We regularly get asked what the difference is between TORQ Energy Drink and TORQ Hydration Drink, so hopefully we’ll clear any confusion up right here.
TORQ Energy Drink is isotonic, meaning that it has the same concentration (tonicity) as your blood, which makes it very good at hydration, but also has a strong energy-delivery component, so it will help with the fuelling process too.
TORQ Hydration Drink is hypotonic, meaning that it has a lower concentration than your blood and although exceptionally effective at providing hydration it contains very little carbohydrate, so offers little in the way of fuelling benefit.
Achieving optimal physical performance is all about combining effective hydration with sufficient fuelling, so it’s a matter of getting the balance right between these 2 components.
Typically, if the exercise bout is shorter than an hour, you will only need to focus on hydration (fuel isn’t required as you will have sufficient stored carbohydrate) and also typically, these shorter sessions tend to be more intense, so perspiration rates are very high, making hydration a key requirement. Also, many short exercise sessions often take place indoors, which will again lead to higher fluid losses. In these situations you should be using TORQ Hydration, because hydration is the product’s main function and it will do this job better than TORQ Energy will.
Exercise sessions over an hour will eat into your fuel reserves to a greater extent, especially if exercise intensity is high and/or your carbohydrate stores aren’t fully loaded before you start, so whilst you will still require hydration, you will also need to consider fuelling. This is because you store a limited amount of carbohydrate in your muscles and liver (called glycogen) and once these stores are used up, your performance will drop off dramatically. It won’t matter how hydrated you are either – you will simply lose all muscular power due to the lack of available carbohydrate. To this end TORQ Energy would be a better choice, because it will provide very effective hydration, but also a decent amount of carbohydrate and this will help to spare your stored carbohydrate reserves.
During these longer exercise sessions, it may be that perspiration rates are quite low, because your pace is steadier and/or the weather is cool, in which case you won’t be wanting to drink very much TORQ Energy. If this is the case, your hydration levels won’t be a problem, because you will be sweating very little, but fuelling will be, because not drinking also means ‘not fuelling’. It’s for this reason that energy gels, bars and chews exist. These provide concentrated carbohydrate fuel without the fluid, so they provide you with the energy you need when perspiration rates are lower and you don’t need the hydration.
At TORQ, we make regulating your hydration and fuelling needs very easy to understand and implement through the TORQ Fuelling System, so please take the time to visit the link below and learn how easy it is to fuel and hydrate effectively:
Can you use TORQ Hydration Drink for longer exercise efforts too? Although TORQ Hydration has been designed to be used as outlined above (for shorter duration exercise), it possesses the same optimal 2:1 Glucose:Fructose formulation as all of our fuelling products, so you could swap it out instead of TORQ Energy Drink for longer efforts, but be aware that you will need to consume more concentrated fuelling units to make up the shortfall in energy. This might be a viable option if you enjoy the lighter refreshing flavours and mouthfeel of the TORQ Hydration Drinks.
For further information on ‘Tonicity’ and to fully understand the terms isotonic, hypotonic and hypertonic, you may be interested in reading the following article:
https://www.torqfitness.co.uk/news/isotonic-hypotonic-or-hypertonic-products
If you are wondering why TORQ don’t produce an electrolyte tablet, there’s good reason and quite frankly it’s because they don’t work very well and contain unnecessary artificial sweeteners/other effervescent agents. To learn more, you may be interested in the following article:
https://www.torqfitness.co.uk/news/energy-drink-revolution
To learn more or purchase TORQ Hydration, click HERE.
To learn more or purchase TORQ Energy, click HERE.
To learn more about all of TORQ’s fuelling products including TORQ Gels, TORQ Bars and TORQ Chews, click HERE.
If you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in this article or anything else related to exercise, nutrition and hydration, please don’t hesitate in getting in contact with us at enquiries@torqfitness.co.uk
