-The Ultimate Sports Drink-

[kerplunker]

Many of you on this board ask of what good sports drinks are and which ones are the best and favorite etc. Well, many of these sports drinks are not so hot, gatorade being probably the worst. Why you ask? Because gatorade is mostly made up of poor carbs. Yes, its important to have carbs, but these carbs are terrible, chemicals that you put into your body, ie. High Fructose Corn Syrup.

What are good carbs? Good question, many carbs are good, but some carbs are favored for intense workouts/matches. Waxy Maize Starch is probably the absolute best for you as it stimulates the release of insulin due to such a high molecular weight that it is absorbed straight into the small intesine. However this is only key for post workout and weight lifting.

Another great carb is Trehalose. This is favored more for during matches and long excersise. Why? Hmmm, because it does not stimulate insulin response as much as other carbs yet supplies you with the calories and energy you need to keep going. Trehalose is derived from corn starch as is waxy maize starch.

Gatorade is also bad cause it lacks protein and key amino acids. Your body is put under high stress and in order to keep good muscle uptake amino acids and protein are important. BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids) are very key to the body.

During high intensity exercise, the BCAA's are oxidized for use as fuel and to maintain oxidative metabolite concentration. Supplementing with BCAA's reduces exercise-induced muscle proteolysis (breakdown) and also stimulates muscle protein synthesis.

Whey Protein Isolate is also good. It helps along with the BCAA's to stimulate muscle growth and amino acid replenishment that you lose during workouts.

Beta-Alanine is also something that should be added to a sports drink. Why? Because daily supplemation of beta-alanine (BA) increases carosine stores in your bodys muscle. This will advance your bodys ability to have more muscular endurance and be able to use muscle for a longer period of time at high intensity. (Daily supplemation should be 4.2g - 6g's a day to see results.)(Doses should be spread out to eliminate tingling sensation to the body.)

A supplement that gets really bad press is Creatine, another important addition to your daily intake. This "creatine" that is referred to ever so much as a legal steriod (as its not because it does not mess with your body's endocrine system whatsoever) is good because it increases your body's ability to create ATP. How does it do this? Well creatine is made up of three amino acids with the addition to a phosphate group. This phosphate group binds to Adenine in the body to create, ATP which is stored energy in your body that allows cells to move. There are many forms of creatine...my favorite being Creatine Gluconate. Creatine Monohydrate is effective and the cheapest form. It works and well.

My next supplement of choice to add to the Ultimate Sports drink is Citrulline Malate. This supplement enhances energy uptake by increasing arginine stores in your body. This should be taken in doses from 2g - 5g's and can be spread out or not. However, because of the pump this adds...I recommend only 1g in a sports drink, and the rest spread out during the day.

Electrolytes! Yes, the ever so most important electrolytes. This is stressed very much in sports drinks. Its most noted in gatorade...yet its pure sodium chloride. Uh, yeah, SALT! This is important, but not THAT important. Go ahead, add a dash of salt. Will you notice a huge difference?...probably not.

Hmmm. Now to the fun part. Different products each have different things in them. Accelerade you can find in stores and runs about $2 a bottle. Is it worth $2 a bottle for 35 cents of ingredients...no. There are others, like Nibmus Nutrition Posiedon-BA...but even that lacks carbs. However, thats what I recommend...add in carbs to your liking and your good to go. But you can also make your own mix, and add in your own flavors and change around the amounts and stuff at trueprotein.com. Any questions feel free to ask.

A little info about me...I was a tennis player...no longer hardcore due to lack of support. Now I am an aspiring personal trainer/pharmaceuticals major. I am a Junior in high school and like helping people for the best.

I wrote this article cause I read some threads on here lacking good information. I've been a member here for quite sometime and know most of your are good people. Workout, training, nutrition questions I can also answer.

I can also not stress enough how much being is shape can help you. Low bodyfat, good muscle, and a great mind can go a long way in the game of tennis.

- Daniel D.

*I am in no way affiliated with any of the above mentions companies.

