The best drink for endurance athletes: Hydratis review
Endurance sport: Hydratis review, electrolyte solution to maintain your energy
Whether you are a beginner or an experienced cyclist, marathon, trail or triathlon athlete, you have probably already found yourself in your physical and mental limits.
Endurance sports involve pushing yourself to the limit because the body must maintain a high intensity effort over a long period of time. Added to this mindset is the desire to achieve performances and beat personal records. It is therefore in the interest of the endurance athlete not to neglect any aspect of their preparation, race and recovery, which involves optimizing their hydration and energy intake.
In this article we talk about the importance of hydration levels on performance and recovery as well as the best energy drinks to cope with the effort.
During physical effort, the body contracts its muscles in order to produce movement. This contraction produces heat which results from the transformation of chemical energy into mechanical energy. The body heats up and thermogenesis takes place. To maintain its body temperature at 37 degrees, the body activates cooling mechanisms in order to lower the temperature. Perspiration is the main actor, and explains part of the water and electrolyte losses.
The athlete is therefore continually losing water and minerals during exercise. Their water needs are therefore permanent and can increase depending on the duration of the exercise, its intensity, the ambient temperature, the humidity and their level of hydration at the start of the exercise.
Thus, the athlete loses on average between 1L and 1.5L of water per hour, but depending on the elements mentioned above, this loss can go up to 3L of water per hour. For example, if a 75 kg person loses 1.5L of water, this is equivalent to 2% of their body weight. A water loss of 2% is enough to have a negative impact on performance. In addition, the feeling of thirst is triggered precisely when water loss is around 2% . It is therefore essential to anticipate this dehydration* with a quality and suitable sports drink in order to avoid episodes of fatigue. The athlete who is looking to beat his records cannot therefore rely on his feeling of thirst because he is already dehydrated when he feels it.
*Dehydration is caused by an imbalance of water and minerals
Water, in addition to being the majority constituent of the body, plays a crucial role in the vast majority of biological functions. Lack of water impacts the proper functioning of the body, resulting in a drop in performance. Indeed, a dehydrated athlete will see an increase in their reaction time as well as their feeling of effort, which will seem more intense and therefore more difficult.
The interest in rehydration does not stop at performance and during exercise.
It is very important to restore water levels after exercise in order to maximize recovery. After exercise, the body absorbs everything it has lost like a sponge, which is why rehydration within an hour of exercise is essential. It will help maintain blood volume and therefore oxygenation of muscle fibers, which will reduce cramps and aches. However, water is not the only component lost during the session, since dehydration is accompanied by an electrolytic loss (sodium, potassium, chlorine, etc.) that must also be compensated for.
During training, the body also loses energy reserves such as carbohydrates, used in muscle contraction. For optimal recovery, it is therefore necessary to replenish the stock of water, electrolytes and carbohydrates. The advantage of the energy drink is that it allows you to compensate for these three losses at the same time. Indeed, it contains water, electrolytes and carbohydrates. It is therefore perfectly suited to long-term efforts such as endurance sports to maintain the body's water and energy levels while compensating for electrolytic losses. But the benefit of sports drinks goes beyond simply compensating for losses since the combination of electrolytes, carbohydrates and water, depending on their composition, plays with the osmolarity of the blood plasma, which maximizes the absorption of water and/or carbohydrates.
What are the different types of energy drinks?
Two types of energy drinks will suit your needs for your long-distance outings: The isotonic drink which has an osmolarity identical to blood plasma, allows better assimilation of water and electrolytes while ensuring a carbohydrate intake. The quality of the minerals found in the drink are key because their bioassimilability will play an important role in metabolism.
The hypotonic drink has a lower osmolarity than blood plasma, it leads to the stimulation of hydration but slows down the absorption of nutrients. The choice of the type of energy drink must be made according to the environmental conditions under which the effort is made. Indeed, if the latter is practiced in hot weather, hydration is of capital importance because water losses can exceed 3L per hour, it will then be more judicious to opt for a hypotonic drink which will promote hydration and the absorption of electrolytes to that of carbohydrates. If the outside temperature is more bearable, dehydration being less, the most appropriate drink will be the isotonic one.
The Hydratis solution is ideal for athletes who can design their own energy drink:
Thanks to tablets enriched with mineral salts (sodium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, manganese) and a source of energy thanks to their carbohydrate content (sucrose), you have the possibility of creating an energy drink adapted to your needs. To do this, simply mix:
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1 tablet in 500 ml of water to obtain a hypotonic drink.
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2 tablets in 500 ml of water to obtain an isotonic drink.
Find the Hydratis review from Run, Fit & Run
Compared to salt tablets that only compensate for the loss of electrolytes that only compensate for water losses, Hydratis is a real revolution for endurance sports enthusiasts. You have at your disposal tablets whose composition has been designed to accelerate the absorption of water molecules by your body.
It acts more effectively to maintain your hydration. Its richness in electrolytes is an additional asset to restore electrolytic losses and allow your body to better overcome the effort. Hydratis is therefore the best ally to maintain your hydration, the benefits of which do not stop at maintaining your performance. Consuming your Hydratis sports drink after the race will also promote your recovery: less fatigue, less aches and fewer cramps. Thanks to tablets contained in airtight tubes, transportable everywhere, you have the freedom to make the energy drink most suited to the conditions of your race.
