Energy Drinks.

A snowHead

While looking in Tesco's earlier, I saw they are now stocking a range from http://www.scienceinsport.com/rego.htm, and I wondered, in reality, how good they are or is it all a gimmick ? Puzzled

I am now well under way with my aim to get a lot fitter for skiing in April, working out to a ski video 3 times a week, 3 short power walks and one longer one, riding my friends horse once a week and 2 games of cricket each weekend. But after each session, I find myself exhausted, looking at the above range, the Go Gel sachets (isotonic energy) seem perfect, but are they ? any experiences ? Thanks. snowHead

A snowHead

I used PSP22 for early morning gym workouts and swear it helped, but I have no control experiment to compare against.

I've seen that orange squash with a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt has the same effect. I doubt they're much use at the end of a workout when you're supposed to be exhausted unless you want to go longer and harder. You could also try a bowl of porridge an hour before you go.

There's something about power walking that cracks me up.

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They are cool, they are used in many sports by professionals and amateurs alike, they taste like cack!

pippivixen, Many amateur cyclists carry use Go or similar products, generally when used alongside a proper diet for the activity they can act as a boost and aid in recovery and quick replenishment of minerals and sugars. I do not know pros but I am sure it is the same!

Although not essential they are by design an exact mixture of the essential nutrients in particular minerals, salts and sugars lost during exercise.

Saying all this when skiing I prefer dark chocolate, dried fruit, fruit syrup drink and nuts not necessarily becuase it is better but because it taste better and is more satifying.

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pippivixen, the orange squash mix isn't too bad, and you can't taste the salt - make 500ml at a time. I think the orange is just in there to make the taste palatable, so put less juice in to off-set the extra sugar. Then there's Red Bull ...

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hyweljenkins, It is not true that Orange squash with sugar and salt is the same.

Orange Squash : Water, Orange Fruit from Concentrate (12%), Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Sugar, Citric Acid, Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrate), Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Metabisulphite), Flavourings, Stabiliser (Cellulose Gum), Colour (Beta-Carotene) Contains a Source of Phenylalanine
Sugar: Carbohydrate
Salt: Sodium Chloride

Energy drink: Energy 1423kj/314kcal, Carbohydrate 55g, Protein 27g, Fat trace, Vitamin A 27ug, B1 1.4mg,B2 1.6mg, B3 18mg, B5 6mg, B6 1.8mg, B12 2ug, C 55mg, D 3ug, E 6.4mg, K 30ug, Bioflavenoids 5.5mg, Folic Acid 270ug, Biotin140ug, sodium 578mg, chloride 458mg, calcium 1091mg, magnesium 364mg, zinc 14mg, potassium 223mg, chromium180ug, iron14mg, selenium 20ug, molybdenum 20ug, phosphorous 244 mg, manganese 2.7mg, copper 450ug, iodine 50mg, flourine450ug

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hyweljenkins, What's the point of making a salty orange drink why dont you just drink the nice sugar drink and eat a pack of salty peanuts!

After all it is free

plectrum, I didn't say it was the same, but thanks for the list of ingredients.

hyweljenkins, Ah, i'm tired and not really reading the whole post!

But this drink should generally be used towards the end of a work out to promote efficiency towards the end when you would tail off. Also to be used after to aid recovery. Prior to activity you should have a good store of energy, nutrients, minerals, vitamins and salts.

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Read an article, last year about different drinks to take after a gym workout, and the one that returns condition the quickest was

BEER Very Happy

They tested water, both tap and bottled, and three different 'energy' drinks too.

Apparently its the combination of the yeast and sugars that do it - the answer soooo many people are looking for wink

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Bones, Especially Guiness heavy duty packed and rich!

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beer would dehydrate you so I find that bit odd..

Been using tap water for 20+ years. Cheap and works Confused

You know it makes sense.

A 27ug, B1 1.4mg,B2 1.6mg, B3 18mg, B5 6mg, B6 1.8mg, B12 2ug, C 55mg, D 3ug, E 6.4mg, K 30ug, Bioflavenoids 5.5mg, Folic Acid 270ug, Biotin140ug, sodium 578mg, chloride 458mg, calcium 1091mg, magnesium 364mg, zinc 14mg, potassium 223mg, chromium180ug, iron14mg, selenium 20ug, molybdenum 20ug, phosphorous 244 mg, manganese 2.7mg, copper 450ug, iodine 50mg, flourine450ug

Why do you need vitamins and minerals in an energy drink? If you have a balanced diet you'll have all the vitamins and minerals you need. All you want from an energy drink are water, carbs & salt (and possibly some caffeine if you like the Red Bull jitters). Surely this is just a marketing gimmick, like putting Vit C in Coke?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Seany, actually no!

Seany if you are interested do a google search on proper sports drinks. They are designed for athletes either amateur or professional that place their body under serious stress. During these periods you lose many essential nutrients which are involved in muscle activity, energy transfer, lost in sweat etc etc. I'm not a scientist but these definately work.

Taking this to the extreme, after Tour de France stages the cyclists are jacked up to multiple different drips to get all these nutrients into their body as fast as possible and it may also be worthwhile to note that they cannot replace what they have lost during the day purely by eating normal foot stuffs!