 

[kerplunker]

Also, for energy, don't go to energy drinks, but do yourself a favor and look up products like VPX Redline, Applied RPM, and straight up caffiene pills. All that hulabaloo about energy drinks are nothing but sugar and caffiene + 50000 dollars.

My favorite product that contains above mentioned supplements is from a company called MAN. However they are expensive, they are the best, period. MANsports.com

The products are MAN Body Octane and Clout. Do yourself a favor and check them out.

 

[kerplunker]

Please, any comments, questions, concerns?

 

[LuckyR]

Considering you cite many threads here with: "lacking good information", here are a couple of ideas. Whether you build one muscle fiber in your entire body during a match will not change the outcome of the match one point. You are losing a lot of water and you are losing some salt during a match, but there is plenty of energy in your body stores to carry you through >95% of the club level matches you will ever play, even if you added not a single calorie of energy during the match (so much for carbs, "good" or otherwise). The reason carbs are even in sports drinks is to speed rehydration not to supply energy (although they will do that to a small extent).

 

[Sleepstream]

Putting all of that into one drink is a little much.

BA + CitMal + CrM into a morning and evening drink would be fine.

Most people don't want to buy all of these things in bulk. Creatine is cheap, but the creatine gluconate you like (featured in Gaspari Nutrition's Size ON) is a bit more expensive.

WMS and trehalose have been out for a while, and both are good. Too many arguments about them, though. I think most people here are better off just eating a banana or some other fruit.

Whey protein isolate is good, but whey peptides are better. BCAAs are fine as well, but they are pretty expensive. I think most people would be fine just consuming a few grams of them during and after a workout.

The funny thing is that you forget to mention vitamins and minerals outside of salt. While surely carbs and amino acids/proteins will help prevent catabolism, vitamin C does help minimize catabolism, too. Other electrolytes like magnesium, potassium, calcium, and so forth are much more important than sodium and chloride.

Emergen C is a fantastic product, and while not advertised as a sports drink, it is fantastic even though it doesn't have much outside of vitamins and minerals. Mix a packet of it with something like gatorade or cytomax, and an ordinary sports drink is suddenly that much better.

Not all energy drinks are sugar and caffeine these days. Many of the sugared drinks are bad because of the sugar crash, but the sugar-free drinks tend not to have that problem as much. Energy drinks like VPX Redline Extreme, Ergopharm Clearshot, Xyience Xenergy (my favorite taste-wise), and BSN Endorush lack all of the sugars of the typical drinks, yet have so much more than caffeine.

Here are some other products I can recommend:
Core ABC - BCAAs, BA, CitMal, and L-Glutamine
Xtreme Formulations ICE - BCAAs and Glutamine
Scivation Xtend - BCAAs, CitMal, and L-Glutamine

 

[Sleepstream]

Considering you cite many threads here with: "lacking good information", here are a couple of ideas. Whether you build one muscle fiber in your entire body during a match will not change the outcome of the match one point. You are losing a lot of water and you are losing some salt during a match, but there is plenty of energy in your body stores to carry you through >95% of the club level matches you will ever play, even if you added not a single calorie of energy during the match (so much for carbs, "good" or otherwise). The reason carbs are even in sports drinks is to speed rehydration not to supply energy (although they will do that to a small extent).

You should know that no muscle fiber is going to be built during exercise. But I agree with you. Most people here don't play tennis at a strenuous enough level to warrant the use of anything outside of water, a sports drink, and a banana or two.

 

[LuckyR]

You should know that no muscle fiber is going to be built during exercise. But I agree with you. Most people here don't play tennis at a strenuous enough level to warrant the use of anything outside of water, a sports drink, and a banana or two.

Sorry if I sounded like I thought you would build a muscle fiber, clearly you aren't, I was making fun of the OP's concern about it...

 

[Sleepstream]

Sorry if I sounded like I thought you would build a muscle fiber, clearly you aren't, I was making fun of the OP's concern about it...

Sorry, I forgot to leave the

Knew you were joking.

