38supPat Posted June 10, 2001 Share Posted June 10, 2001 Check out Gatorade.com, they have a science lab site that deals with hydration and it effect on atheletes. I know this is an area many shooters are weak in. Read the articles on over hydration, Alcohol effects, and Gatorade vs. water. Good info here especially with the summer season coming up. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bird Posted June 10, 2001 Share Posted June 10, 2001 I used to drink Gatorade by the gallons but i switched to water. Maybe i drank too much Gatorade but H20 makes me feel better. I heard an interesting interview on Art Bell Coast to Coast last night, check it out.. http://www.watercure.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted June 10, 2001 Author Share Posted June 10, 2001 From what I understand, water is fine but you need to replace sodium too, and there is none in water. Also there is a danger in over hydrating. Read some of the listed articles and I think you'll be surprised. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bird Posted June 10, 2001 Share Posted June 10, 2001 That is very true Pat, but i eat sunflower seeds like a bird...kindof balances the salt+ water thing. Oh heck, I think I'll go in the garage and practice my draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted August 24, 2001 Share Posted August 24, 2001 Forgive my lateness here - (I hope someone actually sees this!) As a Diabetic, I struggle constantly with this problem. Has anyone actually READ the ingredients list on Gatorade :-) So has anyone found a good replacement drink without all that sugar?? Ditto for energy bars! K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted August 24, 2001 Share Posted August 24, 2001 I've shot some grueling matches over the years. A couple Area 4's come to mind - the temp was upper 90's to 100 plus and the humidity was insane. Just being at the range the entire day is a challenge, let alone competing and staying sharp enough to still "have it" on the last few stages. I survived those matches, in good form, by drinking water and eating Balance Bars. They have a balance of protein, carbs, and fat, so they don't send you on the roller coaster of death (blood sugar spikes). I don't do anything with just carbs or sugar - it will wear you down. Occasionally, if I'm starting to lose some gas at the end of the day, I'd take about a half of package of "Goo"about 5 minutes before I shot a stage. You can get the Goo in sports stores. A friend, and World Class Alpinist turned me onto it. During intense climbing they practically live off it. At the range, we're not quite so intense, so you should experiment and use it with care. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted August 25, 2001 Share Posted August 25, 2001 I haven't taken the time to check out the Gatorade web site. If I recall correctly Gatorage runs with a little under a 5% carbohydrates. This small amount of carbs helps speed the absorbtion of the fluids. With Gatorade you get the elctrolytes as well. Very important. Powerade and the other Gatorade wannabes have lots of simple carbs. They aren't just bad for absorbtion, they can lead to the blood sugar spike that we all want to aviod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill H Posted August 28, 2001 Share Posted August 28, 2001 Brian can you describe what the GOO does and why we should be careful with it? Also how does it taste? Thanks Bill Hearne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted August 28, 2001 Share Posted August 28, 2001 Bill, I don't have any in front of me, but I'll just add-lib what I remember being told by one of the (wf) designers. Basically, a packet of Goo with a mouthful or two of water puts a certain glucose solution directly across the stomach wall in approx 5 minutes. Some have a tad of caffine, some don't. wfmft told me that the ones with the caffine "work" a little as the caffine helps to "activate" the other ingredients. It's total food "science." I remember he also told that they did an experiment with one of the designer's daughters, who was a marathon runner. They tested her blood sugar before the race, and then during the 26 mile run she took one packet of Goo every 30 minutes. At the end of the race, her blood sugar level was slightly higher than before she started! Anyway, I don't have enough technical knowledge of the stuff to help out much - I'll try to get wfmft on here to post a real answer. (Because I know there is a lot more to it than just sugar.) be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted August 28, 2001 Author Share Posted August 28, 2001 Use Caution with Gatorade bars!...been experimenting with them lately, can only eat 1/3 to 1/2 at most at a time...Mike F and I each ate a whole one before a level 3 match a couple of weeks ago and holy crap were we spun...like a kid with a six pack of Coke and a bag of Oreo's in him...lol...Now we split one or just take a bit then save the rest. