How to calm the stomach when exercising?
 

Here's the deal: three mornings a week, I get up early (early in this case being 8AM as opposed to noon :D) and get in my bike ride. I get up, eat (usually a bowl of cereal and something else like a nutrigrain bar, some crackers, or something else with some carbs), wash it down with something to drink, then get dressed and go. Im on the road at 9AM. Problem is, my stomach (and rest of me, for that matter) always feels like shit for the first hour or so. I can't push it hard, and it sucks. Im eating pretty healthily, at least as much as I can in a fraternity house that likes its fried foods--I avoid the fried, fatty, nasty foods, and load on the carbs as much as possible. I just can't figure out why Im feeling so bad on the bike. I don't think its lack of time for the stomach to settle--there is always at least 30 minutes between when I finish breakfast and when I get on the road. I dont know, its just wierd, and I dont like it, it makes it really hard for me to get a good workout.

Any insight is appreciated.

I hear ya man, same thing happens to me.

Try a good bit of sport drink 15 mins. or so before you start your ride. Maybe as much as a quart. I like Gatorade, it doesn't seem as 'heavy' as some of the others.

A little ganja has been known to settle the stomach too. :)

Good Luck.

I agree with the sports drink.

Another thing I use for long bike rides are gel pack. GU makes one that I like better than Power Bar. It's basically a tablespoon or so of gell that gives you ~100 or so grams of carbs. I eat one every 30-45 minutes on my road bike if I'm riding over an hour. Might be good for your situation in the am when you need energy but nothing much on yor stomach. You need to drink water with it. Also, you can purchase these in boxes of 24 from places like www.Nashbar.com or any other biking or probably running sites.

Cytomax is a great sports drink, to me better than Gaitoraide, etc. It really help with the lactic acid build up that helps soreness later.

those powergels take about 45 mins to accually digest, so theres no point in taking them when you start, unless you wanna want 45 mins to get the goodness from them


try warming up abit before you go out, thats most likley the problem.. if you arent warmed up the exercize is a shock to your system.. so take it easy for the first bit, then go hard when your warm

Way ahead of ya there--I live off of those things :D Expensive, but I too eat about one an hour when Im on the bike for more than about an hour. Never tried Cytomax though, but its been a long time since Ive been sore after a ride. :confused: I am lucky in that Performance Bike has one of their stores right down the road from me. If you havent heard of them, its a place a lot like Nashbar; pretty cool having one right down the road.

Eat stuff that's more easily assimilated for energy. The cereal and energy bar aren't doing it; in fact, your body's still using energy to break them down.

First thing in the morning especially, the first 20 minutes/half hour of aerobic exercise are hard because you're using stored carbs alone. Then after a while, your body starts to draw on fat for energy and everything gets easy. To start out better , you need to eat something that your body can grab hold easily of and assimilate almost effortlessly.

I don't know from powergels, but what does work for me, even if it isn't politically correct, is good fat, especially vegetable fat. It could be in the form of an avocado, but frankly, before a good weight workout I eat two ounces of super-high quality chocolate (at least 70 percent cocoa, it's almost bitter) and it'll give me the extra oomph I need to spent an intense 90 minutes with the weights without fading. Goes to liquid in your mouth almost immediately, is easy to digest. Also doesn't goose your blood sugar so bad; there's no sugar rush and subsequent crash. It stays with you.

Drink a lot of water!!

Simple carbs..eat some white bread instead of whole wheat bread. Have some quick oats with brown sugar. A whey protein shake.

Your body is looking for shit first thing in the morning, so if you're going to go running or something you'll want quick digesting food, not slower digesting.

Yeah i agree with this....most sports drinks out there have a down side to them....like simply have sugar in them....which cases your body to burn the sugar before anything else....so yea stick with water it should weigh down your stomache.

Im just not yet sure whether its because Im riding early in the morning, not getting enough carbs in me, or not warming up.

I got in a good ride the other afternoon where I didnt have any problems--but it was the afternoon, I had had plenty of time to digest my food and get it in my bloodstream, and I had a good warmup beforehand. So yeah, that works, but I want to know which of the three is causing it so I can get rid of it and continue my morning rides.

Your body is definitely more willing and able to carry out exersize during the afternoon, this is the case for most people, so it's understandable that you wouldn't have the same problems that you would have in the morning.

Im starting to think thats just what it is, which really sucks--the mornings are the only time of the day when I have time to get in a good long training ride. I think Im gonna experiment a bit with different foods and warmups to see if I cant find something that will let me do it. I may just have to get up 30 minutes or so earlier to let my body get itself going in the morning.

Maybe you need quick carbs. Try eating some fruits at breakfast.