Sports drinks are everywhere.
They are advertised at every opportunity: in your local supermarket, in your gym (but not your Conditioning Centre!) - and on a lot of the advertisements there will be a well known athlete that will be pictured using the product.
Wayne Rooney was the "face" of Pepsi for a while. It is questionable whether he drinks it or not and there is no question regarding whether he will get any physiological gain from drinking it when it comes to playing football.
This is the current captain of the England football team on the front of the can of Pepsi! It may not mislead adults, but children will be easily swayed towards drinking more Pepsi because of such a sports person being on the front of it.
Lucozade is an energy drink that is marketed at people who want to have a sports drink for their training session.
The most recent sports figure I can recall on the front of a Lucozade campaign is Mo Farah, the current Olympic, World and European champion in the 5,000 meters to 10,000 meters long distance running.
While there may be certain times that Mr Farah may drink a Lucozade, it is all relative to the amount of training that he does. High level athletes can train anywhere up to 4 times per day at a very high intensity.
During this time they will burn a huge amount of calories, and the times that he may consume a sports drink would be planned out so it only benefits his training.
If you are going to run a marathon, a sports energy drink could be consumed around the 20th mile to replenish your blood glucose levels and give you energy to complete the full 26 and a bit miles.
However, if you are trying to lose body fat and gain muscle tone, you want to stay away from sports drinks and prolonged exercise, and keep your sessions short and intense.
A lot of energy drinks are high in sugar, and some even have high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in them, which are both ideal for storing fat.
Both sugar and HFCS negatively impact your blood glucose levels which will stop your body from burning fat. Lucozade holds around 60 grams of sugar per bottle; sports drinks with high carbohydrate levels can reduce your sensitivity to insulin and if consumed in large doses, may increase your risk of developing diabetes.
Can you imagine putting 4 TABLESPOONS of sugar in your water? Thats what you are doing with Lucozade!
As well as having high amounts of sugar added to them, sports drinks can also contain ingredients that are undesirable before training, or when your goal is to boost your energy levels.
The best option to go for before a workout is a black coffee with no added sugar. This will help to boost your energy levels and also increase the likelihood that you will burn fat for energy.