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted August 29, 2001 Share Posted August 29, 2001 I got this in an email from wfmft: One package of GU supplies 25g of carbohydrate in the form of glucose polymers and fructose. The gel, when combined with a couple of mouthfuls of plain water achieves the 4-8% solution ideal for gastric emptying - shoots across the intestinal wall within five to ten minutes if gastric emptying is efficient. A small amount of caffeine (the equivalent of a quarter cup of coffee) is included to aid fat metabolism and improve cognitive function. Check your tolerance before using it in a match. The Banana-flavored GU has no caffeine. Eating any type of solid food, or food containing protein or fat compromises athletic potential by shunting blood from the muscles to assist the digestive process. Experiential tests show that eating one GU every half-hour results in a higher blood glucose level at the end of a 100 mile race than was present at the beginning (tested during the Wasatch 100, 1998). Be careful with intake so you don't overload your system with too much sugar and caffeine all at once. No more than two GU at a time and no more than three per hour (fine for athletes, probably too much for shooters who should benefit from one to two per hour max). Your perception of thirst is a poor indicator of your actual state of hydration. Dehydration, if taken to extremes causes death. A modest 3% level of dehydration is very serious. If a muscle is dehydrated by 3%, it will suffer a 10% loss of contractile strength and an 8% reduction in speed. Scientific, peer-reviewed tests of athletes suffering the effects of dehydration indicate that 5% dehydration causes up to a 30% decline in standard performance, and these results were measured during events lasting 35 minutes or less, longer efforts would show more dramatic results. If you exercise for 3-5 hours without drinking any water your heart-rate for a fixed level of output will increase by 30 beats per minute (BPM), while stroke volume decreases. The fluid should be composed of a 4-8% carbohydrate concentration, which empties fastest from the stomach. Studies also show that a solution of glucose polymers (maltodextrin) and fructose empty from the stomach faster than a solution of pure glucose does - so don't drink Koolaid, commercial sports drinks (eg. Gatorade) or soda pop. Maltodextrin doesn't contribute to an energy spike and subsequent fall-off like glucose and sucrose do. Maltodextrins as carbohydrate components are far better tolerated by the stomach during heavy exercise because they are less sweet - this is important when it is hot out. GU2O is the only brand I've found that - when mixed properly - doesn't have such a strong flavor that I don't drink enough. Your mouth will get sick of a strong flavor before you've drunk enough to stay hydrated. Plain water works great but the 4-8% solution empties from the stomach faster, especially when the pulse is over approximately 120 bpm. To alleviate the flavor problem with many "sports drinks" you may have to mix them half-strength. Several big market sports drinks feature glucose and sucrose as their carbohydrate components, and while these inhibit gastric emptying, and are not well tolerated by the stomach under field conditions, they are usually far more satisfying to most people's taste buds. If worried about a sugar-spike with "energy bars" chose the 40-30-30 "zone favorable" bars. These are designed expressly to prevent the sugar high and associated insulin response. Brands: GU2O, Revenge, ERG Gookinaid, Endura. Check your local specialty running, biking and climbing shops, or go to REI. There is no risk of "over hydrating." What you don't need, you pee out, though you might feel bloated for a while. Simple. The following books will help your understanding. Most libraries will have them. Colgan, Michael. Optimum Sports Nutrition. Ronkonkoma, New York: Advanced Research Press, 1993. Gatorade Sports Science Institute. Website: http://www.gssiweb.com Noakes, Timothy. The Lore of Running. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics, 1991 Sears, Barry. The Zone. New York: Harper Collins, 1995 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shooter Grrl Posted September 4, 2001 Share Posted September 4, 2001 Informative stuff! I however, asked my Doc, who told me - DRINK WATER and eat fresh fruit :-) My body can NOT handle the extra glucose, fructose or maltodextrin :-( YMMV and remember that this was an endo treating a diabetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted September 4, 2001 Share Posted September 4, 2001 I'd get a second opinion. Most fruits are full of simple-sugars. I trust no Doctors when it comes to nutrition. Most just don't have the right background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Moneypenny Posted September 4, 2001 Share Posted September 4, 2001 First, let me state i am fairly young, (21) when i was about 18 i was big into martial arts, pretty much it was my life, i was a national champion, and went to a training camp for about 80 of the martial artists picked to possibly be on team USA. we had a mornining work out in the july sun, i thought i would just drink gatorade. i must have consumed a galon of the stuff, i know i had atleast 2 32oz containers during the breaks and no water. by lunch break i could barely walk during lunch someone convinced me to drink about 40 oz of water. in about an hour i was ready to go again. the nap didn't hurt either. but the point i am getting at is do NOT rely on gatorate, or other sports/soft drinks to keep you hydrated, they don't work as well as water. other things i have learned is to eat an hour or 2 before you do strenious exercise, and stay away from sugars ( especially sugar cubes) and other candies i drank pretty much only water and ate semi healthy snacks, cerial etc. and felt a lot better than before. i dropped from the team when they started pushing drugs (in the form of sports drinks and additives) to us, when you see a 40 year old man work all day, get 3 hours of sleep, drink one of the "spark" drinks, and act like a kid on a sugar high all day.... you really begin to question its contents! i don't think that can be good for a person's body. