2 tbl spoons sugar, 3 spoons maltodextrin, 1 spoon honey, small spoon of salt (or hidration tablet), sqused lemon juice and water . This goes in one 550ml bottle and should be good for 2h ride with two bottles of water to wash down. I go 2g3 sips on 20 minuter after first 45 min.
First of all thanks for the advise you give to everybody! I have to say, as somebody who works in triathlon and endurance sports with athletes… I really like the way you answered all comments in a positive, polite and educated way. The more people like you we found on the Net… the more useful would be. Keep it up! Thanks!
Your option is great, and if it works for you then keep going! Maple syrup contains mostly sucrose, which is the same as table sugar. It also contains individual glucose and fructose molecules. It's a great choice
I remember Graham Obree extolling the virtues of whole meal bread jam sandwiches rather than gels on a similar basis - bread slower release carbs, jam 85% sugar so fast release
@@NutritionTriathlon Graham Obree was a cyclist as far as remember. Agree what works on the bike may not work for other sports. Jam butties would get a bit soggy on the swim ! 😆😆😆
I legit do this before going gym. I noticed that sports drinks are both salty and sweet, so I tried 1 tspn salt and 3 of sugar with some squirts of lemon juice in my bottle. top it with water and ice and it made a decent drink. I noticed that compared to water I sweat less and felt less bloated in my sessions. I truly think everyone should try making their own, it'll save so much money edit: have I been using too much table salt? 1/5 tspn? oof
Love that you've been experimenting yourself! And yeah they can save a heck of a lot of money. But you're right, you are using a LOT of salt 😅 I would lower to what I've suggested!
Question with regards to the juice. It says no added sugar, not no sugar, so does this not change your amounts? so most prob less need for 30g of sugar
Wow! I always slow down starting from 8kM because I already felt something on my calves that I am about to have cramps. But when I followed your advised, I ran 15kM without any cramping and I felt I still have energy. Thank you.
Thanks for this. I usually play tennis for 4 or more hours a day during sem breaks and I noticed that I get bad head aches after I go home and wake up after a nap. Drinking sports drink during exercise was an excellent remedy. I probably got my head aches from lack of electrolytes.
Sodium citrate is superior and it’s cheap. Table salt is fine if you only use a little bit, but if you’re going all day or super intense, you need sodium citrate instead, otherwise you will likely have stomach problems.
Hey! Sodium citrate is a good option too and there might be some benefits to using it above sodium chloride. But sodium chloride is still totally fine to use, and especially so for a DIY sports drink which is just using things that most people have in their house already! For what it's worth, sodium chloride is still fine to use for long distance events, like ironman triathlons. I've coached many athletes who have only used sodium chloride instead of citrate and have had no issues at all.
I've seen a lot of sports electrolyte tablets and powders containing potassium, magnesium, calcium and chloride. Apparently we lose those through sweat alongside the ever important sodium. Can you advise if its worth adding those to your basic solution? Would certainly be great to use your solution over purchasing more expensive tablets and powders. Thank you.
I'm not aware of any strong evidence to suggest the other ones are necessary or contribute to sports performance, outside of the realms of mineral deficiencies through your diet. As a sports hydration drink, just including sodium with water is fine. As long as you're eating a healthy, balanced diet with fruits and veg etc then you should be getting sufficient quantities of the others through your diet.
There was an old boy in the gym I used to go to. He was massive and swore by his workout drink which was just water with a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of sugar in it.
Nope, no requirement to supplement potassium in a sports drink. No good evidence to support it's use during exercise. You should be able to get what you need through your diet
Yep, it can be used before a run. Personally, I'd either increase the amount of carbs or have it with some sort of solid food to help your carb stores be nicely topped up
Thanks, this is very informative. I’m currently on vacation in Florida from Norway and was thinking I should try this out. Would you ad some more salt to the recipe as it’s very warm her and I sweating a lot🥵😅
You're welcome! 😀 Norway to Florida is quite a change! You definitely can add more salt if you're sweating a lot. Up to about 1500mg of sodium per litre of fluid should be well tolerated for most people. That means 750mg of sodium per 500ml of fluid, which when converted, is just under 2g of table salt. So just under double the amount used in this video!
@@NutritionTriathlon It worked🥳 On Saturday I joined a 50k here in Florida (John Holmes Trail Run) and I based my nutrition during the race only on this. Thanks ☺️
Hi, what about risk of diabetes etc? I normally only drink water. Or sparkling water when i train. Normally try to avoid calories from sugary drinks etc. outside milk and water, i dont drink much else.
I normally train 5/6 days a week. And go sauna each of those days too, and I'm very sweaty lol. So I'd probably need this drink most days I'm training anyway. So this is where I have a slight fear of it effecting me long term possibly
I’ve been using this recipe for nearly 20 years, sometimes substitue salt for rehydration sachets. Always worked for me. Did the Marin Rough Ride and forgot to make up my juice. Used Lucozade Sport i stead. Had such bad cramp in my legs we had to abandon the ride. Not enough salt in it..
