Gatorade Quenches Its Thirst to Build Better Athletes

Wired.com
By: Kyle Slack

Gatorade is helping build better athletes at an elite boarding school in south-central Florida, and using the lessons it learns there to make you perform better.

The sports beverage giant — born at the University of Florida in 1965 — has a sports science institute at IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida. The campus expands upon the Gatorade Sports Science Institute that opened in Barrington, Illinois, in 1985.

The Gatorade Sports Science Institute, like its sister lab in Illinois, tests athletes for a variety of characteristics, such as body composition, muscle strength, metabolic heart rate and motor skills. Researchers study the correlation of exercise, environment, hydration and nutrition on performance. The idea is to help athletes at every level of competition, from the schoolyard to the stadium, perform better and recover faster.

The campus in Bradenton, not far from Tampa, will allow researchers to work with the 800 or so athletes at IMG, a 400-acre athletic boarding school where students master everything from tennis to lacrosse to baseball. Dr. JohnEric Smith, the associate principal scientist at GSSI, says the focus is on athlete testing as well as Gatorade product testing.

“It’s more of a learning ground,” Smith says. “There will be testing of products as they come out, but I believe this is an opportunity for us to learn about the athlete and then work with our lab in Illinois, which is set up more as an intervention-type research facility, to develop those products and bring them back here to see how they’re being utilized on the field of play.”

The Illinois facility has worked with top-tier athletes like Eli Manning and produced research papers in hydration, sports nutrition and training and performance. It also has led the development of new technology, like the Gatorade In-Car Drinking System (.pdf) used by NASCAR drivers.

One goal of the new lab is to foster the development of new sports nutrition products like energy drinks and protein shakes so Gatorade can get a bigger bite of the $20 billion sports nutrition market. The research also could help athletes refine their workouts, maximize their performance and improve their recovery. To that end, Gatorade researchers put athletes through a series of grueling tests using a variety of gadgets, machines and contraptions.

A stationary bike in which an athlete is asked to pedal as fast as possible for 30 seconds measures anaerobic capacity. A computer records and displays data included peak wattage, lowest wattage, or power output. Resistance is based upon the athlete’s weight and cadence. Smith explains that results depend on the athlete. A football running back may show a higher initial power output but fade over the 30-second time frame, while a long-distance runner will keep a consistent rhythm for that same time period.

A treadmill in another corner of the lab helps athletes determine whether they’re burning fat or carbohydrates during their workout. Though it looks like an ordinary treadmill, the headgear worn while on it assess the oxygen and carbon dioxide an athlete takes in and breathes out while exercising. As the treadmill’s intensity grows every three minutes by raising either its speed or elevation, Smith and other scientists determine how a person’s gas exchange affects what their body does to stay fueled.

“We can see whether he’s using fat or he’s using carbohydrates for energy,” Smith says.

Such information is valuable for understanding how that person’s body functions. Athletes with moderate aerobic capacities typically run for 15-20 minutes, and they’re more likely to use carbs. Those with better endurance run on the treadmill for more than 30 minutes, burning fat to keep going.

A body scanning device called a DEXA machine employs X-ray technology to measure fat mass and lean mass. While the device is typically intended to assess bone density in older people, it’s the fat and lean mass that interest Smith. Lean mass is active tissue that contributes to athletic performance. Fat mass is fuel for the body.

“An understanding of an ideal fat range is important to make sure they don’t have to do more work than necessary to excel at their sport,” Smith says.

The five-to-ten minute test involves an X-ray passing through muscle tissue. Tissue density is measured by the amount of X-rays passing through it. Fat has lower density than muscle, which has lower density than bone.

A fourth device called DynaVision provides data for reaction time and hand-eye coordination. An athlete stands 18 inches away from a 3-foot by 3-foot screen displaying a series of numbers the athlete must read aloud while deactivating lights that appear at random.

“There’s always a trigger light that comes on until you deactivate it, and we’re seeing how quickly you can deactivate the different lights that are turning on,” Smith says.

The test helps determine reaction time, and the athlete’s ability to use peripheral vision.

The lab also tests athletes to determine their resting metabolic rate, motor skills, lactate threshold and muscle control.

The GSSI researchers share their findings with the athletes and their trainers, if they have any, and the info is kept in-house for future reference. Gatorade can develop new products with the information, something Smith says allows the company to offer the very latest in sports nutrition.

“Right now, the science supports the products that we have available,” Smith says.