gatorade is like organic food, compared to this stuff.
qwert

Your sarcasm doesn't make your argument any stronger. Nobody here has denied that you need electrolytes. However the VAST majority of people do not have an electrolyte deficiency. At least with regard to sodium chloride, the typical diet includes excessive amounts.

Thus drinking a sports drink loaded with electrolytes is normally unecessary. You statement that as a rule your should drink sports drinks when you undertake sustained excersize is ridiculous.

I wont deny that sometimes you DO need electrolyte replacement. But it is much better to listen to your body than rely on some arbitrary rule.

It is funny how there are more and more sport drinks and sport foods available these days yet people are more unhealthy (weight wise) than ever. A healthy diet and plenty of water IS perfectly fine for sport performance.

I didn't say my sarcasm would make my argument any stronger. Where the Hell did you get that notion?

Anyways, yeah, you get electrolytes from eating food, as Reno has pointed out, but the rate at which you lose those electrolytes through sweat is incredible, especially if your pushing hard on an 8-miler in 90 degree weather with 90% humidity; your body may have stored electrolytes from food, but they are also being used up at a constant rate because you are always using your muscles (breathing: think ribs, diaphragm; heart: think beating and blood circulation; moving about the house; sustaining the muscles you have when you're not working out; pissing and s---; etc.).

As I have said before, and because I don't want to repeat myself, look at the first post I made in this thread. I refer the reader to what liquids should be consumed depending on time spent on exertion. I made a mistake in not pointing out that the level of exertion should be taken into account as well. I talking about 75-100% of your Lactic Acid Threshold (LAC). LAC is the point where your body is removing lactic acid at the same rate your body is creating it; those who use this number most are cyclists and runners. At about 85% LAC, your exertion is pretty high up there so a proper sports drink is required for the refueling of carbs, sodium, and potassium.

Listen, do what you want, but if you're on some big wall and you're sweating your balls off or if you're trying to send that problem and you're exerting a lot of energy, don't blame me if you get light headed or you wake up the next morning and your muscles become very weak and start to cramp and your body feels like it's been hit by a bus. You didn't give your body the nutrients it needed.

probably none. but you won't puke so hard in the parking lot after the retreat approach. and the usual third day big wall hallucination might get toned down a bit.

what i'm saying is I don't think it matters measured in climbing grades. but you wont have that pounding headache when it's your turn to belay.

your body may have stored electrolytes from food, but they are also being used up at a constant rate because you are always using your muscles (breathing: think ribs, diaphragm; heart: think beating and blood circulation; moving about the house; sustaining the muscles you have when you're not working out; pissing and shitting; etc.).

acutally i read an article not so long ago about marathon runners whose dehydration got worse after drinking only water after finishing the run. they just didnt have enough electrolytes in their system and just dilluted them further.

dehydration is a medical condition that can be caused by either too little water in the system, to little electrolytes or both.

Double post.

At about 85% LAC, your exertion is pretty high up there so a proper sports drink is required for the refueling of carbs, sodium, and potassium.

This is a ridiculously broad statement. So a few generations ago when 'sports' drinks weren't around people couldn't operate at 85% LAC?? So a healthy diet, or even a snack after excise doesn't refuel carbs, sodium and potassium? s--- I wonder how we survived before Gatorade(TM) came on the scene.

There are numerous other equalling good ways of staying healthy and excersizing without buying into the sport drink fad.

One more point to note. I hardly think electrolytes are 'used up' in your muscles. I worry about the quality of your biology degree if you think that.

Well, the ribs are not muscles, but I see the point you're trying to make. But it's wrong.

The stores of electrolytes, in addition to normal daily food intake, are far more than you'll lose in a typical workout. That having been said, there's nothing WRONG, per se, with consuming Gatorade or other sports drinks during long endurance high energy workouts (i.e. marathon.) Nobody is saying "Don't do it!!!!1" Just saying that it ain't necessary.

Double post.

One more point to note. I hardly think electrolytes are 'used up' in your muscles. I worry about the quality of your biology degree if you think that.

funny, i got the email, climcked on it and visited the thread in time to get another email for the second of your double post. :D

You can get emails on when a thread is replied to?

yea... i thought that was how everyone had it, when someone replies to a thread that I've posted to I get an email with a link telling me so.

Hey I just saw your comment on a Devil's Lake picture of Upper D. You climb there a lot? That's my home crag, I'm suburbs of Chicago, how about yourself? Upper D is probably my favorite lead there...a really fun route.

Your body is mostly water, not Gatorade. 8^)

Doesn't sugar inhibit water absorbsion? Any drink that's more than 7% sugar is actually harming your body's ability to absorb water. That's what I've read.

Considering the number of people whose only fluid consumption is sugary drinks I think it is still very possible to get your water requirements from sugary drinks.

Unfortunately, popularity doesn't change fiction to fact. In other words, it doesn't matter how many people don't follow good nutritional or water consumption practices. If the science that I put forth is true, then a lot of people are perhaps in a constant of some level of dehydration.

BTW, loved the "word" bit. :wink: