HOW TO FUEL GUIDES

PERFORM AT YOUR BEST IN YOUR SPORT OR EVENT!

WRITTEN BY STEVE BORN

For over 39 years, Hammer Nutrition has been at the forefront of not only providing the finest fuel and nutritional supplements for athletes, active people, and health-conscious individuals, but they are also a clear leader in support and service. As I often say — and this completely echoes Brian’s sentiments from Day One — a company can produce the best possible products, but without top-notch customer service and the high level of guidance needed to maximize the benefits of the products, the user will never get the full value from them.

Specifically in the area of informational support, our knowledge base is unmatched in the supplement/fuel industry. And if the 5 Secrets of Success were all we had to offer, we would still be light years ahead of everyone else in terms of proper upgrading. But there is MUCH more. There is more.

Product Usage Guide

Endurance News Magazine

Endurance News Blog

Hammer FAQs and almost every product page

LOTS of archived articles (EN)

Brian's informative videos

The latest addition to our extensive knowledge base is the How to Fuel Guide, which is a detailed refresher plan for your sport or event. Each article provides specific, actionable advice to help you refresh correctly and feel great, no matter the sport or distance. Currently, 10 different sports/events have their own refresher guide — more coming soon!

At the beginning of each specific upgrade guide, we've included the following basic information, which alone will help you perform better in your chosen sport.

5 SIMPLE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE INSTANTLY

While there are many steps you can (and should) take to optimize your athletic performance, here are a few that are extremely simple. Start doing them right away and you'll see a noticeable, rapid improvement in your endurance and overall workout performance.

1. Stay properly hydrated throughout the day. Since your body is made up of about 60% water, it’s vital to stay optimally hydrated throughout the day. Unfortunately, many people — maybe you too? — live in a state of constant dehydration, which negatively impacts athletic performance and overall health. Starting today, gradually increase your fluid intake — primarily from clean, filtered water — so that your daily fluid intake in milliliters is 30–35 ml/kg of your body weight in kilograms (for example, an 82 kg athlete should consume approximately 2460–2870 ml of fluid per day, in addition to the amount consumed during exercise). Drink 475–770 ml of fluid per hour during exercise.

2. Refresh sparingly. It’s interesting to know how many calories you burn per hour during exercise; however, this number is not really indicative of how many calories your body can absorb from a refresh. The goal of calorie intake is to consume the least amount possible to keep your energy levels where you want and need them, hour after hour. For most athletes, this translates to 2.2 calories per kilogram of body weight per hour, and for most average-sized athletes, 120–180 calories per hour is the ideal “sweet spot.” Larger athletes (200+ lbs.) may need 200 or more calories. And if you find that’s not quite enough, it’s easy to fix — just eat a few more calories. Remember, it's ALWAYS easier to solve a "not enough" problem than a "oops, I overdid it and now my stomach is protesting" problem.

3. Skip the sugar. Most fuels are made up of short-chain carbohydrates, also known as simple sugars (glucose, sucrose, fructose, etc.). Hammer Nutrition fuels do not contain simple sugars; instead, we use maltodextrin, a complex carbohydrate. Both maltodextrin and some simple sugars provide a quick boost to your energy levels, which is a desirable benefit. However, simple sugars — because they are made up of just one or two saccharide molecules — also cause your energy levels to drop almost as quickly. Feeling great for a few minutes and then struggling with a drop in energy levels for minutes — commonly referred to as a “flash and crash” — is not the way to enjoy your winter sport/activity.
   
   In contrast, because maltodextrin is made up of MANY, loosely linked saccharide molecules, it provides fast-acting and much more sustained energy without wild swings in energy levels. Another big advantage of maltodextrin is that your body can digest more calories — without the delay from entering the digestive tract to exiting it — and make them available for energy production. You can efficiently digest up to 3 times more calories with maltodextrin than with any simple sugar, which virtually eliminates stomach upset.

4. Don’t eat 3 hours before training, competitions, or events. By not consuming calories for 3 hours before training or competitions, your body is in the ideal physiological state to utilize its limited muscle glycogen stores as efficiently as possible, while also starting to utilize the vast amount of calories from body fat stores sooner and more efficiently. Apply this practice to every training and competition—even early in the morning—and you will see significant improvements in your endurance in a relatively short period of time. Note: If you absolutely need some calories before your workout, you can consume something easily digestible (like a serving of Hammer Gel) 5–10 minutes before—but not before—the start of your workout.

5. “Refuel” IMMEDIATELY after every workout. Your body wants to reward you for your hard work by boosting your immune system, rebuilding muscle tissue, and storing more minutes of readily available fuel (glycogen) in your muscles. To reap these endurance-boosting benefits, all you need to do is provide your body with the nutrients it needs right away — ideally within the first 30 minutes after your workout (the sooner the better) — with complex carbohydrates and high-quality protein, like those found in Recoverite and Vegan Recoverite .

Many athletes and active people have already benefited significantly from the information and easy-to-follow guidelines in our How to Fuel Guides . Now it's your turn! And remember, we're available via Live Chat, email, and phone if/when you have any questions.

We are Hammer Nutrition, which means we take care of everything:

• High-quality fuels and dietary supplements? Okay!
• 5-star customer support? Okay!
• Unsurpassed sources of knowledge? Okay!