It seems everywhere you look there's a new type of sports drink on the market, but what sports drinks are best for high-performance athletes who participate in intense training? Whether you're a weightlifter, marathon runner or team sports athlete, the overabundance of sports drink choices can be confusing, so let's take a look at what your sports performance beverage should give you to help you train your best.
Your sports drink should give your body the energy it requires to power through your workout routine, and we're not talking about the artificial energy burst you get from so-called energy drinks.
Energy drinks contain high amounts of caffeine, sugar from unnatural sources and other chemical ingredients that may give you a quick energy burst, but in most cases, these energy drinks will result in a sugar crash, lack of mental focus and may overstimulate rather than provide consistent energy during your workout.
Your sports performance beverage should contain natural carbohydrates without an overdose of unnatural sugar. TapouT Citrus Kick gives you 120 calories that your body can easily convert into energy while relying on natural sugar and natural flavors for great taste.
When reading the label of sports drinks, many athletes don't pay attention to the sodium content, or choose a low-sodium sports drink because they've been taught that salt is unhealthy. However, natural sodium in a very important key to proper hydration.
Good sodium levels in your body allow your system to properly retain and distribute fluids during activity. Sodium regulates the fluids in the cells in every single tissue in your body. Without sodium in your system, a large portion of the fluids you ingest will simply pass through your body without being utilized. This can result in quick dehydration, and, if you deplete your sodium to dangerous levels, you run the risk of experiencing hyponatremia. Athletes are most at risk for hyponatremia when they consume too much water and sweat out their body's store of sodium. This condition can cause seizures, mental fatigue, a high fever and even death.
When choosing a sports performance drink, make sure that it provides your body with the natural sodium it requires to stave off dehydration. All flavors of TapouT sports drinks contain 240mg of natural sodium to assist your body in proper fluid usage.
Electrolytes are essential for muscle performance during exercise and need to be replenished after a difficult workout, and many sports performance beverages claim they are full of electrolytes. Make sure that the sports drink you choose contains all four electrolytes. The four essential electrolytes are:
- Potassium
- Magnesium
- Calcium
- Chloride
While many major brands announce their sports drink contains plenty of potassium and magnesium to aid in recovery after a workout, most don't give you the calcium and chloride your muscles, heart and nervous system crave after training. All three flavors of TapouT contain all four electrolytes to give your body all of the electrolytes it needs before, during and after your weightlifting or running sessions.
Most athletes don't even consider vitamins when choosing a sports drink before or after a workout, but when you sweat you lose more than fluids and electrolytes. Vitamins keep our minds sharp, boost our immune systems and can be a source of energy. Some major sports drinks do contain B vitamins, but it's rare to see a sports performance beverage that contains a wider range of vitamins to boost more than just your physical performance. TapouT has been formulated with vitamins that help boost your mental performance, focus and muscles. Every bottle of TapouT contains vitamins A, C, E, B2, B3, B5, B6 and B12.
When you're done with a strenuous weightlifting session, you want something that tastes great and is easy to drink. You don't want to add mixing a powdered sports drink to your pre-run routine or try to calculate one serving out of a giant bottle. You want something, cold, ready and refreshing.
Every bottle of TapouT contains one serving with a formulated mix of vitamins, sodium and electrolytes for recovery and performance. There are no powders to mix and no math to do to figure out serving sizes. It's ready when you are.
TapouT also comes in three tasty flavors. Our regular Citrus Kick flavor contains 120 calories for energy, but if you're looking for a tasty beverage for recovery days, our Wild Orange and Cherry Lemonade Blast contain all of the same vitamins and electrolytes with zero-sugar and only 10 calories. All three flavors of TapouT are made with natural flavors and contain no artificial preservatives.
If you're searching for the best sports performance beverage for weightlifting, running or any other serious athletic training, you'll want to make sure that it has everything you need for the best performance and recovery. Out of all the major sports drinks on the market, only TapouT has the sodium, vitamins, electrolytes and great taste to help you train at peak levels and fully recover after physical exertion.