Tekno Fuel Sports Drinks

General information

The best simple energy drink at an un-beatable price is back.

If you are new to Tekno Fuel our philosophy is very simple. We provide you with the building blocks to create your own sports drink to meet your individual needs. There are no additives just a pure energy drink, no colouring no flavour and no aspartame . This means there are no un-necessary additives and it gives you the flexibility to alter the concentration of your sports drink to meet the needs of each individual training session or race. The most recent research indicated that you should look carefully at each training session ans assess the nutritional needs for that session and alter your sports drink accordingly. With Tekno Fuel that is easy, simply adjust the concentration of your drink then add any flavour you want. This is not possibly with most of our competitors as altering the concentration also alters the flavour making it un-drinkable.

During prolonged exercise the main fuels for skeletal muscles are fat and carbohydrate. The relative contribution of each fuel is dependent on exercise intensity, with carbohydrate being more prominent as exercise intensity increases and thus more important in nearly all sporting contexts. Unfortunately the body’s storage capacity for carbohydrate is limited and research has clearly shown the ingesting carbohydrate prior, during and post exercise can make a significant improvement in performance, enabling you to go faster for longer. Even for high intensity exercise of less than 1 hour appropriate carbohydrate ingestion will improve performance.
More recently research has shown that your approach to sports nutrition should be individual, dictated by your training regime and structure and therefore there cannot be a 'one size fits all' approach. It is for this reason we created the Tekno Fuel where you have the flexibility to adapt your sports nutrition strategy to meet your specific needs for every phase of your competitive programme. Consuming more nutritional products is not always better and could reduce performance and cause weight gain. Instead you should look carefully at the nutritional demands of every individual training session or race and design your nutritional support appropriately.
Before Exercise
Research clearly shows that optimal performance occurs when muscle and liver glycogen (carbohydrate storage) is as full as possible. This is best achieved by consuming a high carbohydrate meal about 4h prior to exercise followed by small regular amounts of liquid carbohydrate (Tekno Fuel) in the lead up to exercise. By using Tekno Fuel in the lead up to exercise you can ensure that you start your training or race with optimal hydration and carbohydrate storage. It is generally recommended that you consume at least 500ml of fluid in the 2-3h prior to exercise and by combining up to 40g of Tekno Fuel this will ensure you are nutritionally ready for your exercise.
During Exercise
Current recommendations for prolonged exercise (2-3h) are to consume carbohydrates at a rate of 60 g.h-1 as this results in maximal uptake and use of ingested carbohydrate. Slightly higher rates of carbohydrate oxidation are possible if multiple carbohydrates are used (eg maltodextrin and fructose) increasing the maximal rate to 90 g.h-1.
Generally there is a dose response effect between carbohydrate ingestion rate and improvement in performance, the more you consume the better. However ultimately there is a ceiling and if you are using just maltodextrin the maximum occurs at around 60-70g.h-1. Therefore ingesting at a significantly higher rate than this does not seem to confer any additional performance gain, and may in fact harm performance.
During exercise you should consume Tekno Fuel at regular intervals, drinking small amounts at least every 10 minutes. During races and hard training you should aim for at least one 750ml bottle every hour. Remember you can add your own flavour once you have mixed up the correct concentration of carbohydrate.
Effect of temperature
As the external temperature rises hydration becomes a more significant limiting factor for your performance. Therefore you should adjust the concentration of your sports drink to compensate and assist fluid uptake. Equally in cold conditions you can increase the carbohydrate concentration in your drink as hydration is less of an issue. This is where Tekno Fuel has a significant advantage over our competitors as altering the concentration is very easy and does not affect the flavour as you add your flavouring after you have mixed the correct carbohydrate concentration. Below we have created a table to guide you on altering the concentration depending on the external temperature. Remember the goal still should be to consume about 60g.h-1
Temperature (0C) Teknofuel per Litre (g) Teknofuel per 750ml (g) Teknofuel per 500ml (g)
0 150 110 75
5 140 105 70
10 120 90 60
15 100 75 50
20 80 60 40
25+ 50 38 25
Note: these values represent maximum recommended concentrations. One heaped desert spoon equals 20g approx.

After Exercise
Physiologically the body is best at restoring glycogen stores in the hour immediately after exercise. Therefore it will aid your recovery if you have a bottle of Tekno Fuel ready at the end of your exercise to help replenish the fluid and fuel you have consumed during exercise. In terms of fluid it is recommended that you consume a volume of fluid equivalent to 125-150% of the deficit over the first 4-6 hours of recovery. In terms of carbohydrate replacement the recommended rate of carbohydrate intake id 1g.kg.-1h-1. It has also been shown that the addition of a small amount of whey protein will also aid the recovery process. This is where the Tekno Fuel System has an advantage over our competitors as you can create your own recovery drink to meet your own individual needs. It is important to note that it can take up to 24h to normalise depleted fuel stores even if you provide optimal nutrition.
References
Cole & Mitchell(2012) Nutritional Considerations for optimal cycling performance. IN Performance Cycling, The Science of Success. Hopker & Jobson (Eds)
Cermak & van Loon (2013) The use of carbohydrates during exercise as an ergogenic aid. Sports Medicine