During intense training, our body loses not only fluid in large quantities, but along with it, useful substances that our body needs to recover and normal life. What is the best way to replenish stocks: water or special sports drinks (isotonic), which contain all the necessary substances?

Water

If your run lasts no more than an hour at an average pace, then your needs can be completely satisfied with water and you don’t need to hang around bottles of sports drinks and tubes of special gels.

Your average pace is the pace at which you can carry on a conversation without getting out of breath.

So, if your run lasts no longer than an hour and at the same time you maintain your average pace, your choice is water.

Isotonics

Isotonics советуют приберечь для более сложных тренировок, когда приложенные усилия выходят за рамки привычных нагрузок. Many sports drinks don’t have a good reputation for being high in sugar, but if you’re training hard, a lot of fast carbs and a serving of electrolytes is just what you need!

With a weak load, the use of isotonics does not make much sense, since the benefits from them will be about the same as from plain water.

Recovery. A sports drink contains an average of 20 to 50 kcal and 5 to 14 g of sugar per 240 ml. Glucose (sugar) in this case is the fuel for the muscles. Our body can get glucose from almost any product, but it is much easier and faster to extract it from sugar. And the sooner this happens, the better, because during intense training, our body simply will not have time to wait until, for example, the bread in our stomach is digested and divided into simpler components (including glucose). After long and intense workouts, a short carbohydrate window opens up, and it is at this time that the muscles are best replenished with wasted sugar, which helps in recovery and preparation for the next race.

Rapid rehydration. During intense training, our body loses large amounts of water, sodium and potassium through sweat. Water отлично подходит для утоления жажды, а напитки с электролитами помогают восстанавливать водно-электролитный balance much faster. Sports drinks contain, on average, about 80 mg of sodium and 488 mg of potassium per 355 ml. This mixture of water, sugar and sodium helps our body absorb the moisture it needs much faster than just water.

Isotonic Recipes

It is not necessary to buy special sports drinks in stores, some of them are quite easy to prepare at home.

apple drink

Ingredients:

2 glasses of cold water;
1/4 cup apple juice;
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar;
sugar or honey to taste;
a pinch of ground cinnamon or ginger.
Vegetable isotonic

Ingredients:

1 liter of vegetable juice of your choice (you can make fresh beets or carrots at home);
1 cup of water;
1 cup orange juice.
Basic version of isotonic

Ingredients:

300 ml of any fruit juice;
200 ml of water;
a pinch of salt.
Citrus isotonic

Ingredients:

20 g honey or sugar;
30 ml lemon, orange or grapefruit juice;
a pinch of salt;
400 ml of water.
Even simpler options are to dilute 2 tablespoons of honey in 1 liter of water or buy mineral water and release gas from it.