should I be using electrolites or other supplements?

acebobby

OK I have been reading alot about cycling recently and the impacts it can have on your body, one thing that keeps coming up is electrolites and other supplements! Now I am by no means an athlete but was wondering, how do you know if you need to start using these? I currently carry 2 800mm bottles of water which I seem to drink at the rate of about 1 an hour, is this sufficient or should I think about mixing some electrolites in one of them?
Or should I be thinking of using recovery bars/shakes etc?

Bobby

Anonymous

On rides where you sweat I'd put electrolytes in as you lose a lot through sweat.

Try adding a tiny bit of salt and a little ribena (the ribena makes it more palateable...) in one of your bottles.

dennisn

I tend to vote "no need" on pretty much all of it. Eating a good diet will do way more for you than sugary bars, gels, and drinks. With the exception of an energy bar(strictly for ease of carry and use), on longer rides, I simply don't believe in much of any of this stuff.

nickwill

If you are drinking 800ml an hour, you are likely to be sweating a lot. You will be more comfortable, be able to ride for longer and recover more quickly if you replace the salts lost in sweating. This is where electrolyte drinks are helpful. As far as I know there is no rational argument against this, but there are some posters on here that will argue vehemently against anything that smacks of science. The next cry is usually one of 'rip off'.
At the very least try an electrolyte drinj and see for yourself if it makes a difference.

Anonymous

dennisn wrote:

I tend to vote "no need" on pretty much all of it. Eating a good diet will do way more for you than sugary bars, gels, and drinks. With the exception of an energy bar(strictly for ease of carry and use), on longer rides, I simply don't believe in much of any of this stuff.

So when you sweat buckets on a 5 hour ride you don't think it worthwhile to take in a little salt?

dennisn

NapoleonD wrote:

dennisn wrote:

I tend to vote "no need" on pretty much all of it. Eating a good diet will do way more for you than sugary bars, gels, and drinks. With the exception of an energy bar(strictly for ease of carry and use), on longer rides, I simply don't believe in much of any of this stuff.

So when you sweat buckets on a 5 hour ride you don't think it worthwhile to take in a little salt?

So you don't think that the foods you eat contain enough salt to keep you going?
To be honest I'm not much of a believer in more is better(unless it's money).

dennisn

Nickwill wrote:

...... but there are some posters on here that will argue vehemently against anything that smacks of science.

I don't have anything against science, but I'm pretty sure that their isn't a lot of science
involved in sugary drinks and salt tablets. Both of which have been around a whole lot longer than even myself. Don't mistake science with advertising. Two different things.
Be skeptical instead of believing everything you read. Especially when the market potential is in the billions of dollars.

Anonymous

I hardly think putting .5g of table salt in a 750ml bottle of water is going to break the bank though dennis.

dennisn

NapoleonD wrote:

I hardly think putting .5g of table salt in a 750ml bottle of water is going to break the bank though dennis.

Absolutely right. Not disputing that, but am sort of questioning the wisdom of buying a small tube of basically salt, with a fancy label and lots of advertising for 12 dollars.

le_boss

i watched an interesting interview with david brailsford on tv last week and he was talking about nutrition on and off the bike, and how quickly it has changed - especially in the last 10 years.

1 thing i didnt realise is no matter how good your diet, after just 1 hour hard on the bike apparently your body has already lost most electrolytes it has stored, and after just 2 hours any carbs you may have eaten prior to the ride will have been absorbed and used. so unless you replace these your performance will drop.

tell me, if the electrolyte tablets, gels, energy bars etc etc are a complete waste of money then why have pro teams (well, at least sky) all used them in races this year?
now i know that they may be promoting a sponsor, but if they werent good for you then the best cyclists in the world, the elite, would not be using them.

despite all this tho, i do agree with you that these things are overpriced, and if you do buy some to use be careful which ones you choice (or carry a bog roll)

tincaman

Recently been convinced by the electrolytes loss. Play squash three times a week and would often get headaches after playing a particularly hard or long match, after drinking water with one of those Nuun tablets that problem has since gone away completely.

acebobby

Thanks for all the replies guys, this is clearly a taboo subject with lots of different opinions, which is good because it brings up more reasons for and against both electrolytes and other supplements! It seems that electrolytes are getting most of the attention here which I am glad about as I was about to start experimenting with them first.
As mentioned earlier going by the amount of water I drink I must sweat a fair bit, well I do sweat alot, whether thats to do with my fitness levels I dont know but It doesnt take long untill I start to sweat and on the bike during climbs I can actually taste the salt and feel it nipping my eyes. Now I have always been a bit of a believer that salt is bad for your heart and what you get out of your food is more than enough but what Im thinking is if I were to add an electrolyte to one of my water bottles, its not like I'm sitting on the couch taking on extra salt but rather replacing salt as I lose it, which will leave my system with a relatively stable level of salt in it, is this making sense. Anyway the main reason I asked this question in the first place was that towards the end of a 34 mile ride the other day I started to feel some light kidney pain, I thought it was due to my posture on the bike but have since discovered that low sodium levels can cause kidney pain.
So I have decided that I am going to give electrolytes a try, I'm not really buying into the billion dollar sports nutrition industry, just going one step further than the 0.5 gram of table salt in my water bottle approach and going to buy a flavoured mix to add to my water.
Thanks for all the feedback guys, I appreciate everyones opinion and as a newbe to all of this I will let you know if I feel/notice a difference using electrolytes.

