Sports drinks?

[darrenrugby18]

Hi guys,
Wondering what everbody uses for energy drinks whilst running, i know theres the classic lucozade but theres more hardcore stuff out there, maximuscles - viper for instance (which i found very good, but very expensive for only 20 servings). Just curious what people recommend as theres a big market out there and a huge choice.


P.S - I expect some clever person who seems to have a knack at finding things is going to tell me to use the search engine but i have and cannot find anything apart from alcohol drinking articles!!

Cheers

Darren

[digitalfreefall]

I think Powerade is the best for training, Lucozade for me is just too thick, leaves my mouth sticky and actually makes me more thirsty.
You can always just make your own with water, sugar, salt and diluting juice.

[tomharto30]

I only ever rarely used sports drinks when I was training and I only ever used them after to replace all the lost stuff. I find that a lot of drinks contain caffiene which is not good for hydration. If I needed a boost of energy in really intense training sessions I used dextrose tablets. Have you thought about them at all?

[Sarastro]

Sports drinks are a load of utter rubbish, and totally useless considering what you are training for.

The extra sugar, salts, etc which are apparently vital to replace what you have lost are no such thing. Oddly enough, humanity has survived for millenia without Lucozade. Where they are of use is largely only for athletes competing in serious endurance efforts, and even then they are an aid to help those athletes better tiny, tiny percentages in performance. In any normal situation, you will replace anything lost in a day's training by eating a healthy diet, there is no need to do so as you exercise. Drink water to prevent dehydration, and eat properly so, y'know, you don't die.

Furthermore, you aren't training to work milliseconds off your race times, you are training for general fitness which you can keep up under less than optimal conditions. Do you think you will have access to the right sports drink, supplements, etc etc while on PRMC or RT? Airlifted in for you when on deployment? They give soldiers boiled sweets & chocolate, that's about the limit of dietary supplement. I've been doing plenty of endurance work (triathlon) for the last few months, and am generally knackered by the time I get to the last few exercises of the day: if I took dextrose tablets or sugary drink for those last exercises, I might feel better, but I wouldn't be used to performing at that level without the aid. Train to perform without any aids, then if you have them on the day, you get an extra boost when it counts.

By far the best thing you can drink doing exercise is water, and plenty of it.

[Bitty]

I've seen High 5 advertised in Running magazines, I have only tried the energy drink throu very sweet. but theres a isotonic which replaces all the stuff lost in exercise

[tomharto30]

.a

[tomharto30]

Sports drinks are a load of utter rubbish, and totally useless considering what you are training for.

The extra sugar, salts, etc which are apparently vital to replace what you have lost are no such thing. Oddly enough, humanity has survived for millenia without Lucozade. Where they are of use is largely only for athletes competing in serious endurance efforts, and even then they are an aid to help those athletes better tiny, tiny percentages in performance. In any normal situation, you will replace anything lost in a day's training by eating a healthy diet, there is no need to do so as you exercise. Drink water to prevent dehydration, and eat properly so, y'know, you don't die.

Furthermore, you aren't training to work milliseconds off your race times, you are training for general fitness which you can keep up under less than optimal conditions. Do you think you will have access to the right sports drink, supplements, etc etc while on PRMC or RT? Airlifted in for you when on deployment? They give soldiers boiled sweets & chocolate, that's about the limit of dietary supplement. I've been doing plenty of endurance work (triathlon) for the last few months, and am generally knackered by the time I get to the last few exercises of the day: if I took dextrose tablets or sugary drink for those last exercises, I might feel better, but I wouldn't be used to performing at that level without the aid. Train to perform without any aids, then if you have them on the day, you get an extra boost when it counts.

By far the best thing you can drink doing exercise is water, and plenty of it.

I agree with the above. Like you said you can get all the stuff you need to recover from a decent meal, but I found on my PRMC that we were finishing phys and then having to wait at least an hour and a half before the next meal and so I used dextrose tablets and chocolate to keep my energy levels up, keep me awake in the lectures and just increase the speed of recovery for my body. Like you said though, if/when I get on operations I am not going to have that luxury, but when I did my PRMC I wanted to prepare myself every way I possibly could and so I had no excuses if I had failed.

[Sarastro]

Quite, like I said, if you have them on the day of a test, race, or when you have to perform, take them. But it's a bad idea to train with them so your performance relies on them.

[mfat_man]

Hi guys,
Wondering what everbody uses for energy drinks whilst running, i know theres the classic lucozade but theres more hardcore stuff out there, maximuscles - viper for instance (which i found very good, but very expensive for only 20 servings). Just curious what people recommend as theres a big market out there and a huge choice.


P.S - I expect some clever person who seems to have a knack at finding things is going to tell me to use the search engine but i have and cannot find anything apart from alcohol drinking articles!!

Cheers

Darren

darrenrugby18

There is a thread you might want to look up around creatine as well, which might be useful.

