This Study Calls Out a Surprising Reason to Use the Bathroom Before a Ride
New research involving triathletes found that those who went number two before a time trial performed better than those who did not go to the bathroom beforehand.
Making a poop pitstop before a ride can not only help your gut feel better, but it might also stave off fatigue.
Experts suggest adopting some preride rituals to help you get things moving.
Most cyclists have experienced the urgent need to go in the middle of a long ride—maybe even right in the midst of a race.
Developing strategies to prevent a midrace pit stop can help ease the discomfort and hassle, as well as alleviate your general fear of having to go number-two midride. And now, a new study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests getting things moving before you start riding could have benefits not only for your performance, but also for your brain.
Researchers looked at 13 elite triathletes who did two cycling time trials—one after defecating and the other without a bathroom stop first. They found that pre-cycling pooping led to significant effects in exercise performance, mainly because the brain received more oxygen and that decreased fatigue.
Although he was not part of the recent research, Rudolph Bedford, M.D., gastroenterologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California said that the results are not surprising, given how endurance exercise, like cycling and running, affects the body overall, but mainly the digestive system.
“With movement, especially focused and sustained activity that includes more intensity, there’s greater blood flow in the gastrointestinal system,” he said. “That’s reflected in more motility because you’re getting increased blood flow in the bowels, which is crucial for digestion and elimination.”
In part, increased blood flow is one of the reasons runners and cyclists, as well as swimmers and other athletes, may experience unexpected bowel urgency in the middle of a race, rather than the starting line when they’re not moving yet.
As more blood flows to the GI system, it also diverts some blood flow away from the brain, the recent research suggested, which can tire you out faster. That’s why the researchers noted that the defecation-first cycling time trial showed improvements in oxygen and blood in the prefrontal brain region.
One of the best ways to prime the pump, so to speak, is to put more time into a prerace dynamic warmup, like a light spin, according to Bedford, along with other tactics like tapering your intake of fat and fiber for a day or two before a race.
Taking more time to prepare for your ride in the morning can also help you get the jitters out, Bedford added. That’s crucial because a nervous stomach—totally normal as you’re gearing up—can send more signals to the gut that it’s time to evacuate its contents, he said.
One morning practice that can calm you down and potentially get things moving? Deep, diaphragmatic breathing. In fact, University of Michigan Health suggests this breathing practice for those with GI issues because it can relax muscles of the GI tract, as the diaphragm sort of massages the internal organs involved in digestion.
“The brain and gut don’t differentiate between negative stress and excitement—you’ll be getting a surge of adrenaline and other hormones in both cases,” Bedford explains. “Anticipating that can be helpful for trying more strategies in advance to be ready at the start line.”
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