 

[kerplunker]

Putting all of that into one drink is a little much.

BA + CitMal + CrM into a morning and evening drink would be fine.

Most people don't want to buy all of these things in bulk. Creatine is cheap, but the creatine gluconate you like (featured in Gaspari Nutrition's Size ON) is a bit more expensive.

WMS and trehalose have been out for a while, and both are good. Too many arguments about them, though. I think most people here are better off just eating a banana or some other fruit.

Whey protein isolate is good, but whey peptides are better. BCAAs are fine as well, but they are pretty expensive. I think most people would be fine just consuming a few grams of them during and after a workout.

The funny thing is that you forget to mention vitamins and minerals outside of salt. While surely carbs and amino acids/proteins will help prevent catabolism, vitamin C does help minimize catabolism, too. Other electrolytes like magnesium, potassium, calcium, and so forth are much more important than sodium and chloride.

Emergen C is a fantastic product, and while not advertised as a sports drink, it is fantastic even though it doesn't have much outside of vitamins and minerals. Mix a packet of it with something like gatorade or cytomax, and an ordinary sports drink is suddenly that much better.

Not all energy drinks are sugar and caffeine these days. Many of the sugared drinks are bad because of the sugar crash, but the sugar-free drinks tend not to have that problem as much. Energy drinks like VPX Redline Extreme, Ergopharm Clearshot, Xyience Xenergy (my favorite taste-wise), and BSN Endorush lack all of the sugars of the typical drinks, yet have so much more than caffeine.

Here are some other products I can recommend:
Core ABC - BCAAs, BA, CitMal, and L-Glutamine
Xtreme Formulations ICE - BCAAs and Glutamine
Scivation Xtend - BCAAs, CitMal, and L-Glutamine

I agree with your recommendations. Core ABC is a great product.

 

[AlexP]

Oatmeal before, water during the match.

 

[dunloplayah]

I make a strawberry banana orange juice smoothie with advocare spark citrus supplement and a liquid glucosamine/chondroitin in it every morning in lieu of coffee and before every match. The good thing about the spark is i can add a scoop to my bottle of water to drink during the match and it usually helps 2nd and 3rd sets. It's expensive too, but it does include a daily supply of vitamins too. There is no quick fix, it's really about total lifestyle/diet. what you eat the night before and drink hours before the match will influence you more, imho. Good info in there tho, but i'd be inclined to talk to a professional first rather than hear it from a junior in highschool...no offense.

 

[kerplunker]

You guys can't forget I am recommending long term supplementation of creatine, beta-alanine, and citruline malate. Not just for your sports drink.

 

[Craig Sheppard]

Emergen C is a fantastic product, and while not advertised as a sports drink, it is fantastic even though it doesn't have much outside of vitamins and minerals. Mix a packet of it with something like gatorade or cytomax, and an ordinary sports drink is suddenly that much better.

Two thumbs up for this tidbit of information. I notice a difference w/ just Emergen C -- mix it w/ a sports drink and it's that much better. I like a packet in between matches during tournaments. I find I can actually feel a difference. Maybe all in my head, but it seems to work.

 

[kerplunker]

Take a look at Swell, from Nimbus Nutrition. It has everything Emergen C has + more! and more B12...which is lots of energy.

 

[Sleepstream]

Emergen C has more minerals, more vitamin C, alpha lipoic acid, and quercetin. Swell/Poseidon-BA has BA and CitMal, with Swell possibly having a bit more added to it than Poseidon-BA. But the difference is that you don't want to take Swell during exercise, as it is meant to be a pre-exercise formula. Beta alanine isn't going to have much effect if taken during exercise.

Most people are going to have better benefit with beta alanine and citrulline malate by just buying in bulk, mixing 1-2 grams of each in some water, and drinking. Do that twice a day, and that's plenty. I've had experience beta alanine and it does help with endurance.

Will most people here see much of a benefit? Maybe not.

I'm surprised you haven't mentioned GAKIC, which is a terrific supplement. It's expensive because Muscletech markets it, but it is definitely effective.