Athletes are not only devoted to their sports. They realize that a conditioning regiment is crucial. Sports is part of our weekly routine, we work it around our individual responsibilities and we understand that carving out a schedule for practice time is part of life. So it goes without saying that a healthy diet is also a must.

But when we consider what an athlete should grab to drink when he needs hydration, we find some reason for confusion as well as alarm.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, when most athletes exercise longer than 45 minutes, they usually need something to drink. And we know from their research that drinks containing carbohydrates and electrolytes can enhance performance. Adding carbohydrates to a drink helps your body regain balance faster than chugging a cold bottle of pure water.

Partially because of colorful marketing and lack of consumer education, there are a few athletes out there who do not grab for a bottle of water, or drinks especially created to replenish carbohydrates and electrolytes. Instead, they reach for one of the new energy drinks.

Many of those energy drinks includes high calorie, carbohydrate and sugar counts. So when you see these ingredients, does it truly give you the message that this drink is something good for your body?

There’s not a lot of different between drinking one of these energy drinks and swallowing a caffeine tablet while you gobble down a couple of donuts and wash it down with Kool-aid.

If you’ve loaded up on sugary foods and drinks, you know how it feels when you start dribbling and shooting baskets on your Goalrilla Basketball Goal court at home. At first you’re all pumped and hitting it hard. But it isn’t too long and you hit that wall. That crash because you have depleted your store of energy and your body is telling you that.

Here at the Basketball Goal Store we can provide the best equipment for your home court with a Goalrilla Basketball Goal system. Durable, one-piece poles, safe and regulation-sized backboards, even flex rims and trainers. What we can’t do is put the right things foods and drinks into the players.

Give it some thought. When you – or your kids – set position on the basketball court, know that your sports performance and your health work best with good equipment and healthy choices.

-Pat of the Basketball Goal Store Blog Team