Bobby

cougie

I run marathons and race Ironman triathlons - when i finish those - my black shorts can be white with salt. If its hot I will take on salt tabs - as I've cramped up in hot marathons without them. I dont normally bother for easier training sessions though - you do have salt in your diet anyway. But its up to you really.

dennisn

le_boss wrote:

tell me, if the electrolyte tablets, gels, energy bars etc etc are a complete waste of money then why have pro teams (well, at least sky) all used them in races this year?
now i know that they may be promoting a sponsor, but if they werent good for you then the best cyclists in the world, the elite, would not be using them.

Did they ALL use this stuff or did the advertisement claim they used it? I remain skeptical, but that's just me.
As for being good for you, I really can't remember when anyone ever claimed a sugary candy bar(i.e. Snickers) was good for you and I certainly don't see these bars and gels
as anything more than candy bars. Check the ingredients list and I think you'll find that sugar figures very big in pretty much every one of them.

anto164

a lot of energy bars are fruit with carbs all mashed together (Well, ones like the SIS go ones anyway) So since when was Fruit and carbs such as oats/rice bad for you?

Fruit is basically sugar and water with a bit of flavour in it, yet it's good for you, and give a good boost when riding or doing anything (thinking bananas here).

A sugary chocolate bar such as a snickers isn't good for you (Hydrogenated fats and all), but it's a good way of getting sugar into you if you're in need of sugar as it's an istant, but short lived hit.

rogerthecat

A recent article in Cycling Weekly mentions that we need 60g of carbs per hour to maintain an effective energy level.

themightyw

TBH I don't get this 'either you do or you don't' argument.

Personally, if I was just going for a 40-50 mile ride for pleasure, not pushing I wouldn't even think about it. But if I was going balls out on a sportive I'd probably stick energy drink in one bottle and electrolyte in the other. On a much longer ride I'd certainly make sure I had energy drink to hand.

Maybe it's just me but the really full on energy drinks turn my bowels into the devil's playground for the rest of the day. But if I know I'm going to push damn hard I'll use them.

As for the comments about why the leading teams use all these things you should probably be aware that most sports sponsorship contracts include clauses about using the product obviously and frequently. That's not to say they're not useful products, just that almost every pro team will have some sort of supply contract which involves implicit endorsement.

pbt150

Try this, it's got everything you need:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

On a serious note though, put a pinch of salt and a shake of low-sodium salt into a 800 ml bottle to replace what you're losing in sweat. Electrolytes also increase the rate at which you can absorb water from your intestines.

rogerthecat

Finished the Winchester 100 (worked out about 113miles, bad signage) any way I tried the Torque Bars, outstanding along with some Reflex edge in my bottles, no issues with energy levels. So regardless what is said I have tried and found to work for me so what more can be said. If it works for you then.......

Headhuunter

Well on long Sunday club rides which often average around 19mph over 50 or so miles I most definitely find that water with maltodextrin, protein powder and electrolyte salts. I used to try to do these rides on a couple of bananas and about 1500ml of water and used to burn out, get cramps and get dropped, since I've started making up my own energy drinks I can easily keep up, so as far as I'm concerned electrolyte salts help. I buy electrolyte salt powder from myprotein, I would have thought that plain old household salt wouldn't have all the salts sweated out on a hard ride

Phate

On the subject of suppliments what do people feel about protein shakes for recovery?

Pretre

Headhuunter wrote:

, I would have thought that plain old household salt wouldn't have all the salts sweated out on a hard ride

+1 - it's not just table salt you need

acebobby

OK so today I tried iso energy from body fortress as holland and barret are doing a cheap deal on it. Anyway the instructions have you mixing a scoop of the stuff with 500 ml of water and drink half before exercise and the other half after! I chose just to mix a scoop in one of my 800ml bottles and just take water in the other! I then went and cycled 51 miles in heavy winds, this is my furthest ever ride so nothing to compare it to but after high effort things like hill climbs etc I would sip from the mixed bottle and all other times just the water!
Did I notice a difference? I dont know but a couple of things, the 2 bottles lasted me the entire ride which took 3 hrs 48 mins but I have been drinking alot of water recently so could be well hydrated. the other thing was that the iso energy had a nice orange flavour which was a pleasant change from just water so I will be continuing to use it!
Another thing I have just completed my longest ever distance in very windy weather and I feel great!

Cheers for all the opinions guys

Bobby

evilollie

My protein & bulkpowders

do very affordable supps

rogerthecat

@Phate

Yes m8 but only on full on rides rather than a bimmble. Sorry only if I have worked my muscles hard.

rake

Pretre wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

, I would have thought that plain old household salt wouldn't have all the salts sweated out on a hard ride

+1 - it's not just table salt you need

its not far off. sodiums the main one and used in sports drinks.

evilollie

http://www.myprotein.co.uk/products/electrolyte_powder

oh look ....haha

Headhuunter

evilollie wrote:

http://www.myprotein.co.uk/products/electrolyte_powder

oh look ....haha

That's the stuff I use

Phate

Todays Metro had an article on the use of Locozade Sport and Gatorade type drinks during sports and a recent study with kids showed that they could continue playing team sports for an average 24% longer than the kids given a placebo.

Headhuunter

Phate wrote:

Todays Metro had an article on the use of Locozade Sport and Gatorade type drinks during sports and a recent study with kids showed that they could continue playing team sports for an average 24% longer than the kids given a placebo.

Lucozade is waaaay more expensive than even the ready made powdered energy drinks like Torq and SIS per litre and it's basically just a fizzy, sickly sugar solution. I used it once, poured a bottle of it into my bike bottle and it fizzed up and out of the bottle leaving sticky, sugary gunge all over the bike. Never again.

rake

theres no doubt it helps with muscles operation.