Over the past week, I started using Vitargo during and after workouts. Aside from not mixing well, the gas pains and unrelenting flatulence have been awful. I stopped taking it for 3 days and symptoms immediately went away.
Anyone else experience these wonderful side effects? And what are folks taking to get fast-acting carbs during and after workouts? Should I just grab powdered Gatorade?
Ideally, I’d like to pull in 30 grams of carbs with 3 scoops of Xtend during workouts and 30 grams of carbs with 25 grams of whey isolate post workout.
I don’t use carbs these days but when I did it was HBCD and I did not experience any issues. I don’t think there is any other carb of its ilk on the market today in terms of its benefits; and it’s also pretty inexpensive. Gatorade, on the other hand, is pure trash.
What’s wrong with Gatorade? Even experts like Mike Israetel recommend it.
I never tried that stuff because the price is just ridiculous. If you are some sort of endurance athlete then the fast gastric clearance rate and whatever else might be a benefit, but for 99% of the population it’s a waste of time.
I used to drink Xtend mixed with maltodextrin, never had any issues with that. The thing is that BCAAs don’t have any actual benefit unless you aren’t getting enough protein overall, or maybe if you can’t eat for extended periods of time for whatever reason (work for example). Save your money and buy gatorade powder.
Again, at one time I was drinking whey protein with maltodextrin after training. The problem I find with maltodextrin is that it can make your blood sugar crash if you don’t eat for a while because it digests so fast. I don’t have that sort of issue otherwise.
These days I have a slice of bread or two and a banana for carbs after training.
Also, you might be better off with at least 40g of protein after training, unless you are very small. Right after training is when muscle protein synthesis is at its highest, and there are studies showing a significant increase with up to 40g of protein.
Vitargo destroyed my stomach. I always did great with gatorade and whey isolate as recommended by John Berardi years ago when he was on this site.
Plazma worked better but would bother my stomach on occasion.
For me gatorade and a good quality whey isolate works well when not low carbing.
When low carbing Xtend got me through intense workouts but not like the Plazma or gatorade with whey.
Sugar is trash. Gatorade’s primary ingredient is sugar. Ergo, Gatorade is trash.
Seriously though, why not use a superior carbohydrate especially when there is no difference in price?
I could rant on about sugar rotting your teeth, creating unstable energy levels, poor gastric emptying, etc. But here is an abstract from a study which is a bit more convincing.
Seven elite swimmers participated in three trials, conducted in random order. In each trial, the subjects received either HBCD, glucose (1.5 g carbohydrate/kg body weight) or water (as a control), and immediately carried out 10 cycles of intermittent swimming consisting of 5 min of swimming at 75% V O2max followed by 3 min of rest, and subsequent swimming at 90% V O2max to exhaustion. The time to fatigue was about 70% longer in the HBCD trial than that in the glucose and control trials, a significant difference. Plasma glucose in the HBCD group was maintained at higher levels during pre-swimming cycles than that in the glucose or water group. These results suggest that HBCD administration enhances endurance performance.
Like what? All carbs powders are way more expensive except maltodextrin (at least in Canada), which is no better than dextrose. Dextrose is good during training because it’s easy to digest.
OK, but what if you aren’t training for endurance? Also, the flaw with that study is that they consumed all the carbs before swimming, while if you are lifting weights you will normally be taking sips between sets.
I drink watered down gatorade during training mostly because it seems to do a good job of quenching my thirst. I could drink water, but it seems like I end up drinking a lot more of it. It’s probably the electrolytes combined with a bit of carbs that makes a difference.
Also Mike Israetel, doctor, sports scientist, and competitive bodybuilder, recommends gatorade during training (he likes it mixed with whey protein, which I find gross). I would follow his advice over some guy on a forum.
You’re actually right about the main ingredient being sugar, it also has maltodextrin. I haven’t looked at the label in years, they must have changed the ingredients.
But still, HBCD from the cheapest site in Canada - $14.99/lb
Gatorade powder - $5-6/560g
Also the HBCD isn’t flavored so you will probably need to add something to it.
Apology accepted ( I did check the ingredients before I posted).
PS - guys like Dr Scott Stevenson inform my choices when it comes to peri-workout nutrition, not to mention a host of other things. If HBCD is good enough for him and the competitive bodybuilders he trains with, e.g. Meadows, then that’ll do - no offence to Mike I.
I chucked in the swimmers study because I assumed, probably wrongly, that being into sports science, and all that, you may have appreciated the link. Yet to dismiss that in the manner you have shows real lack of insight into HBCD’s application.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with HBCD, it’s just a lot more expensive (here at least) and not necessary.
No, I completely understand HBCD’s application, as well as Vitargo’s. They have some advantages for endurance athletes, but that’s not typically the sort of people posting on T-nation.
I never tried it so I wouldn’t know. I tried waxy maize before and it was kind of like powdered chalk.
Fair enough, mate. Don’t want to keep banging on about it. I’ll end by saying you’ll find it’s the prime ingredient in Biotest’s Plazma, which is meant for folks on here. It’s also in John Meadow’s formula too. And on cost, here in the UK, I can land 1 kilo for about £10-£16. I only used 20-30g at a time, so that went a long way.
It was many years ago, no way I would be able to find it. I believe the idea behind it was to have insulin to just start to rise ( from the fast acting sugar in addition to the benefits of the electrolytes, sodium etc., ) when you take it 10-15 mins preworkout (not much later or you will crash). Once you begin the workout the insulin surge gets blunted from the workout and hence no crash. Not looking to get into a debate over it just offering my experiences. Been training and dieting for 47 years and I know what works and what doesn’t for me regardless of research papers say. And I don’t consider sugar to be that deleterious in small quantities. When you think about it Plazma uses same principles almost but better quality since HBCD’s aren’t supposed to cause a rapid rise in blood sugar and you also have the benefit of their fast acting high quality hydrolysate protein.
To be honest in the end the the Plazma gave me only slightly better results than gatorade and whey.
I wasn’t disagreeing with you at all. I was just curious about the article. I, too, have found benefit in the concept and I’ve always liked Berardi’s pragmatic approach.
I’ve been doing this since returning to tree work. Makes a Big difference with vs. without when I have to sustain high energy output, and also better than just gatorade or just a whey/water shake.
Sorry man didn’t mean to come off that way, I just get paranoid when I see others on these threads arguing so dogmatic lol. And like SkyzkS mentioned my workouts are definitely better with it for the same reasons he mentioned. Sustained high intensity output and great pumps and vascularity. And I don’t want to debate the merits or benefits of the pump lol.