Sports nutritionist Sunny Blende once described ultramarathons as “eating and drinking contests with a little exercise and scenery.” Marathons are also increasingly resembling mobile buffets, with drinking stations almost every mile. And today, elite cyclists and triathletes are consuming more sugary drinks and gels than ever before in search of a performance advantage. This may lead some recreational athletes to question whether they should carry calories with them every time they lace up their shoes or go to the gym.
This increasing focus on fueling during exercise is based in part on research showing that elite athletes can digest calories more quickly than previously thought. But whether the rest of us should emulate this approach is less clear, according to running coach and sports nutritionist Matt Fitzgerald. In fact, he said, “the issue raises fundamental questions about the purpose of refueling during exercise.”
Before rethinking your workout nutrition plan, Fitzgerald and other experts recommend considering three key variables: How long will you train and with what? intensity You do it and what are your goals.
The argument for refueling during a multi-hour effort like a marathon is simple. The body can only store a limited amount of carbohydrates, the preferred fuel for intense exercise. After 90 to 120 minutes, unless you replenish your reserves, your muscles will switch to using less easily usable energy sources such as fat. This causes the feeling of heavy legs and dizziness that endurance athletes refer to as “bonking” or “cracking against the wall.”
Even with efforts of less than 90 minutes Additional carbohydrates can be helpful. “Unlike a car, which can accelerate until it runs out of fuel, your muscles start working less efficiently even when they’re filled with half a tank of gas,” said Tom Shaw, a performance nutritionist who has worked with professional soccer clubs in Europe and the Middle East.
This is what current sports nutrition guidelines suggest Athletes do not need to refuel for efforts that last less than 30 minutes. It is also clear that they require an increasingly aggressive refueling strategy as training sessions last longer.
However, there is a middle ground between 30 and 75 minutes where the recommendations are more unclear. You could get a boost by drinking a few sips of a sports drink, guides say — or even, studies show, by simply rinsing your mouth with it and spitting it out. In other words, the benefits of these relatively short workouts may be more about tricking the brain than training the muscles.
The above instructions assume you are doing your best, like in a race or a soccer game. But with less intense training Muscles burn fewer calories and may rely more on stored fat – a virtually unlimited source of energy, even for the slimmest of athletes.
That’s why Shaw usually works with professional footballers No refilling is required for workouts of up to 90 minutesbecause they have the necessary energy thanks to the meal before training.
“If a player requires a gel during a typical training session, it usually means they have not prepared properly,” he said.
“For the average person who exercises for their health, You don’t need to recharge during a 45-minute gym sessionHe added: “A light, easily digestible snack beforehand – like a banana or a lean chicken sandwich – is enough.”
During a competition, it makes sense to do everything that can improve your performance by one to two percent. But in training, that doesn’t always apply.
“Are you eating for performance reasons or for health reasons?” asked Barry Braun, a professor of exercise and health sciences at Colorado State University. “Because you’re going to make different decisions depending on your main goal.”
In the early 2000s, Braun and his colleagues published a series of studies confirming that exercise contributed immediate benefits in blood sugar control and other health indicatorsbut these benefits diminish if They instantly replace the calories you burned during exercise.
Other researchers found out Similar results when comparing training on a full and empty stomachThis suggests that depletion of energy reserves is one of the signals that instruct the body to adapt and become stronger.
The result is this Eating enough food when you don’t need to can mean you’re not getting the most out of exerciseBrown said.
Fitzgerald gives another reason for this Think twice before refueling with short or low-intensity workouts: Many of the calories athletes burn during exercise are in the form of sugary gels or sports drinkswhich can have long-term negative effects on health.
“There is no clear benefit to re-energizing during simple workouts, so it’s best to avoid added sugar,” he said.
Yet Fitzgerald believes so The vast majority of runners do not consume enough calories during exercise.. Of the 200 or so people who have attended his camps in recent years, he said, perhaps 10 had already eaten properly before they arrived.
He advises against refueling on short, easy runs, but strongly encourages you to do so Eat or drink during a workout that is long or strenuous enough to cause “significant fatigue.”.
If they can adopt this habit, he said, “You will feel better, perform better, recover better and ultimately run better.“.
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