Gut issues are way too common in endurance sports—whether you’re into running, cycling, triathlon, or even high-intensity team sports. Almost every athlete has their own memorable moment of needing a toilet, fast! But the good news? It doesn’t have to be that way.
You can train your gut to perform better, pushing yourself to higher intensities without the fear of suddenly doubling over in discomfort. (Unless it’s that “good pain” after crushing your last hill repeat, of course!)
Even if you’re not currently struggling with gut troubles, gut training can still help you get more from every session by improving your ability to absorb energy more efficiently.
Let’s dive into how gut training can be a game-changer for your performance.
What Causes Gut Issues During Training?
The answer isn’t always clear, but there are 3 main factors that might impact your guts.
By training the gut, we get to address some of the physiological reasons for gut troubles during your training.
Have you ever eaten a meal before training and then immediately regretted it when you hit the intense part of the workout? Or maybe your gels don’t seem to sit well for you?
One reason this could be is because your gut is untrained. When we eat carbohydrates during training, they have to be absorbed from the stomach and into our circulation so they can actually be used for energy. The infographic below shows how we need transporters to do this.
If a large amount of CHO is consumed when our gut is untrained, there are not enough transporters to absorb all the CHO. So the unabsorbed amount is left sitting in the gut, causing discomfort & upset.
This also means you’re literally not getting all the energy you possibly could from your fuel! So you’re more likely to be fatigued even if you’re eating the recommended amount of carbohydrates.
Why Should You Train Your Gut?
Training the gut has some pretty phenomenal outcomes in reducing gut symptoms, but also in improving performance. An increased capacity to absorb carbohydrate can lead to less fatigue and more energy throughout your training and event. So gut training is something you could benefit from even if you are not experiencing gut symptoms.
So How Do You Train Your Gut?
There are actually a whole range of ways to train your gut in the lead up to your event. And don’t worry if you feel like you’ve left it too late! You actually only need a minimum of 10 days to train your gut. But in an ideal world you have 2+ weeks training at an intensity similar to your race day.
We recommend trialling a few methods of training the gut, and even a few at once.
For instance, you can be increasing the carb content of your overall diet while also simulating your race day plan and eating high carbohydrate amounts during training.
Increasing the carbohydrate content of your overall diet is particularly important if you naturally eat a relatively low carbohydrate diet day to day.
There Are Many Other Reasons For Gut Issues
Training the gut won’t solve everything (unfortunately) but it can be a good step in the right direction.
If you are still struggling with symptoms after giving training the gut a red hot go, it’s time to reach out for some individual support.
The not so fun gut issues to look out for: reflux, heart burn, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, cramps, bloating, stitches, diarrhoea, blood in stools & wind
You can start by filling out our free Performance Profile that looks at what factors may be contributing to your gut issues.
