Sports drink, Water or Sports drink?

Is there any reason to choose sports drinks over water? Is it a waste of money for you and just results in manufacturers making a profit? Let’s use the very scientific expression – it depends!

Test your fluid balance during training, check your temperature, and weigh yourself before the race. Keep in mind that 2-3% dehydration is perfectly okay at temperatures up to 18 degrees, and your body weight should be lower at the finish line than at the start. Weigh yourself after training, replenish with sports drink, and monitor the color of your urine in the following hours. One of the more negative aspects of dehydration is the reduced blood volume (plasma) which decreases your ability to sweat and therefore to dissipate heat. These are basic tips that are easy to follow for a better understanding of your fluid balance, but we can of course delve deeper and optimize further.

For shorter distances and training sessions lasting less than 60 minutes, there is no immediate need for a sports drink to maintain your performance. However, you can swish your mouth with sports drink to trick your brain a bit, but otherwise trust that the amount of stored glycogen in your muscles and liver will be sufficient.

If you are training intensely for over an hour, the intake of fluids, electrolytes, and carbohydrates becomes important. As training time increases, so does the need for added electrolytes and carbohydrates. Sweat contains a lot of salt and minerals that regulate the body's functions and are essential for your health and performance. You don't need to worry about fat and protein intake at this critical stage; we have plenty of stores of those, it is glycogen that is our limiting fuel, which is why carbohydrates should be consumed when training time exceeds 1 hour.

For training sessions lasting 1-2 hours, an intake of 60g of carbohydrates per hour is enough. For durations over 2-2.5 hours, 90g of carbohydrates per hour is recommended from the start. At this point, the carbohydrate composition should consist of both maltodextrin and fructose to keep the stomach calm.

Loss of salts and minerals through sweat should be compensated for several reasons; too low levels of fluid containing these salts and minerals lower your blood pressure, forcing the heart to beat faster (i.e., increasing your pulse) and thus lowering your performance (Wilmore et al (2012). Physiology of sport and exercise. Leeds: Human Kinetics: 378-385). In this situation, it is important that the sports drink is easy to consume so that you get in the energy, fluid, and electrolytes.

When researchers examined the difference between water and various sports drinks on performance, the results were very clear. Cyclists who rode for 2 hours performed 19% better with a sports drink composed of different carbohydrate sources such as U Sport, compared to a sports drink with only one carbohydrate source. Even more interesting is that the difference between sports drinks was significant. The cyclists performed 8% better with a glucose/fructose-based sports drink. Thus, it is not only a difference between drinking water and sports drinks, but there is also a significant difference between sports drinks and sports drinks.