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38supPat Posted September 5, 2001 Author Share Posted September 5, 2001 I always drink 1:1 Gatorade to water at a match....A: its cheaper, and B: you still need more water than 'other stuff'...but the info on this site is valuble to anyone who has not considered the effects of dehydration. At anything bigger than a level 1 match (club level) where you may only be on the range for an hour, keeping hydrated is very important. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted September 7, 2001 Share Posted September 7, 2001 Do you know that during the entire medical training of what we call a doctor, they do not take one single course in nutrition. Crazy stuff. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack T Posted February 1, 2002 Share Posted February 1, 2002 Greetings, Great topic. I was diagnosed with cancer (originaly terminal) 10 years ago and underwent major surgery for the removal, etc. I had 90 % of my stomach removed among other internal parts. The cancer disapeared and I feel good again and have returned to my first love, IPSC, a few months ago. Proper nutrition is paramount to me now and I appreciated these posts. One major factor not normally brought up during the topic of de-hydration is the fact that one of the first symptoms is anxiety. How much more anxiety does one need during a major match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted February 1, 2002 Share Posted February 1, 2002 I think Gatorade & the like were designed for people putting out serious effort for quite a while-- playing football, soccer, running, whatever. IPSC is much more 'bursty', in that there's lots of inactivty interspersed with a few seconds of real action. So we generally don't need so much of the sugars most sports drinks have in them, but to maintain a balance. Drinking water and eating reasonably balanced snacks is probably a better way to go. It's probably a good idea to stay away from range food until you're done shooting too, but sometimes that Texas BBQ is just too tempting.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgary Posted February 1, 2002 Share Posted February 1, 2002 RE: replacing sodium Be careful. It used to be "accepted wisdom" that you needed a certain level of salt to "retain water"... in fact, backpacking stores used to carry salt-pills so that you could hang onto more of your body's water store while out in the hills. What they have learned in recent years is that the body manages this quite nicely with *far* less sodium than they used to think. And, too much sodium effectively "locks up" all the water in your system so your body isn't getting the benefit of it anyway. And, with too much sodium, other things happen, like increased blood pressure, increased succeptibility to heat stroke, a variety of other Bad Things. Lots of fluids is good. Salt, in an attempt to hold onto them, is not so good. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bird Posted June 8, 2002 Share Posted June 8, 2002 I love the taste of water and always have a bottle of it with me. I find that placing ice at the base of my skull during the HOT--HUMID Great Plains Summer REALLY helps. (boxing taught me that) From Arizona--Wyoming--Ohio--etc. What tips do you use to stay cool during the summer months externally? The dry heat, the humid heat, the heat heat, is all freaking HOT. My frozen bottles of water change from ice, cold water, hot water then freaking steam...LOL I don't mean to digress but I need to balance the internal/external H2O thing.. GU works Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiserb Posted June 8, 2002 Share Posted June 8, 2002 http://www.fitnessonline.comhas some decent articles about fitness bars, and drinks. I have tried the gatorade bars, and thought they were like eating compressed Cap't Crunch. I like the Powerbar "Harvest" bars which are similar to the Gatorade bar but a whole lot less sugar. As for regular Gatorade, I get the powder and mix it with about 1/3 more water than recomended. This cuts down the sugar content, and gives it less of a Kool Aid taste. Info about Powerbar, and Gel http://www.powerbar.com/ (Edited by kaiserb at 7:19 am on June 8, 2002) (Edited by kaiserb at 6:14 pm on June 9, 2002) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDean Posted June 8, 2002 Share Posted June 8, 2002 At typical matches I rely on lots of water and "Clif-Bars". Of course you have to eat a good breakfast. Strange as it is, my traditional morning match meal is a roast-beef sandwich. I wonder if these cliff bars are any good for sports? "Chocolate Chip-Peanut Crunch": Fat 8% Sodium 12% Potassium: 9% Carbs: 13% Protein: 12g's What really makes me feel better is the 2 pints of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale after the match. That's a sports drink! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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