The Truth About ‘Sports’ and ‘Energy’ Drinks.

These must be one of the biggest marketing success stories of the last decade.

 We have been convinced that, in order to function, just eating food and drinking water is no longer enough.  We have to supplement our diet with whatever sports/energy drink is being peddled on TV at the time.

 I’ve lost track of the number of people I’ve seen in the gym with a sports/energy drink whilst plodding away on a treadmill trying to lose weight.  Sadly, all of those calories that they are burning will be replaced as they gradually drink that sugary, flavoured muck that’s contained within the bottle of ‘Something-or-other-ade’.

 If weight loss is not an issue for you and you’re training for a marathon, for example, then energy drinks are a good way of pushing out that extra few miles.

 If you are trying to lose weight, however, the last thing that you need is to replace the calories that you’re burning.  If you burn 200 calories on the treadmill, but drink 200 calories in a sports drink while you’re doing it, you’ve just cancelled out all of that hard work!

 There are actually three types of ‘sports’ drink; Hypotonic, Isotonic and Hypertonic.  Unfortunately, the sports drink industry makes the most of the fact that most people, understandably, don’t know the difference between the three.

 Fortunately, after reading this, this will not include you!

 

Hypotonic:  Contain fluids, electrolytes and a low level of sugar.

 

Isotonic:  Contain fluids, electrolytes and 6 – 8% of sugar.

 

Hypertonic:  Contain fluids, little or no electrolytes and high levels of sugar.

 

 As I have mentioned, if you’re running a marathon or doing a weight training session, you may find that a hypertonic drink helps to maintain your energy levels.  For those people trying to lose body fat, however, the last thing that we want is to ingest nutritionally dead calories.

 A ‘dead calorie’ is one that provided energy, but has no nutritional value.  A medium sized banana, for example, contains about 97 calories.  However, it also contains vital vitamins, minerals and fibre.  A typical 380ml can of ‘Lucozade Energy’ contains 266 calories, with no vitamins, minerals or fibre whatsoever; the very definition of ‘dead calories’.

 In fact, you may as well drink a can of full sugar Cola.  There really is no difference.

In fairness, Hypotonic drinks can be useful.  They contain essential electrolytes that our body needs in order to re-hydrate itself during and after exercise and only a small amount of sugar. Some of the main electrolytes are: sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, calcium, bicarbonate, phosphate, sulphates.

They are used by our body to ensure proper cellular functioning. They regulate water levels and play vital roles for muscle, nerve, and brain function. Basically, they make sure that the water is where it is supposed to be and doing what it is supposed to do.

That said, there are far more natural and healthy ways of replacing the electrolytes that are lost when we sweat.

Good, old fashioned MILK contains electrolytes, natural sugars, protein, calcium and a huge variety of other minerals and vitamins. Don’t be worried about the fat content.  Even full-fat milk is a ‘low fat’ food as it contains 3.5% fat. A low fat food is classed as having between 3% and 5% fat.  Semi-skimmed only contains 1.7% fat.

 In fact, milk is the perfect post-workout drink….and it’s natural!

 If you’d like to know more about exercise, wellbeing and nutrition, take a look at my website; www.apmoore.co.uk

Why Women Should Weight Train....

As is common with most Personal Trainers, the majority of my clients over the years have been female.  It’s fair to say that most of them have had the same aims; to ‘tone up’ and to lose weight. 

Some of them have never taken part in any kind of structured exercise program, while most have tried the usual slimming clubs and/or ‘Zumba’ classes before getting in touch with me.

Some people make good progress with a slimming club, but it’s only one side of the fat loss coin.  We should all adopt healthy eating habits, but to make a long term difference to our body composition, health and wellbeing, we really need to do the correct kind of exercise too.

It’s fair to say that I’ve had a mixed reaction when I’ve introduced my female clients to the concept of training with weights.  While some of them are very keen to try, others are initially reluctant. The most common reason being that weight training will make them look ‘manly’.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Men naturally carry more muscle (lean mass) because of the male hormone, testosterone.

Women also produce testosterone, but in far smaller quantities than men.  In fact, men have testosterone levels 7 to 8 times greater than the levels found in women.

This is the fundamental reason why, with very few exceptions, women couldn’t develop and maintain the same amount of lean mass as a man, even if they wanted to.  At least not without the help of artificial substances such as steroids (which are, basically, synthetic testosterone).

So, why do I encourage my female clients to do weight training?

The simple answer is that it is the single, most effective way of burning off body fat and keeping it off.

When we say that we want to ‘lose weight’, what we really mean is ‘lose fat’.  We want to reduce our excess body fat levels.

The most effective tool that we have to burn off this excess body fat is our lean mass. Muscle tissue burns calories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week simply to maintain and repair itself and stay alive. Take exercise into account and the number of calories increases considerably.

As we age, it’s estimated that we lose around 7% of our lean mass every 10 years.  This is one of the main causes of ‘middle-age spread’.  We lose lean mass, which slows our metabolism, which causes us to burn fewer of the calories that we consume, which means we store them as body fat.

Unless we do something about it, of course!

Weight training is the primary method of developing and maintaining our lean mass. This extra lean mass also means that any aerobic exercise that you do, such as Zumba classes, swimming or running, will be even more effective at burning away the calories.

If this wasn’t reason enough, the list of benefits goes on;

 

·         More lean mass means that you’re less likely to put on body fat in the future.

·         Your posture will improve.

·         Your bone density will improve, reducing the risk of osteoporosis in later life.

·         You’ll look and feel better and firmer.

·         The combination of all of these will improve your self-image and self-confidence.

 

If you have any questions, or would like to know more, check out my website; www.apmoore.co.uk