Salt Caps to Improve Endurance Performance
In endurance sports such as triathlons, long-distance races or cycling races, dietary supplements are usually taken. The most common ones and those that everyone knows are bars, glucose gels, etc. They provide our bodies with the energy they need.
However, these aren’t only the food supplements we can take to improve our performance in endurance sports since there are also salt caps, which we’ll talk about in this article.
Functions of salt caps
The main function of these capsules is to provide our body with the necessary amount of mineral salts we need during training or long-term sports competitions.
When we’re practicing these types of sports, we lose mineral salts through liquids such as sweat. Therefore, it’s necessary to replenish them to avoid cramping and to maintain the electrolyte levels in our body.
The composition of the salt caps
For many years, the contribution of mineral salts to our bodies have been made through replacement drinks. However, at present, salt caps provide us with a new way of doing it.
These capsules are formed by different salts such as sodium and magnesium, although the percentages of each vary depending on the different manufacturers. They can also count on other components such as calcium or vitamin D.
The main function of sodium is to regulate the osmotic balance of our body, in addition to maintaining the balance of electrolytes and preventing dehydration. The role of magnesium is to prevent cramps during long-term sports.
Dosage we should take
As we have already mentioned, during the practice of endurance sports, we lose salts and electrolytes through sweat, and it’s necessary that we replace them to obtain a good performance.
The dose of sodium that we should consume is between 300 and 500 milligrams per hour of exercise performed. Even so, we must take into account different factors such as the rate of sweating of the person or the temperature and humidity of the place where the activity is being practiced.
Advantages of the capsules
We can find different advantages that the salt caps bring to our body. We have listed them below:
- They’re more comfortable and easier to handle and transport than conventional refill beverages. An example would be to use them in training or long-distance racing competitions, where we aren’t interested in carrying a lot of weight and it’s not comfortable at all. The capsules don’t take up much space and weigh nothing.
- With these capsules, we can also control (in a simple way) the mineral salts that we consume. Unlike with replacement beverages, we can always control the number of salts we consume, since in beverages, unless you consume the entire bottle, it’s very difficult to calculate the salts that it gives you.
- Its format makes it very easy to consume since we only have to swallow them together with a little water. You have to be careful and never mix it with a replacement drink since it also gives us salts.
In conclusion, salt caps are an ideal supplement for endurance sports, especially for its comfort to carry it and consume the right amount. Don’t forget to take them with you when you go to perform these types of physical activity.
