Sports drink manufacturers claim that their products can help improve athletes' performance and speed up recovery. If you’re thinking about adding sports drinks into your routine, you might wonder how they will impact your body and the effect on your performance. We take a look at this so you can decide whether to add sports drinks to your routine.

What do sports drinks contain?

Every sports drink will have a different recipe, depending on the brand and manufacturer. There are, however, certain ingredients that stay consistent in the majority of sports drinks. The main ingredients are different types of sugar, salt and water. Typically you might see sports drinks labelled as isotonic or hypertonic; in simple terms, isotonic sports drinks mimic the levels of sugars in your blood which makes them easier to digest and less likely to cause stomach upset. Hypertonic sports drinks have very high levels of sugar, higher than the concentration in your blood. These are great for providing a hit of energy but can also result in an upset stomach and diarrhoea.

What is their role in exercise?

Sports drinks are used to provide athletes with energy during or after a challenging workout. If you’re exercising for more than 60 minutes, your body may begin to run out of its glycogen stores. Glycogen is the form of energy used during exercise; it's readily available in your muscles to give you the energy needed to start your exercise. Your level of fitness will impact the amount of glycogen that's stored in your muscles. Untrained athletes store about 15 grams per kilogram of muscle mass, whereas professional endurance athletes can store 25 grams or more of glycogen per kilogram of muscle mass. That’s part of the reason why trained athletes find it much easier to work out and train for longer periods of time without becoming fatigued. Once your glycogen stores are depleted, you might find it hard to keep on training without becoming fatigued. Sports drinks provide the body with carbohydrates they can access quickly and turn into usable energy.

What is their role in recovery?

After a tough workout, your body will be depleted of glycogen, fluids and electrolytes. Sports drinks will help to replenish all of these, promoting quicker recovery. If you have a short period of time between training sessions, a sports drink that contains sodium can improve rehydration and give you the energy needed to train again. Electrolytes within sports drinks help to direct the water to the areas in the body where it's needed most. Electrolytes are also lost during exercise, and to improve recovery time, they can be replaced by drinking a sports drink.

Are sports drinks always needed?

Sports drinks are beneficial to athletes when they’re doing particularly long or intensive training sessions. If you’re doing a thirty-minute workout and your aim is to improve your fitness and lose weight, then a sports drink won’t be beneficial. The calories you consume could even be more than you burn during your short training session. In this case, you should opt to drink water to rehydrate and replenish the fluids lost during exercise. If you begin to train for longer and feel your body is fatigued after around 60-90 minutes, taking small sips of a sports drink could help you improve your performance and train for longer periods. You don’t necessarily need to consume a whole bottle of a sports drink to see the impact on your training, especially if you’re watching your calorie intake. Switch between sipping a sports drink and water for hydration to minimise your calorie intake.

For endurance athletes, sports drinks can help them train for longer periods and improve their recovery rate. This ultimately means they can improve their overall fitness levels and performance as they don’t need to spend as much time resting and recovering and can push themselves further to achieve their personal best. Sports drinks must be combined with a training plan and a healthy diet consisting of protein, carbohydrates and the right nutrients to be effective. In addition, rest is still important; training too hard can lead to injuries; every athlete should allow their body enough time to rest and recover.

Resources:

How Can Sports Drinks Help Performance?