ENDURANCE TRAINING IN FITNESS CLUBS

Whether you’re training for a competition, practising indoor cycling to increase your endurance or using cardio machines because you enjoy it – regular aerobic exercise improves fitness, endurance and performance.

Equipment: exercise bike, rowing machine, treadmill, elliptical trainer, etc.
Classes: indoor cycling, etc.

Before Training:
Ideally, your last large meal should be 2 to 3 hours before training. You can then use an easily digestible energy source such as an energy bar (e.g. Fuel-Up or Performance Bar) just before training, to provide sufficient energy during the session.

During Training:
Endurance training causes enormous fluid loss, so it is essential to drink approximately 1 litre an hour during each session. An isotonic drink provides minerals along with liquid, which help balance these losses. If you want to keep your performance up, your body needs enough energy. The ideal source is carbohydrates – an energy bar is a perfect source of long-lasting energy. A PowerGel provides a fast energy boost.

After Training:
It is important to top up the body’s storage system after training, to regenerate muscles and strengthen the immune system. That means taking in a mixture of carbohydrates and nutritious protein, vitamins and minerals. The best timeto do this is up to 2 hours after your activity. A ProteinPlus Bar or the ProteinPlus Recovery Drink are two effective ways of boosting your system.

Depending on the temperature in the studio, you could lose as much as 1litre of fluid per hour. As well as fluid you will also lose minerals like sodium, potassium and magnesium when you sweat. Compensating for these losses promptly will improve the overall quality of your workout (e.g. with the Performance Sports Drink).

Your performance during training is dependent upon the sustained supply of carbohydrates from your body. Your body gets carbohydrates from your blood and from stores in your muscles and liver (glycogen stores). These stores are limited and once they are used up, the body must look to other sources for its main supply of energy.
Because of this, during longer sessions you should take on extra carbohydrates in a form that is quickly absorbed (e.g. Performance Bar).

When training at high intensity your body will produce more free-radicals, waste products from the production of energy. It is the job of the immune system to get rid of these substances that can have a damaging effect on the body. Anti-oxidant vitamins support the body’s defences and help this process, especially the so-called scavengers, vitamins C and E.

After intensive training, it is important to begin recovery quickly so you can get on with the rest of your busy life. Therefore the body needs fluid to make up losses, carbohydrates to fill up glycogen stores and vitamins for the immune system.

Carbohydrates are chains, consisting of linked molecules of sugar. Different length chains are known by different names and can be found in different foods (as shown by the index inside this leaflet). The body must split the chains to digest the carbohydrates. The speed of digestion and absorption differs depending on numbers of links, short chains are digested more quickly.

Carbohydrates and their effect on blood sugar:

• Glucose is absorbed quickly, causing a rapid rise in blood sugar, the subsequent release of insulin means blood sugar falls quickly too.
• Longer chain carbohydrate, and carbohydrate combined with fibre are absorbed more steadily helping blood sugar level to be more stable.

A mix of different carbohydrates and fibre is best for sport, providing the body with a steady flow of energy (see diagram).