Hi,


here in Brazil a few athletes use food supplement. I use bcaa, carbohidrates, protein and a few aminoacids......and of course electrolyte. In USA, everybody use them ??? or just a few too ???

Most people here use some form of sport electrolyte drink if they're going to be active for a long period of time, but what people eat varies widely... I know a world class triathlete (she qualified for Kona last year but didn't go) who never eats much besides bananas and Rice Krispies cereal on race day and who doesn't take supplements at all, and then there's lots of people who buy all kinds of powders and shakes and so forth. I think it depends on what works for your own body...

sports supplements are one of the leading industries in the US. Amercians will try anything that someones says will make them faster, thinner or have more hair.

As for me I use a daily vitamin. Not one of those that has every herb under the sun but just a regular old vitamin. For training I will take carboom gels and Cliff bars, depending onhow long of the event. The only supplement I will take is an electrolyte capsule when exercising hard for more than 1 1/2 hours. I have found that I require more sodium replacement than I can get from gels, and gatorade.

Ah yes, where would we Americans be without pills... but the ones I'm interested in make you have LESS hair... just kidding.

Mike, do you know of a gel that tastes pretty good (yuk, I've never liked those things) and is caffeine free? Bleah, I can't handle most energy bars either, I'd rather have a Snickers any day...

here is a quick list of some popular gels. I can tell you from experience that power gel sat very heavy in my stomach. Gu didnt seem to help me at all. I'm currently using Car-Boom. Two flavors have caffeine, but the others dont. I like the taste better than anything else I have tried but will caution you on the product. It is made from fruit and the first few times I used it I had some serious stomach issues. it took about a month for me to use it without worry. I now use it on most longer dys and find it able to provide me with half the fuel I need. I use Cliff bars for the other half. Nothing tastes better than the lemmon poppyseed, except maybet he chocolate chip.

Hammer gel is gaining a rather solid reputation, as is e-gel. I have not used either of these products so I cant comment on them.

Clif Shots - 100 cal, 24g carb, 13g sugar, 50mg sodium, 50mg potassium, 5%rdv magnesium, 40mg caffeine (some flavors). Primary carbohydrate from Brown Rice Syrup.

Hammer Gel - 91 cal, 23g carb, 2g sugar, 27mg sodium, Amino Acids (L-Leucine, L-Alanine, L-Valine, L-Isoleucine). Primary carbohydrate from Maltodextrin.

Gu Gel - 100 cal, 25g carb, 3g sugar, 45g sodium, 35g potassium, 20mg caffeine (most flavors), 100% rdv Vitamin C and E, Amino Acids (Leucine and Valine and Histidine). 85% carbs are complex carbohydrates from maltodextrin and 15% are simple carbohydrates from fructose.

Carb-BOOM - 110 cal, 26g carb, 4g sugar, 50mg sodium, 50mg potassium, 50mg caffeine (2 flavors). Maltodextrin is the primary source of complex carbohydrates

Powerbar Power Gel - 110 cal, 28g carb, 6g sugar, 45mg sodium, 45mg potassium, 9mg chloride, 25 mg caffeine (some flavors), 15%rdv Vitamins C & E, Amino Acids (LEUCINE, VALINE, ISOLEUCINE). Maltodextrin is the primary source of complex carbohydrates, with fructose.

Anyone try that gel that accelerade makes? They claim it has a 4:1 ration of carbs and protein. Right now i use Gu and cliffshots, but i wonder if it would be worth it to switch for longer races.