Supplements
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If you haven’t heard of or seen carbohydrate gels before, they are small amounts of gel, about 60-ml, that contain complex and simple carbohydrates. They are widely used in endurance sports such as triathlon and cycling because they are small, compact and lightweight so offer an alternative to comparatively heavy, bulky sports drink bottles.
It is well known that carbohydrate-electrolyte beverages improve endurance and intermittent exercise performance. However, less is known about the consumption of carbohydrate gels during intermittent exercise.
Patterson et al. (2007) set out to investigate the effects of carbohydrate gel and water consumption on endurance performance after intermittent exercise in soccer players. The protocol consisted of 5 x 15-mins of variable intermittent running followed by an intermittent exercise test to exhaustion. The soccer players consumed either a carbohydrate gel or placebo immediately before exercise (0.89 mL/kg body mass]) and every 15 min thereafter (0.35 mL/kg BM). In addition, water was consumed at a rate of 5 mL/kg BM before and 2 mL/kg BM every 15 min during exercise. The researchers found that blood glucose levels were higher and run time to exhaustion longer when players ingested the carbohydrate gel plus water.
This study is interesting as players and coaches now have evidence that another way of obtaining carbohydrates (other than sports drinks) can help improve performance. I will however, advise you to try before you buy because I find carbohydrate gels absolutely disgusting!
Alan Ruddock CSCS, YCS
Who drinks red bull or other caffeine beverages before they compete? I certainly do and I advise drinking or consuming in tablet form, caffeine, to those who compete in intermittent or endurance sports.
This is because time and time again caffeine supplementation has been proven to enhance performance, along with only a handful of other supplements/ergogenic aids (creatine, carbohydrate, caffeine and protein).
It is known that intermittent and endurance sports performance benefit from caffeine supplementation. However there is less than convincing evidence that caffeine aids high intensity performance.
Forbes et al. (2007) studied the effects of 2mg/kg/body mass of red bull on peak and average power assessed by the Wingate cycle test and endurance assessed by 3 sets of bench press at 70% 1RM.
The results of the Forbes et al. (2007) study showed that red bull significantly increased the total number of bench press repetitions but had no effect on peak or average power.
This study suggests that at the dose administered red bull has no effect on peak or average power. It is interesting to note that this dose is lower than some of the doses provided in other studies reported in the literature.
However in practice, the amount of caffeine required to elicit and ergogenic effect will depend on the individual.
Athletes who are habitual caffeine consumers will require a higher dose than non-habitual caffeine consumers. It is important to experiment with the amount caffeine required to enhance performance in training and it is even more important to be aware of any side effects you may experience from higher than normal caffeine doses.
Alan Ruddock CSCS, YCS
