Profile Playlists Music Video Photos Games Blog Friends Groups

add friend

To Drink a Sports Drink (or Not)
Posted in Llamada a la acción on Mar 27, 2008 at 6:36 PM
Current mood: amused

To Drink a Sports Drink (or Not)
Do I really need the extra calories when I exercise?
By Martica Heaner, M.A., M.Ed., for MSN Health & Fitness

Q: Should I drink a sports drink when I work out? I’ve heard conflicting advice—that they give you more energy and allow you to exercise harder, but also that they just add extra calories you don’t need, especially if you’re trying to lose weight.

A: The average bottled sports drink has about 150 to 200 calories. New lighter versions, “sports waters,” provide as few as 30 calories per bottle. Sports drinks provide calories in the form of carbohydrates (and sometimes, small amounts of protein.)

You may need a sports drink if you need more energy, but not all exercise situations dictate that you will. Whether a sports drink can help your workout—or if it’s just a slurp of unnecessary calories—all depends on your exercise goals, your energy status leading up to the workout, and the type, length and intensity of your workout.

EXERCISING EARLY ON AN EMPTY TUMMY

If you’ve woken up at 6 a.m. and are jumping straight into a long or intense workout without having eaten breakfast, then the calories and carbs in a drink can give your body an energy boost. You will be able to work out a little harder, or feel less fatigued overall, because you’re well-fueled. But you may not need the extra energy if all you’re doing is a workout based on stretching or a low-intensity workout that doesn’t use much energy.

WEIGHT LOSS AND ENERGY DRINKS

If you’re trying to lose weight, adding 150 calories of a sport drink may offset the calories that you burn during a short or easy workout. For example, neither an easy or short walk nor a toning/stretching workout are very taxing. So it’s unlikely that you will need extra fuel during these sessions. And if you’re only performing a Pilates workout or a 30-minute walk that burns about 150 calories, adding that back with a sports drink may thwart your weight-loss goals.

Of course, while you might not need extra calories, you still may need to stay hydrated, especially if the room or environment is hot or humid. So have water instead of a sports drink. Generally, unless it is early in the morning and you haven’t eaten for hours, you probably won’t need extra energy to fuel an easy workout.

FUELING LONG OR TOUGH WORKOUTS

But long, tough workouts are a whole different story. Glycogen, or the carbohydrates that are stored in your muscles, get depleted the longer and harder you exercise. Once glycogen is scarce, your limbs will feel heavy and you’ll get fatigued. Dehydration and the loss of electrolytes also occurs the more you sweat during heavy exercise, and this can also impair your performance.

Sports drinks have been proven to delay fatigue and improve endurance times by hydrating you with the fluids and electrolytes you need and replenishing your glucose (or carb) supplies. So you’ll be able to work harder and longer during intense exercise (a long run or bike ride, or an intense game of hoops) with the added energy from a sports drink.

Carbs are especially important for anyone participating in endurance workouts. Research by Dr. David Nieman, an exercise physiologist at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., and others has shown that an immune-system breakdown that can occur with high-intensity exercise lasting 90 minutes or longer can be thwarted with regular ingestion of carbs throughout the session or event.

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU DRINK?

How much is enough depends on how you much you sweat (women tend to sweat less than men) and how long your session is. General recommendations are to ingest from 0.4 to 0.8 liters per hour, although this amount can vary from person to person.

It’s important to fuel yourself during long endurance workouts. Even if you are trying to burn calories for weight loss, you should drink a sports drink, not just water. (You can also eat a sports bar or other foods, along with water, instead.) You won’t hamper weight loss if, at the end of the day, or over a period of days, you accumulate a negative energy balance. In other words, if you eat less overall over a week, you will still lose weight, even if you are taking in snacks or drinks to provide fuel to match your energy needs at any given moment during tough workouts throughout that week.

Permalink