Energy gels: how to use them to maximize your performance?
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In this article, we will look at how an energy gel or other carbohydrate supplement works, and help you understand how often they should be used to maximize your performance and energy on race day.
Before getting to the heart of the matter, let’s remember the golden rule of sports nutrition: never test new products during an event. Use your training sessions to see how your body reacts to the different products you use and find the ideal timing for consuming them.
How does an energy gel work?
Your body uses two sources of energy to fuel your muscles when you run: fats and carbohydrates. Fats are abundant, but they must be converted before your muscles can use them: this process takes time, making fat a very inefficient energy source when you run faster than a pace equivalent to 60–70% of your VO2max.
Therefore, during intense physical exertion, your body gets its energy mainly from carbohydrates. The harder the effort, the greater the proportion of energy generated from carbohydrates. The problem is that we can store only a limited amount of carbohydrates in our muscles: the equivalent of 90 minutes of running at a typical pace. Without an external supply, you will therefore deplete your muscle carbohydrate stores well before the end of your effort.
This is where energy gels come in: they are designed to replenish your carbohydrate energy stores that are depleted during exercise. However, the carbohydrates consumed through gels do not always reach the muscles. They are still very useful, and we will now see why.
There are many types of energy gels: some are liquid, while others are more consistent.
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Why use energy gels?
Carbohydrates are stored in the muscles and circulate through the blood. Your performance during exercise relies on your muscle carbohydrate stores. For carbohydrates to reach the muscles, they must be digested, cross the intestinal wall, and finally be absorbed by the muscles. This process takes time and is not very efficient.
However, the boost provided by energy gels is real and very noticeable. This is mainly because our brain obtains carbohydrates exclusively through the bloodstream. The more glucose the muscles absorb, the less the brain receives, and you feel fatigued—for example, over long distances or if you have not eaten properly beforehand. Energy gels give you a boost and help your mind feel alert, but they will not necessarily protect you from the feeling of fatigue in your legs. To avoid this, you should pay particular attention to the timing and frequency of their use.
When should you consume an energy gel?
As is often the case with sports nutrition, timing is very personal : each runner absorbs and uses carbohydrates at a different rate: some feel the effects of an energy gel just a few minutes after taking it, while others need fifteen minutes.
Most of this variation is due to the way your stomach reacts to the gel. During intense physical exertion, your body tends to divert blood flow away from your stomach to help your legs continue their effort. Depending on the intensity and circumstances, this can range from a slowdown to an almost complete halt. This is why athletes often vomit the liquids or gels they consume at the end of an effort. There are lightly salted energy gels whose hint of salt helps counter the sweetness overload—and they are especially tasty! (Clif , GU, Mulebar, Meltonic,...)
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To avoid this uncomfortable situation, the key is to start planning ahead, before it is too late. At the beginning of a race, before the effort required of your body becomes too demanding, you have a better chance of absorbing carbohydrates quickly and efficiently, without digestive problems. Therefore, taking your first gel after 45 minutes to 1 hour of running seems appropriate. Some runners use an energy gel just before the start of the event: this is a matter of preference, but before a race we would instead recommend a substantial breakfast or an energy cake. This will allow you to build up your reserves without relying exclusively on carbohydrates for several hours in a row.
How often should you consume them?
Remember that digestion slows down, and may even almost stop, as you progress through the race ; you need to be careful not to overload your delicate stomach. We recommend waiting 45 minutes to an hour between each serving for athletes with the most sensitive stomachs.
In addition, waiting 45 minutes to an hour between two servings of energy gel helps prevent overloading your blood with carbohydrates. The sugars in the gel are first absorbed into the bloodstream before reaching the muscles or other organs: the sugar therefore remains in the blood until it is absorbed. So, if you take energy gels too close together, you will meet the same fate as children left alone on Easter Day: becoming ill from too much sugar.
Finally, keep in mind that your digestive system, like most of the mechanisms in our body, can be trained. This is why consuming gels during training, ideally at the same pace and at intervals similar to those at which you consume them during the race, will help your body get used to maintaining digestive activity during exercise : gradually, you will digest the gels more easily. Try different gels and find what works best for you. If classic gels do not agree with you, an energy gel containing water (e.g. High5 Aqua, Maurten,...) may be easier to digest.
A few final tips
After giving you an overall—and hopefully understandable—view of the effects of energy gels on your body, here are a few practical tips to help you use them effectively.
For athletes with sensitive stomachs, here is a little trick to make gels easier to digest: take less, more often. For example, consume a quarter of the gel every twenty minutes. This helps smooth out your carbohydrate intake and makes it easier to digest.
Finally, our last piece of advice, and probably the most important: always take an energy gel with water. Without water, the gel will take longer to digest. You should also avoid drinking an energy drink with the gel, as you may simply consume too much sugar at once.
Ultimately, using energy gels is a balancing act, but once mastered, the performance benefits are significant. Train!
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