@@NutritionTriathlon yeah my own fault. Bad preparation, but like I said, the recipe you use works an absolute treat and is so much cheaper than anything you can buy. Also - the best value pre workout I’ve found by a long way is Aldi Energise Effervescent tablets. You get 20 of them in a tube next to the multivitamins. They’ve got beetroot extract in them and they are cheap as chips. Pop one in some fruit juice before going out and you’re good. The beetroot extract makes your wee look like you’re massively dehydrated though!
good good. so on 1litre: -60gram- (EDIT: 30g rather, since the orange-jus already has lots of sugar (like 90g/l) sugar, 2gram salt, 330ml orange-jus. 660ml water. tastes good.
Yes, although your orange juice might contain calories, so I would double check that. I use orange squash which is double concentrated, so it's only a very small amount (15ml or so)
Yes regular juice has sugar, @NitritionTriathlon uses a almost sugarfree concentrate that's sweetened with artificial sweeteners. It's not really juice and could confuse some that won't use the exact same product.
Thank you for the helpful advice. During the UK summer, I spend a lot of time playing golf. I frequently experience fatigue due to the heat and I’m contemplating purchasing an electrolyte drink, but they tend to be quite pricey. Do you think your recipe could be a suitable alternative? Cheers in advance.
Hey, great question. Yes, absolutely, this would work well 🙂 depending on whether you need the carbohydrates for energy you could decrease the sugar content leaving you more of a "pure" electrolyte drink and then just eat normal food for your energy needs!
Very interesting. One thing I noted when I went from X brand to another that I started to get get muscle cramps. Then I saw that the new brand didn't contain any magnesium (basically it was just sugar) so eventually I went back to the one that I was using before.. How would you add magnesium here?
Honestly, I wouldn't. Totally get why you might feel like you want to but based on the evidence we have available magnesium shouldn't be supplemented during exercise because there's no benefit
@@NutritionTriathlonDon't agree. Use Celtic sea salt with loads of minerals, everyone could use that extra magnesium (less cramps). It's also very cheap. I challenge you to make a video on a non refined DIY sports drink. Especially on non refined sugar. If you truly care about peoples health... Don't blindly follow science and prescribe those horrible refined stuff. You know perfectly how much of this stuff athletes consume. Take your responsibility.
"Blindly follow science". What else do you propose, when the evidence supports using table salt and sugar within a sporting context? No good evidence for magnesium stopping cramps when adequately consumed through diet. No harmful effects shown when consuming sugar (refined or not, they all break down to the same basic molecules) appropriately around exercise
@@NutritionTriathlon Two problems with science: first of all evidence based science wasn't designed to be leading, it's just a source to help make decisions on. Second is the part of assumptions. Your assumption is that people are on healthy diet. That assumption is not evidence based, because most people are not. You assume people already have table salt in their kitchen. People who have that kind of salt, are in general people that know nothing about nutricion. They use refined products that lack most of the important minerals. Your presented sports drink should be for people who don't have table salt or refined sugar in their kitchens at all. I still dare you to present that unrefined version :) for people who think they eat healthy but in general still use table salt for daily cooking. Because that's what most people do sadly.
Thanks for the simple instructions! Luckily I am a coffee nerd and have 0.1g scales for salt measurement. I am not a fan of super sweet drinks but found juicing half a lemon into a similar mixture helped considerably.
Ha, perfect! Yet another perk of being a coffee nerd! That sounds great, and yeah you're not alone with the sweet drinks part. Glad the video was helpful 🙂
Great content, detailed and yet concise. As a swimmer doing 2,500-3,000 meter workouts, I'll slam down my sports drink in between sets. However, I find that I cramp up towards the end, especially during kick drills. Is there anything you would suggest that I could add to my drink to reduce cramping in the water?
Honestly I haven't really found a work around this with swimmers, it's something I've seen a lot. Other than increasing the sodium amounts (which you definitely could) there's no real evidence for anything else. The common problem I've seen is simply muscular fatigue rather than anything else - and there's not much you can do for that other that gradually improving strength + distance!
Now im new all to this so im expecting to be wrong here. Isn't all that sugar unhealthy? Or is it different since youre expecting to burn it off? How does it work?
Hey, and welcome! Sugar isn't unhealthy in isolation - it's all about context! If you have lots of sugar when you aren't doing exercise or needing it then it's going to be more "unhealthy". If you use it for exercise then it's definitely fine and more "healthy". I use speech marks there because it's all about context and moderation 🙂 there is pretty much no food that is categorically good or bad
Hey 🙂 there's no good evidence to suggest those are useful for performance as part of a sports drink. Should be getting adequate through your diet, and sports focus only needs to be sodium.
