2. HOW MUCH CARBOHYDRATE SHOULD WE CONSUME DURING EXERCISE?
One of the most common questions among athletes, especially endurance athletes, is how much carbohydrate they should consume during physical activity.
Some foods such as bananas, dates, etc. can be used to provide these carbohydrates, but be careful with them because they also contain fiber or nutrient combinations that may NOT be ideal during exercise because they can cause gastrointestinal discomfort, etc. That is why the best options to ingest carbohydrates in an easy, simple and effective way are those in the form of sports supplements; among these, gels, bars and sports drinks are ideal.
Well, now, let's see what science says about the amounts of carbohydrates we should consume during physical activity...
How much carbohydrate should we consume?
Carbohydrate intake can be done from the beginning, especially when we know in advance that the training or competition is going to be prolonged, that is, more than 2 hours.
Scientific guidance indicates that hourly carbohydrate needs increase progressively with duration:
- For the first hour it would not be necessary to consume carbohydrates, but if the session is prolonged, I recommend that we start taking them from minute 1.
- From that first hour, and until the second, the consumption recommendations are about 30 g during that hour. For most athletes, about 500 ml of a well-designed sports drink like Isodrink & Energy would be enough.
- From this second hour and until the third, it is recommended to go up to 60 g during that hour.
- And finally, from the third hour, it should be increased to 90 g and even new scientific research recommends reaching up to 120 g every hour until the end. Of course, to be able to take these amounts of carbohydrates you have to do what is known as "gut training", that is, "eating" during exercise also has to be trained.
Something that must also be taken into account when reaching these levels of consumption is that it is not worth taking just one type of carbohydrate, that is, for physiological reasons, you have to combine sources such as glucose or maltodextrin with fructose, in approximate ratios of 2:1 (although they can vary) between glucose or maltodextrin and fructose.
Science tells us that with these amounts and combinations of carbohydrates we ensure enough energy to maintain performance.
How can I consume these amounts?
Many times the theory is clear, that is, okay, we already know the quantities, but now the problem is, and how can I get to ingest them? especially when we need quantities of 60 g/hour or more. Therefore, in order to reach these quantities, the best options, as I mentioned at the beginning, are sports drinks (also known as isotonic drinks), gels and bars:
- Ingesting approximately 500 ml of sports drink (Isodrink & Energy) every hour of exercise ensures approx. 30 g of carbohydrates. In addition to optimizing hydration (water and mineral salts), something that I will explain in another article.
- In order to meet the carbohydrate intakes when they are 60 g, in addition to the 500 ml of drink mentioned above, we must introduce some more supplement, such as a gel or a bar, which will provide us with approx. between 25 g of a gel (Energy gel) and 31 – 35 g of a bar (Energy bar).
- In order to reach 90g, we must maintain the intakes of the 500 ml of drink, but we already have to include 2 units of the products mentioned above, either alone or combined, that is, 2 gels or bars or combine one of each.
- If you want to exceed those 90 g, you would have to introduce one more unit of those mentioned above, which can be combined freely, but the most common thing to avoid overloading the stomach, etc. is to introduce more gels than bars.
RELATED VIDEOS
Crown training channel, where you can find videos explaining all this: https://crownsportnutrition.com/formacion/
Video with Youtuber Daniel Race, explaining how many carbohydrates we have to take:
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Energy gel with carbohydrates, amino acids and electrolytes. Version with and without caffeine.