I have been using creatine for about a month, as i have said previously my work is not as CV intensive as yours should be (as an older geezer ) but I am trying to cut some weight and bulk up on the chest and arms for the summer - loads of chin ups and bench presses etc

To be honest it has not bulked me that much but it certainly seems to help with CV work so it might be worth a try!

BTW - Point taken about energy drinks not being that effective but hey as long as you are getting some fluid inside you then that is a good thing.

[mfat_man]

Sports drinks are a load of utter rubbish, and totally useless considering what you are training for.

The extra sugar, salts, etc which are apparently vital to replace what you have lost are no such thing. Oddly enough, humanity has survived for millenia without Lucozade. Where they are of use is largely only for athletes competing in serious endurance efforts, and even then they are an aid to help those athletes better tiny, tiny percentages in performance. In any normal situation, you will replace anything lost in a day's training by eating a healthy diet, there is no need to do so as you exercise. Drink water to prevent dehydration, and eat properly so, y'know, you don't die.

Furthermore, you aren't training to work milliseconds off your race times, you are training for general fitness which you can keep up under less than optimal conditions. Do you think you will have access to the right sports drink, supplements, etc etc while on PRMC or RT? Airlifted in for you when on deployment? They give soldiers boiled sweets & chocolate, that's about the limit of dietary supplement. I've been doing plenty of endurance work (triathlon) for the last few months, and am generally knackered by the time I get to the last few exercises of the day: if I took dextrose tablets or sugary drink for those last exercises, I might feel better, but I wouldn't be used to performing at that level without the aid. Train to perform without any aids, then if you have them on the day, you get an extra boost when it counts.

By far the best thing you can drink doing exercise is water, and plenty of it.

Sarastro

Point taken about this, but when I was doing some sprint triathlons (Really you should all be considering tri's for fitness ) I was using a basic energy drink and it certainly helped with recovery afterwards - it's maybe not the perfect solution but it was certainly helpful.

[darrenrugby18]

hi guys,
thanks for the input seems alot of opinions are floating about! i think its going be a fact of if i have an energy drink to hand then i'll have it, but other than that not too bother. Although you can notice a marked improvment when doing long distance e.g. 5 mile+ (long distance to me at the moment!) theres not really any point as your not going to have access to them in RT or operations. As for the dextrose tablets i think you said? good idea hadn't really though about them, my nan takes them sometimes (she has diabetes not an endurance runner ) so never really thought about them untill today. Might have to sneak a few in on my PRMC if i get to it !
As for Creatine.....ummm bit of a dark subject, i've used it three times before now and noticed that my, strengh, weight and endurance went up, but you lose it when you come off, so i think if that gain isn't goin to stay after (other than the gain you get whilst it helps you train) then there really isn't any point because i very much doubt im going to be able to use it in RT or on operations 'what you doin?' 'oh nothing sir just mixing my creatine shake??' don't think it would work unfortunately! Still recommend it for general weight lifting and bodybuilders its A* stuff!!

Now i need to do my 5 miler.....if i dont make a post soon i probably collapsed from exhaustion or dehydration from the heat!

[Stinky]

Just brought some Creatine tablets and amino bombs. Has anybody had any expirances with the amino bombs and what are the side affects of useing the creatine products?
Thanks

[Mike The Sceptic]

I have been using creatine and there has been no major boost in my ability to perform. But I have got considerably bigger and heavier (about 10lbs in 4 weeks) I could have done without it as this extra weight isn't exactly going to help my pushups/situps/pullups.

There's lots of information around the internet for the side effects of creatine.

[darrenrugby18]

What dosage have you been taking? did you do the initial loading phase? This is not always required and some people believe it can strain your renal system i believe it is. The side effects you should be noticing are

Increase in strength (variable, but compound exercises tend to benefit the most)

Increase in weight (the is believed to be from water retention as the body trys to dilute the creatine in the muscles)

Increased endurance during exercises (in the sense you will be able to do more reps than usual, although there is some evidence that it can increase you CV ability aswell.)

You'll need to drink more during the initial period of loading due to the increase in water retention, you might also notice you pass more urine aswell because of the more fluid you're drinking

And POSSIBLE increase in recovery time, although this is debatable but the science is that the creatine will create the perfect enviroment to produce muscle when combined with fast assimilated whey protein.

As for the barely noticable increase in strength is possibly due to the fact that your Phosocreatine (creatine after body has stored it) stores were infact quite high already.

Try www.Bodybuilding.com

Its an awesome site for information on supplements, and creatine is the most studyed supplement on the market (maybe except roids)

[mfat_man]

I have been using creatine and there has been no major boost in my ability to perform. But I have got considerably bigger and heavier (about 10lbs in 4 weeks) I could have done without it as this extra weight isn't exactly going to help my pushups/situps/pullups.

There's lots of information around the internet for the side effects of creatine.

Mike The Sceptic

Not sure what you mean there? You say you got bigger did you mean in the right places e.g. arms, chest, etc or just put on weight/flab?

Have not noticed any side effects... Cheers