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For exercise that lasts one hour or less, water is still the best sport drink around. It’s
the nutrient you most need to replace after a workout.
The One-Hour Test
Fluid-replacer drinks do have their place, particularly for exercise lasting more than an
hour, and especially for use by endurance and ultra-endurance athletes. These products are
a mixture of water, carbohydrate, and electrolytes. Electrolytes are dissolved minerals
that form a salty soup in and around cells. Electrolytes carry electrical charges that let
them react with other minerals to relay nerve impulses, make muscles contract or relax, and
regulate the fluid balance inside and outside cells. During hard workouts or athletic
competitions lasting an hour or longer, electrolytes can be lost through sweat.
Sport Drinks: Fuel for Longer Hauls
Fluid-replacer drinks do two things: replace water and electrolytes lost through sweat and
supply a small amount of carbohydrate to the working muscles. Most drinks are formulated
with about six to eight percent of carbohydrate. The carb is either glucose, a simple
sugar; fructose, a fruit sugar; sucrose, ordinary table sugar (a blend of glucose and
fructose); maltodextrin, a complex carbohydrate derived from corn, or a combination of
these.
Because they contain carbs, these drinks benefit athletes competing in events that last an
hour or longer. Here’s how sport drinks work: The carbs in these drinks decrease the use
of muscle and liver glycogen stores. During competition, athletes consuming these drinks
can run, bike or swim longer because the supplemental carbs have spared stored glycogen.
There is no evidence showing that electrolytes improve exercise performance. They are not
required in supplemental amounts, unless you have a mineral deficiency identified by your
physician or your daily sweat losses total more than three percent of your body weight
(4.5 pounds in a 150 pound athlete). Ultraendurance athletes are among those who do need
to replace electrolytes. But if you are eating a balanced diet rich in fruits and
vegetables, you are getting your fill of these minerals.
Hydrating While Pumping Up
Fluid replacers are designed primarily for endurance athletes. But for strength trainers
who train aerobically-particularly in the heat—they have some value, too. The best time to
swill one of these drinks is during an aerobic workout or during any period of exertion,
especially if you’re exercising or working in hot weather. That’s when fluid loss is
greater than any other time of the year. You also burn more glycogen when you work out in
the heat-another good reason to quench you body with a fluid replacer.
Sports Drinks Have the Edge In Taste
A lot of people just don’t drink much water because it doesn’t taste good. When soldiers
participating in a study at the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental
Medicine were given the choice of drinking plain chlorinated water, flavored water, or
lemon-lime fluid-replacer drinks, most chose the fluid replacers or flavored water over
plain water. If you don’t need the carbs, one way to sneak more water in and still get the
flavor is to dilute your fluid replacer.
If you’re a fan of water, you will benefit just as much from water as you will from using
a sport drink—unless you are exercising more than an hour. But if you don’t like water,
or tend to avoid it during exercise, try filtered water, which tastes better. Another idea
is to put some powdered sport drink mix into your water, though the powdered mixes often
don’t taste as good as their pre-mixed counterparts. At the least, if a sport drink
encourages you to drink more, it has done its job.
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