With indoor cycling on the rise lately, workouts and especially races become much harder than they used to be. To even stay in contention, you need to push watts unimaginable a few years ago.
Harder races lead to higher energy requirements, which must be reflected in your nutrition before, during and after the indoor cycling session. Long gone are the days when you could sit on a bike and ride for an hour or two without energy and especially fluid intake.
Taking care of proper nutrition during a workout is an easy task if you know what you need. We’re here to help you with just that. We will introduce you to all the products that make sense to use when cycling indoors and are proven to make a difference.
Zero Drink
First and foremost, you need to take care of hydration. Cycling indoors makes you sweat much more than outside, even if you take good care of ventilation. Fans can simulate the wind only so much, so a higher rate of sweating is expected.
Through sweat, you are losing electrolytes. They are crucial for maintaining mineral balance in your body, which helps with being properly hydrated.
If you are drinking only water, your hydration is not optimal. Electrolyte intake is crucial during indoor cycling sessions when the sweat rates are high. That’s why Zero Drink should be one of your main choices during every indoor workout. You can make it through without energy intake, but you should replace the electrolytes you are losing.
What makes Zero Drink the best choice is the Nduranz Electrolyte Mix. It contains only the minerals you lose in sweat and, crucially, in the ratio in which you lose them. This prevents you from over-absorbing any of the minerals that could cause digestive problems.
Nrgy Unit Gel
If you are doing longer workouts, you need to start thinking about energy intake. It is usually advisable to start adding energy if the exercise is longer than 90 minutes, but you can do it earlier if the workout is more intense.
Energy gels, such as Nrgy Unit Gel, are still the most convenient form of energy intake. In a matter of seconds, you intake 45 grams of carbohydrates, which helps you ‘survive’ longer workouts.
For the longest and most intense workouts, an intake of up to 90 grams of CHO is recommended. Nrgy Unit Gel allows you to do just that, and the 1:0.8 ratio of glucose to fructose ensures that you don't experience digestive issues, which is a common problem with higher CHO intakes.
Sodium bicarbonate
If you ask Dr. Tim Podlogar, sodium bicarbonate is one of the most underappreciated supplements. That started to change lately, but many athletes still don’t know the positive effects of it.
The greatest effect of sodium bicarbonate is felt during high-intensity exercise. Indoor cycling consists almost entirely of a sequence of intense intervals, which means that sodium bicarbonate is extremely effective here.
Let’s look at the science behind it.
The power of sodium bicarbonate is in the bicarbonate molecule. During training, the concentration of metabolites, including hydrogen, changes, lowering the pH and creating an acidic environment.
Bicarbonate binds to hydrogen protons to create water and CO2. The latter is exhaled, and the water is used for other purposes, but a key consequence of the process is the maintenance of a higher (more normal) pH environment during exercise.
The biggest problem the sodium bicarbonate has is the taste. It doesn’t taste that good, so taking it as a powder is not recommended. That’s why we’re offering sodium bicarbonate in the form of capsules, which are easier to consume without tasting them.
If you are planning to use sodium bicarbonate, it’s advised to follow the intake protocol in order to avoid digestive issues. We prepared it for you, and you can find it here.
Nrgy Unit Drink Buffer
When you are ready to take it a step further with sodium bicarbonate, you can combine sodium bicarbonate in capsules with Nrgy Unit Drink Buffer.
One of the most unique energy drinks out there combines carbohydrates and sodium bicarbonate. Carbs take care of energy intake, while sodium bicarbonate helps with the maintenance of a higher pH environment in muscles.
This allows you to maintain a high level of energy even during longer workouts while making it easier to get through short, intense intervals like sprints or climbs up shorter hills.
Again, drinking Nrgy Unit Drink Buffer without a plan can have negative consequences. To avoid digestive issues, it is necessary to follow the sodium bicarbonate ingestion protocol to ensure that the stomach becomes adapted to it.
Regen
When it comes to recovery, indoor cycling doesn’t change much from outdoor riding. After the workout, you must take care of your body with certain nutrients.
Firstly you must replenish energy stores. Now, if the workout is shorter than 90 minutes, chances are you didn’t completely deplete energy stores, so the need for carbohydrates is lower. That’s when we recommend Regen Lite, as it offers a lower dose of carbs with all the other essential nutrients.
Secondly, you need to repair the muscles that break down during the workout. You need the proteins for that. But in order for muscles to successfully repair, you need to consume a recovery drink within 30 minutes after a workout when the body is the most susceptible to absorption.
And last but not least, you need to intake electrolytes. You lose a lot of them during indoor cycling sessions, so you finish slightly dehydrated. With electrolyte intake, you give your body everything it needs to rehydrate and prepare for the next workout.
All the nutrients you need are part of the Regen recovery drink, which ensures optimal recovery and prepares you for your next workout.