Gatorade started a huge trend in the fitness world. The idea of consuming a beverage to replenish your energy and electrolyte stores after a workout revolutionized the idea of exercise nutrition. Athletic teams all over the country were quickly implementing their product into their training regimens and had the big orange cooler prominently displayed on the sideline to help hydrate athletes as the came of the field or court. The idea behind Gatorade and other similar fitness oriented drinks is sound; however people have gotten way too carried away with their use.

The typical Gatorade or similar drink is full of lots of simple sugars and electrolytes, like sodium and potassium, which are intended to replenish all of the energy you burn and the electrolytes you sweat out. This is extremely beneficial for people who burn high amounts of energy and sweat off lots of electrolytes. But last time I checked few people who exercise meet those two criteria. It is amazing to watch people walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes while steadily drinking their 32 ounce Fruit Punch Gatorade. Then a few weeks later they wonder why they haven’t lost any weight. By incorporating the right beverages at the right times you can greatly enhance your performance while also improving your results.

Gatorade was originally created for high performance athletes. It was created in 1967 at the University of Florida, hence the name “Gator”ade. Once people saw the success athletes had using Gatorade recreational exercisers started drinking it thinking it was the key to their success. Once that happened more companies started creating similar products and marketing the products to everyone, from athletes to the 85 year old woman confined to a wheelchair.

The problem is that Gatorade isn’t necessary for the majority of people who exercise. Gatorade is intended to refuel someone when performance is extremely important. Athletes can lose millions of dollars if they aren’t competing at their best. Gatorade serves that purpose fairly well.

Where does that leave the average individual who just wants to get in a little better shape? For the average individual there are rarely performance requirements while working out. There is nothing at stake when someone is attempting to perform bodyweight squats. That should lead one to realize that they may not need Gatorade or similar beverages. What happens if I told you that Gatorade is actually slowing your results? Drinking a 32 ounce Gatorade is putting almost every calorie back in you that you just burned during your exercise. The average 32 ounce Gatorade has approximately 200 calories with 56 grams of sugar.

The whole idea of exercising to lose weight is basically to create a calorie deficit within your body. In order to fulfill the body’s energy requirements it will draw from stored body fat to make up for the deficit. But when you consistently replace all the calories you burned with a drink you will end up dramatically slowing your results. So the key point to take away from this is to stop drinking Gatorade. Unless there is something at stake, like a professional contract, or finishing a marathon you are better off sticking to water.

For the most part you want to avoid drinking calories. Fluids are very deceiving when it comes to calorie content. People can usually drink a fair amount of fluid without thinking twice. But a grande Frappuccino has a few hundred calories in it. Throughout the day stick to water or tea. You will reduce the amount of calories you consume in a day, thus improving your results.

A minor contradictory statement comes when discussing a post-workout drink. Drinking something post-workout can dramatically increase your results, no matter what your goal is. The difference between a beneficial post-workout drink and Gatorade is the protein to carbohydrate ratio. Whereas Gatorade is all carbohydrates you want your post-workout shake to be primarily protein. Now the ratio of protein to carbohydrates will change depending on your specific goal, but for those who desire to lose large amounts of body fat would benefit from consuming virtually no carbohydrates in your post-workout drink.

You ideally want to consume a mixture of whey and casein proteins. If you buy protein powder from most nutrition stores this is the way it comes. Then by adding one to two scoops of protein to water with a tablespoon of glutamine, which can also be purchased at nutrition stores, will provide a decent source of post-workout nutrition. Now you can get much more scientific with the amount of protein, glutamine, other supplements, and protein to carbohydrate ratio you should consume, but I advocate sticking to the basics at first. The less thought you have to put into it the better.

Within ten minutes of finishing your workout mix up your drink and knock it back. You will benefit much more from drinking this instead of your Gatorade. Carbohydrate based drinks like Gatorade have their place, but it shouldn’t be in the hands of the average gym goer looking to get in moderately better shape. Don’t ruin all of the hard work you put in at the gym with a few uninformed choices. You will be much happier if you stick to water. Good luck.

Trackback URI |