• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

Sugar before max attempt?

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
T

TRITON

THere Are NO limits!!!
Jun 12, 2002
224
4
0
40
In the recent years at competitions i've seem some people take honey just prior to their performance, and among the competitors i'm talking about are some of top in the world in DYN.Does this really have a "boosting" effect on the muscles as it increases one's glucose level and provides more energy when it's needed , in the anerobic phase of the dive.Has anybody experimented with such a thing or has some experience to share?
 
Reactions: jimy286
Taking sugar or a sugary drink right before a max has been a common practice since around 2001. The benefits are quite scientific -- increased respiratory quotient, i.e. burning of carbohydrates rather than fat is 10% more efficient, as well as providing more energy to the brain.

The difference can be easily shown by doing an apnea with an oximeter, then taking sugar and doing it again.
 
RQ(respiratory quotient) = CO2 produced / O2 consumed, so it means that o2 consumed decreases when taking sugar before apnea?
 
So, would that imply that a small amount of sugar intake, apple juice etc, before doing static tables would be beneficial to the times of the holds as well?
 
Taking sugar, you will produce more CO2 and burn less O2. So the contractions may be harder to hold.

Mandy Cruickshank used to drink gatorade just before her WR static attempts. I also used to drink powerade/gatorade right before getting into the water during my WR attempts in 2001. I eventually tried honey water, but that introduces other effects (H2O2).
 
efattah said:
I eventually tried honey water, but that introduces other effects (H2O2).
Click to expand...

If I understand well, honey water is more prone to induce oxidative stress than other sources of sugar? Is there a rationale for such an effect?
 
If you mix honey with water and leave it for a few hours it produces hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Hydrogen peroxide can have very beneficial effects on apnea but it also has other side effects such as oxidative stress and the destruction of myoglobin.
 
So ...the conclusion would be not to take anything sugary as it has some benefits but also some downsides..?
 
Drinking gatorade or powerade is good, and eating pure honey is also good. Drinking a honey drink, however, is more complicated.
 
My first 150m DNF was after eating approx 250 gr of honey, approx 2 hours before attemt. I had very mild contractions if any, countrary to another dive attempts. Eating honey was not intended to improve my dive, but I guess it helped. Have to try more times .
 
Perhaps Michal had only mild contractions because of the 'dampening field' ;-)
 
Mullins said:
250 grams!!!!
Click to expand...
yes, that was my biggest portion of honey ever. I was helping my father to put honey into jars and had to lick a lot of honey from wooden bar. Than I went to public swimming pool with my cousin, told him how to make safety and Tried. A forgot a nose clip so I tried without it and made my PB .
 
I used to do a very physical competitive sport as a teenager and tried eating a Mars bar & glucose tablets shortly before an event a couple of times. First time, around 10 minutes before the event it provided a noticeable boost but second time I took it too early & ended up feeling sluggish. I think it spikes your insulin. So short term boost but medium term it seemed to have an adverse affect. I did triathlons some years later & tried Gatorade but found it really messed me up (gastric stress I think they call it) so tended to stick to with water. Apple cytomax seemed ok though (a friend also discovered apple cytomax independently of me & came to a similar conclusion).
 
Couldnt sugary treats before your dive speed up your heart rate and mess up your dive? What if you had a Red Bull or something before your dive?
 
aquaholic21 said:
Couldnt sugary treats before your dive speed up your heart rate and mess up your dive? What if you had a Red Bull or something before your dive?
Click to expand...


Red Bull probably would sped up the heart rate because it has caffeine in it, but I've tried small amounts of apple juice lately and it doesn't seem detrimental to the hold, or appear to increase the severity of the contractions, but that could be because I'm only ingesting a small amount of juice prior to apnea, or even because I'm more or less a beginner and only at 2:30 max anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…