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, I'd be interested to see the peer-reviewed studies on PubMed (rather than the wesbsite marketing blurb) and I'd always err on the side of skepticism as far as this kind of thing is concerned. The vast majority of us won't see any benefit from drinking super-go-faster-blue-coloured-isotonic-vitamin&mineral-enriched sugar water over any other drink that replaces the water and salts lost through sweat and gives energy through easily metabolised carbs (e.g. squash wtih sugar & salt).

Another thing to bear in mind is the psychology of top level athletes, the placebo effect is very powerful so their coaches will use all kinds of clever ways to trick them into thinking that they have an edge over their rivals, from all kinds of impressive sounding dietary supplements to the nonsense of Q-Link pendants.

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Seany, The drinks definately work .... definately. If you have any doubt get on a bike and cycle 150 miles and for the last 30 miles neck a Go gel. Then do it again but this time don't neck one! I've tried it many others have tried it and it works.

Personally I would only use these in high endurance situations and as thefatcontroller, says most amateurs don't come close to this level. It doesn;t take away from the facto that it works!

thefatcontroller

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plectrum, I've stopped racing as my knees won't take heavy mileage but still do 2-3 miles on hills daily which I love. I never drank the carbo fuels as I never drank them while training and they would make me sick. Stick with what you know in the race, don't experiment.

They are evil to the amateur excersing to lose weigth (as most do). How many calories in a Lucozade sport?

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I'm not saying energy drinks are not a good idea - obviously taking on board carbs, fluids & salts (electrolytes) works! I'm just not convinced (certainly for amateur athletes) that Go Gel is necessarily the best way of doing it.

Are there any double-blinded, randomised, controlled peer reviewed studies showing Go Gel does what it claims?

After all it is free

And I agree with thefatcontroller, water is enough for moderate exercise, energy drinks are for endurance.

Despite that I seem to have convinced myself that I can't get through a days skiing without a litre of water/blue gatorade/grape juice mix in my reservoir and a packet of gummi bears in my pocket. Very Happy

Seany, thefatcontroller, I agree with you in terms of the general public, they often don't need anything more than water followed by a good meal later in the day.

Also Lucozade is little more than water and lots and lots of glucose. This is slightly different than sports drinks and gels such as Go. I would also stick with what you know too and they can liquidize the stomach for some!!!

Seany, If you look up to an earlier response I ski quite hard but prefer nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, haribo, and proper sugar syrup drink. If I was seriously competing I would supplement with these gels.

Essential Minerals in Dark chocolate: contains high amounts of copper, iron, as well as magnesium, potassium and manganese.
Vitamins in Dark chocolate A, B1, B2, B3, C, E and pantothenic acid.

Oh and nuts are packed with similar goodness. I would add SEEDS to the list of mountain survival nibbles and this provides a more pleasurable and paletable alternative to yucky sports gels and drinks!

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The Rego (and similar) ranges have their place - but I would have thought that they would be a waste of time - and an expensive waste of time - for an average day`s skiing.

They are useful ergogenic aids for recovery after hard, sustained exercise and in the course of hard sustained exercise.

After running for more than 1.5 - 2 hours carb levels will be low. The fastest way to restock is by ingesting a carb/protein drink immediately after exercise - followed by solid carbs within the next hour. The protein improves the body`s uptake of carb. The process is especially useful if engaged upon a prolonged exercise program e.g training for one of the fat controller`s marathons when the body`s carb stores are repeatedly being depleted.

I use GO recovery - but I also use milkshake or Slimfast. Not much difference - except Nesquik is a lot cheaper.

Interestingly, some recent studies have suggested that milk makes an excellent recovery drink on its own.

Products such GO gel etc. and energy drinks (gatorade, lucozade etc) are used during exercise - but again, exercise of the sustained and intensive variety. The gel formula makes the stuff easier to ingest and digest. The minerals & electrolytes are supposed to replace electrolytes lost in the course of the exercise. There are a number of studies which indicate that sports drinks are more effective than plain water. Again, however, for a standard days skiing they are an expensive waste of time - and they rot the teeth something chronic.

Individuals doing a 5 km run on treadmill/road whilst swigging lucozade are wasting their time and money.

So, unless you`re planning on a full day`s intensive Nordic skiing, take Plectrum`s advice and eat porridge, fruit (dried or otherwise), nuts, chocolate and drink water. Most important of all make sure your basic diet is reasonably healthy - lots of fruit, veg, salad - and meat is no bad thing (though obviously not necessary).

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jonty, I find porridge, croissants, chocolate and genepe are suffient for me on an averge skiing day Toofy Grin

As you say above a huge industry has built up supplying drinks full of sugar and shoite to very, very amateur sports people. I see people running around parks in the middle of Winter carrying water bottles Confused

. This ain't the fecking Sahara no one is going to die of dehydration. I only used to carry water if doing 10 mile+ and even on occassions I wouldn't bother.

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thefatcontroller, agreed, but it depends on the individual, some people sweat more than others. Luckily the body has a built regulatory system to tell us when we need a drink, it's called 'thirst'.

The bottled water industry is doing very well out of the '8 glasses a day' mantra. Nobody seems to know where this idea came from as there is no research to back it up but it seems likely that it was the US National Research Council - the interesting thing is that they said that we would ingest most of the 8 glasses of water from food.

Seany, Yeah but some these lardy people exercising need to move fast enough to sweat in the first place... Laughing

You ain't sweating, you ain't working snowHead

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Now if you want a sports drink that really works....http://youtube.com/v/edd8ItSpRMs

A snowHead

jonty,

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Energy Drinks.

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