9 Ways To Get Electrolytes Besides Gatorade
Comments(7)A common belief amongst endurance athletes is that we must constantly replenish our electrolyte stores while riding. If we run low on electrolytes, we might face problems such as cramping and hyponatremia.
Naturally, you might choose a sports drink such as Gatorade, but what if you don’t need the calories? Or maybe you don’t like the sweet, strong flavor?
You might want to look at ways to get your electrolytes without consuming typical sports drinks. Here are nine products that could fit your needs:
1. Hammer Endurolytes
Endurolytes, a product from Hammer Nutrition, are capsules full of electrolytes. They contain sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, Vitamin B6, and L-Tyrosine.
You can get Endurolytes in pill form, but if you don’t fancy swallowing pills while riding, you can also get a straight Enduroyte powder that can be mixed in with a bottle of sports drink (or plain water, but the salty taste isn’t pleasant.)
Official website: www.HammerNutrition.com
My review: Hammer Endurolytes Review
2. NUUN tablets
Nuun tablets must be the coolest electrolyte drink available. A Nuun tablet contains sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, so it has the typical electrolytes, but that’s not all.
What’s really cool is that to mix Nuun, you just drop one tablet into your water bottle. Nuun effervesces (i.e. fizzes up) and mixes itself. Also, Nuun comes in a variety of flavors that actually taste good.
Official website: www.Nuun.com
My review: Nuun Tablets Review
3. Elete
Elete is a concentrated electrolyte liquid that contains sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride. It is flavorless, so it can be mixed in plain water without a problem.
If you like the crisp taste of plain water and don’t want any calories or artificial ingredients, Elete is the choice for you.
Official website: www.EleteWater.com
4. Ultima Replenisher
Ultima Replenisher is an electrolyte drink mix that is packed with vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes. It appears to have the best variety of ingredients, making it somewhat of a cross between an electrolyte drink and a multivitamin.
It is also low in sugar and contains no artificial ingredients.
Official website: www.UltimaReplenisher.com
5. Essential Electrolytes by NutriBiotic
Essential Electrolytes are pills that combine 100 mg of vitamin C along with electrolytes (calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, chloride, zinc, and chromium.)
These pills are very similar to Hammer Endurolytes (similar amounts of the same ingredients,) except these are half the price.
Official website: www.NutriBiotic.com
6. Hylytes
Hylytes are electrolyte replenishment capsules which contain sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, and L-Tyrosine.
These appear very similar to Hammer Endurolytes, but with lower levels of electrolytes. (And at $9.95 for 24 capsules, they are more than twice as expensive, so I can’t imagine why you’d buy these.)
Official website: www.Hylytes.com
7. CamelBak Elixir tablets
To circumvent the problem of sugary sports drinks causing mold growth in hydration packs, CamelBak decided to make their own drink tablets that are safe for use in hydration pack bladders.
Much like Nuun, these Elixir tabs come in different flavors and contain a variety of electrolytes. And yes, they effervesce when you add them to water, so there’s no mixing required.
Official website: www.Camelbak.com
8. E-Lyte
E-Lyte is a bottled drink consisting of potassium, sodium, magnesium, chloride, phosphate, bicarbonate, and sulfate in a purified water solution. It is concentrated, so you mix a small amount of this into your water bottle.
It sounds most similar to Elete.
Official website: www.CrampNoMore.com
9. ZYM Tablets
ZYM is another electrolyte tablet that dissolves in water, much like Nuun and Camelbak Elixir. ZYM contains Vitamin C, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and B vitamins (B5, B6, B12.)
ZYM also offers a line of tablets containing caffeine.
Official website: www.GoZYM.com
Try one of those drinks or pills at the right time and you’ll feel refreshed, without the extra calories!
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thanks for making it simple and easy to figure what’s the best product for the money.
Great overview, Levi! I’ve never been a huge fan of gatorade and friends, because they leave me feeling heavy and most are made with high fructose corn syrup.
Also, I recently read some info that the need to replenish electrolytes is much less than most believe (via mythbusters and lifehacker) and that milk or diluted juice do the job just as well.
In any event, have you ever made your own? I don’t remember the recipe, but I made a good one with chilled tea, honey and salt. I also found a few recipes using electrolyte powders like those above that seemed interesting.
Thanks for the overview!
@Ron
You’re welcome. I hate to see people paying more for inferior products, which is all too common with any sort of supplement.
@Frank
Sometimes I do carry a tea honey drink, as it’s much healthier than any commercial sports drink. And sometimes I do straight herbal tea (no sweetener) if I don’t need calories.
Sometimes I add some sea salt, too (the expensive stuff like “Real Salt” which contains a variety of minerals.)
However, for big events like endurance MTB races, I stick with stuff like Hammer Perpetuem, Endurolytes, GU gel, Nuun tabs, etc.
My electrolyte recipe:
1/4 tsp Epsom salt (magnesium)
1/4 tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1/4 tsp potassium chloride (potassium)
1/4 tsp table salt (sodium)
1/4 tsp Sea Salt (numerous minerals)
2 tsp of sugar
2 tbls Tang (ascorbic acid, citric acid, minerals)
2 qts water
I’m a marathon runner and was just introduced to the Endurolytes capsules. My question is, is it safe to take the capsules and a gel during the three hour training runs and races? Can you have too much of a good thing?
Thanks for responding,
Jocelyne
@Jocelyne
I don’t see why not. As long as you’re sticking to the recommended 1-3 capsules per hour you should be fine.
There’s really nothing harmful in there and the doses of electrolytes from a few Endurolytes capsules are a relatively small portion of your overall diet.
Also, Hammer gels are purposely low in electrolytes so they make a good match for Endurolytes.
Great overview, but have to disagree about the Nunn tablets. Why do they have to ruin a good idea with artificial flavors and propylene glycol?
Why consume something that wasn’t meant for human consumption?
Kelly