3 Reasons Training with Glycerol in the Heat is Beneficial
Whether you’re an athlete or an avid exerciser, when the temperatures rise, many are forced to deal with the elements when training outdoors in the heat. As if training (itself) isn’t taxing enough, when you toss in the fact that you’re exerting yourself in the heat, it can bring on another set of challenges. For that reason, ensuring you are properly hydrated is an absolute must. If you wanted to take things a step further and prime your body for the work it’s about to do, you should consider training with glycerol when in the heat.
In this article, you will find three main reasons why it would be a good idea to supplement your training with glycerol. While you may have never heard of or even used glycerol in the past, it has the ability to take your outdoor training to another level while helping you train safely in the scorching heat.
What is Glycerol?
First, you may be wondering, “What exactly is glycerol?” Glycerol (also referred to as glycerine) is a naturally occurring chemical and key element of triglycerides while actually itself not being related to a fat. Glycerol from a caloric standpoint contains 4 calories per gram, similar to a protein or a carbohydrate. Glycerol is odorless, colorless, non-toxic, and naturally has a sweet taste to it. You can generally find glycerol in various pre-workout products on the market in a powder form, but it can also be purchased as a straight liquid.
If you are an athlete and curious if you can supplement your training with glycerol or if it is considered a banned substance, the ingredient is allowed for use in athletics according to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Now, let’s dive into the actual benefits of training with glycerol.
-
Enhance Exercise Performance
When training, one area where many would love to see an enhancement is in their overall training performance. Many supplements will either help increase aerobic capacity or anaerobic capacity (not both).
The great thing about training with glycerol is that it has been shown to increase aerobic and anaerobic power output and even increase endurance time by as much as 24%. Due to the increase in energy production through the use of glycerol, you have the ability to push further than what you could without the use of glycerol which can help with exercises such as the squat and deadlift which are really taxing on your central nervous system (CNS).
There are a few studies that looked specifically at cyclists and their performance improvements when training with glycerol. One study showed that supplementing with glycerol pre-workout improved cycling endurance time. Another study, more specific to outdoor temperatures, found that cyclists who were training with glycerol in hot and humid conditions were still able to improve their cycle time trial performance.
-
Better Regulation of Body Temperature
When you exercise, your body is producing heat which then causes you to naturally sweat in order to cool down. When you aren’t properly hydrated, your body can have issues regulating its temperature which can cause your body’s temperature to rise to unhealthy levels – this can especially happen when training in the heat.
Combine the fact that you’re putting forth max effort with your training and add in that the temperature outside where you’re training is hot, creates a less than ideal environment for hydration and body temperature regulation since your body will need to adjust to the ambient temperature outside.
To combat a rise in body temperature and improve its ability to better control it, you can supplement with glycerol. Research has discovered that under hot conditions, you are more prone to extreme sweating but when training with glycerol, you can prevent excess water loss which allows your body to better thermoregulate. The prevention of water loss through training with glycerol as a pre-workout helps reduce the amount of stress put on the body while enhancing thermoregulation in addition to helping you stay hydrated.
-
Hyper-Hydrate the Body
Staying properly hydrated when training not only helps prevent you from getting dehydrated but as you sweat and you lose water and vital electrolytes, it can negatively impact your performance. If you are training out in warm or hot weather, your chance of falling victim to dehydration drastically increases.
You can hyper-hydrate through consuming lots of water before your workouts and training, but a problem arises within around 60 minutes when the body realizes the excess water and stimulates the kidneys to excrete the fluid (which defeats the purpose of drinking a bunch of water to hyper-hydrate). This urge to push out the excess fluid can force you to hit the bathroom which isn’t exactly convenient or ideal when you are competing in an athletic event or training hard.
Drinking water during training and workouts is always a good idea, but with the use of glycerol, you can actually “hyper-hydrate” your body without telling the kidneys to excrete it. When training with glycerol, you have the ability to retain fluids and electrolytes much more easily.
It’s because of this hyper-hydration element that the above two benefits are even possible.
GET HYPER-HYDRATED!
If you want to improve your outdoor workouts, then you need to be training with glycerol. Evogen Nutrition has you covered with their pure unflavored liquid glycerol product called EVP-AQ. This industry innovation contains Glycospan™, S7™, and Betaine Anhydrous to help you stay hydrated and maximize your performance when training (even while in the heat).
Best of all, you can even combine EVP-AQ with your other favorite Evogen Nutrition pre-workouts to amplify its effect by adding in some stimulants.
The precise formula found in EVP-AQ works synergistically to maximize your hydration levels while helping increase your overall performance and endurance levels. By allowing the blood vessels to dilate, your body is much more easily able to shuttle oxygenated blood and nutrients into the working muscles while helping eliminate waste so you can push yourself further and harder each and every workout.
Everyone regardless of if you are a weekend warrior at heart or a professional athlete can benefit from the use of Evogen Nutrition EVP-AQ. Try it today and find out why it’s a preferred and trusted pre-workout used by athletes of all calibers!