Endurance athletes have long used carbohydrate supplementation (CHO) to enhance their performance. Recently, however, the market for these supplements has shifted from beverages to highly concentrated energy gels. Athletes consider the gels a more convenient means of carrying energy during competition but little research exists about the effects these gels have and at what frequency they should be ingested.
A new study from Kinesiology Professor Karl F. Kozlowski, PhD, is changing that.
Kozlowski’s research reveals that while manufacturers’ suggested ingestion schedules are sufficient for exercise of less than two hours, they don’t ensure optimal performance through the end of a lengthy training or competition session. Instead, Kozlowski’s findings show that athletes benefit most when they take an energy gel every 30 to 45 minutes, during training or competition of two hours or more.
“To maintain blood glucose levels and optimize performance, it appears more beneficial to ingest energy gel packets more frequently than the manufacturer’s current recommendations,” Kozlowski says. “The maintenance of blood glucose levels demonstrated by this feeding schedule helps preserve muscle glycogen and thus improve the athlete’s performance during the final stages of competition or training.”
Kozlowski’s findings are published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. His collaborators include April Ferrentino-DePriest and Frank Cerny, from the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
