Anyone ever use the stuff successfully in their liquid on hot days? It’s suppossed to help your body retain hydration.
I’ve only ever seen the stuff on cosmetic products. Where/what do you get for endurance events?
I have hear some ultra runners in the desert use it.
I’ve heard some pro’s use it at IMHI and other IM’s.
Anyone ever use the stuff successfully in their liquid on hot days? It’s suppossed to help your body retain hydration.
I’ve only ever seen the stuff on cosmetic products. Where/what do you get for endurance events?
Isn’t that the stuff in Power Bars, etc., for texture?
I used it 3 times last year. Twice in training and once in a race. The first time in training I used a rich ratio and had some stomach issues and a bigtime headache, which is a known side-effect. The second time I mixed it leaner and had a good experience on a very hot day. I used the lean ratio for an Oly race on July and again felt very good during the race.
I can’t say for sure it was a placebo effect on the good days. Although with the bad experience first time I wasn’t expecting good things.
Tim
Anyone ever use the stuff successfully in their liquid on hot days? It’s suppossed to help your body retain hydration.
I’ve only ever seen the stuff on cosmetic products. Where/what do you get for endurance events?
A decade ago when I was a bike racer, I used it on two occasions. The first was in training; a very hot day, about 50 miles. Worked like a charm: managed to ride with only two bottles, didn’t need to pee, felt great. So I used it for a 52 mile road race a bit later that summer. Problem was that it turned out to be a rainy day, and the start was delayed. My body started to get rid of all that excess water, and I was peeing like every five minutes before the race.
No gastric issues for me on either occasion. The protocol was to drink about 60oz starting about an hour or so before the event, not during the event.
Used to be (maybe still is?) a product called “XLR8” whose main component was glycerol. Used it for a while but could not honestly say there was a difference, but there is quite a bit of evidence around suggesting there might be some usefulness to it.
you don’t need it, it’s a claim with little medical evidence to support it along with the other billions of dollars worth of “nutritional supplements” than do nothing to enhance your performance. sorry
****Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2002 Mar;12(1):105-19. ****
The effect of glycerol hyperhydration on olympic distance triathlon performance in high ambient temperatures.
Coutts A, Reaburn P, Mummery K, Holmes M.
School of Health and Human Performance at Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of prior glycerol loading on competitive Olympic distance triathlon performance (ODT) in high ambient temperatures. Ten (3 female and 7 male) well-trained triathletes (VO2max = 58.4 +/- 2.4ml kg(-1) min(-1); bestODTtime = 131.5 +/- 2.6 min) completed 2 ODTs (1.5-km swim, 40-km bicycle, 10-km run) in a randomly assigned (placebo/ glycerol) double-blind study conducted 2 weeks apart. The wet-bulb globe temperature (outdoors) was 30.5 +/- 0.5 degrees C (relative humidity: 46.3 +/- 1.1%; hot) and 25.4 +/- 0.2 degrees C (relative humidity: 51.7 +/- 2.4%; warm) for day 1 and day 2, respectively. The glycerol solution consisted of 1.2 g of glycerol per kilogram of body mass (BM) and 25 ml of a 0.75 g x kg(-1) BM carbohydrate solution (Gatorade) and was consumed over a 60-min period, 2 hours prior to each ODT. Measures of performance (ODT time), fluid retention, urine output, blood plasma volume changes, and sweat loss were obtained prior to and during the ODT in both the glycerol and placebo conditions. Following glycerol loading, the increase in ODT completion time between the hot and warm conditions was significantly less than the placebo group (placebo 11:40 min vs. glycerol 1:47 min; p < .05). The majority of the performance improvement occurred during the final 10-km run leg of ODT on the hot day. Hyperhydration occurred as a consequence of a reduced diuresis (p < .05) and a subsequent increase in fluid retention (p < .05). No significant differences were observed in sweat loss between the glycerol and placebo conditions. Plasma volume expansion during the loading period was significantly greater (p < .05) on the hot day when glycerol appeared to attenuate the performance decrement in the heat. The present results suggest that glycerol hyperhydration prior to ODT in high ambient temperatures may provide some protection against the negative performance effects of competing in the heat.
(edit to add citation; there are studies also which show no benefit)
<u>Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol.</u> 1999 Oct;80(5):494-501.
Glycerol hyperhydration improves cycle time trial performance in hot humid conditions.
Hitchins S, Martin DT, Burke L, Yates K, Fallon K, Hahn A, Dobson GP.
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia. sam.hitchins@jcu.edu.au
Eight competitive cyclists undertook two 60-min cycle ergometer time trials at 32 degrees C and 60% relative humidity. The time trials were split into two 30-min phases: a fixed-workload phase and a variable-workload phase. Each trial was preceded by ingestion of either a glycerol solution or a placebo of equal volume (the diluted CHO-electrolyte drink). The total fluid intake in each trial was 22 ml x kg(-1) BM. A repeated-measures, double blind, cross over design with respect to glycerol was employed. Glycerol ingestion expanded body water by approximately 600 ml over the placebo treatment. Glycerol treatment significantly increased performance by 5% compared with the placebo group, as assessed by total work in the variable-workload phase (P < 0.04). There were no significant differences in rectal temperature, sweat rate or cardiac frequency between trials. Data indicate that the glycerol-induced performance increase did not result from plasma volume expansion and subsequently lower core temperature or lower cardiac frequencies at a given power output as previously proposed. However, during the glycerol trial, subjects maintained a higher power output without increased perception of effort or thermal strain.
I also understands it causes hyperhydration, which would help in the heat. I experimented with some stuff about 3 years ago but I took it undiluted (very small amount) and ended up calling the poison hotline - they told me that it would not kill me or even make me sick (since it was made from rose pedal extract), but it sure scared my pants off.
Any safe products out there?