some which are colored with natural sources, such as beet juice color for red, turmeric for dark yellow or orange, or beta carotene color for yellow.

So, what is the best sports drink? Ask yourself these questions and you'll find your answer... Can I tolerate the drink? Does it provide a fair amount of carbs and sodium to meet my needs? What will be available on course? If I cannot tolerate what's available on course, can I carry a bottle of my sports drink while I run or have friends or family meet me along the way to hand me my sports drink?

Hope this helps!

you seem to know what you're talking about so is there one drink you would recommend after a run? Not a marathon or anything like that, just after a good ole 8 miler or a workout?