Lollies for better lifting performance?

Lollies for better lifting performance?

2 min read

Yes you read that right.  Lollies - well more accurately gummy lollies - can aid lifting performance. Now before you run out and eat an entire bag of Killer Pythons, let's look at why....   

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During training your body uses up glycogen stores from within the muscles (glycogen is stored up sugars your body uses for energy). Once all these glycogen stores are depleted, you can’t perform at your usual 100% and you will begin to feel tired. This sap in energy will drop your performance.

To stop that from happening too soon, and actually increase your overall length and intensity of training, you want to give your body an immediate energy source for the training session with equipment in the gym at hand and one of the best ways to do that is with dextrose. Now it just so happens lollies like gummy bears are almost entirely dextrose. :)  Dextrose is what is called a simple sugar and known as high glycaemic. This means it will increase blood glucose levels rapidly which is exactly what you need in order to fuel those tough training sessions and improve performance. And don’t worry about unwanted fat gain - when consumed during training, your body will very efficiently use up the sugars. Try aiming to consume around 20g to 50g of sugar during training and around 20g to 50g after training, alongside a good source of protein in order to aid training performance, recovery and muscle growth. This will be a little trial and error based on body type, muscle mass and goals but is a good starting point for most people. This article was written by Ryan Pagel, a fully qualified personal trainer and owner and founder of Fiction Physiques - a business catered to providing personalised programs for performance and body composition goals.