Depends on the length of your run and what your aim is. That's going to be quite low in carbohydrates so isn't going to provide much energy. Personally, I'd also save the creatine for a different time, like after your run
Nope. No evidence to suggest supplementation of electrolytes other than sodium is useful during exercise. In your normal daily diet they're great, but no need with this.
A pack of staminade is $10 at my supermarket and I have heard of adding extra sugar to a serve to increase the carb mix as required and the staminade is just for flavour although 1 serve gives 20 grams carbs
I haven't heard of staminade, but it sounds like some sort of electrolyte carb mix. So yep, mixing in some extra table sugar would work well. But you definitely could skip the staminade altogether and just use table sugar, table salt and water 🙂
From what I understand molasses contains a combination of glucose, fructose and sucrose. So it works, but the ratio of glucose:fructose won't be controlled as easily so it might be more likely to contribute to stomach upset. Yep, unless there's salt added otherwise then you can add salt with guidance as I mentioned in this video.
Thanks for this. I knew these ingredients were the only real things in sports drinks, but I've had the ammounts way off (too much salt, not enough sugar).
While you're right in that your body has to break down sucrose, the reality is that this is negligible in terms of time + performance differences. You'll break down sucrose rapidly and it's not going to significantly impact absorption or substrate utilisation times. Plus, sucrose has a lower osmolarity than glucose/fructose together, which actually might make it better due to quicker transit time through the stomach (but again, realistically negligible and I'm just playing devil's advocate).
Couple of questions…if I don’t have scales at all, is it roughly 3 spoons of sugar to half a spoon of salt? And also, I’m assuming that by ‘tablespoon’ you mean a larger spoon like you’d eat pudding with, , rather than a ‘teaspoon’ which is the smaller one for stirring tea, coffee etc? Just so I don’t get the wrong size and proportions…many thanks.
Hey. With the sugar I'm talking about TABLESPOONS but with the salt I'm talking about TEASPOONS. Only reason I'm putting those in caps is because it's really important to highlight those two are different - a tablespoon of salt would be dangerous! (plus taste awful)
To be honest unless it's a particularly long session I would just focus on a good meal beforehand with plenty of carbohydrates, so rice/pasta/bread etc
Thank you very much for this recipe, I've tried it a couple of times and really like it. I do have one questions though. I looked at some of the cheapest premixed sports and found that at Decathlon they sell two versions of their cheapest homebrand iso sport drink. The regular iso and their iso+ for workouts over 3 hours. The main difference in ingredients that I found was that their iso+ uses a lot more maltodextrin and less sugars (dextrose, sucrose, fructose). After a bit of googling I found that maltodextrin is a longer carb chain than those sugars and should thus take a little longer to enter your bloodstream? (I think, my knowledge is limited). To me that logic makes sense for longer workouts one the one hand, but on the other you use the sugars so quickly that it might not matter that much? Anyway my question is do you think there is any merit to using a mix of tablesugar and maltodextrin for longer workouts or should just tablesugar still be fine for longer efforts? Thanks in advance
Hey. Great question. To be honest this is a very minimal difference. Maltodextrin is still broken down rapidly for energy, and the overall difference is going to be minimal. If you want slower digesting carbs/sugar then you should consider ones like isomaltulose. However, I don't actually recommend these due to the increased risk of tummy problems with slower digesting sugars and no clear performance benefit according to evidence.
@@NutritionTriathlon Hi, thanks for the quick response and clear explanation. I will stick to regular tablesugar for now then. Although I heard maltodextrin is also nice because it tastes less sweet, so I might try it for that reason!
I'm primarily a sprint course athlete at the moment so I know this doesn't apply to my as much as others, but I was curious...I'm currently taking Gatorade Endurance which is 22g of carbs and 300mg of sodium. Do you think that range is fine for me or should I go looking for a different supplement? Thanks as always, James!
Totally depends on exercise duration 🙂 do you mean during a sprint triathlon? If you do, that range is ok as you aren't really getting much benefit from it because if
This looks great!!! Would you recommend having this most days? I need something in the afternoons whilst at work, would this be any good? I am fed up with lucozade! it makes my feet swell :( I must be allergic to something in it!
Hi 🙂 What do you do for work? I wouldn't recommend this for most people for work, unless they do a physically active job and cannot get enough energy through whole foods. Something like this or lucozade should almost always be reserved for sport specific scenarios.
@@NutritionTriathlonthank you for your quick reply … can I use Greek honey instead and add a little less sugar? I also use Himalayan and Celtic salt , is that in ?
Combination of two sugars is superior as long as it’s in 2:1 ratio for glucose to fructose. 60g maltodextrin and 30g fructose does a far better job and it’s a lot healthier for your teeth. Both are available as powder and in bulk.
Hey, thanks for the comment! The 2:1 ratio isn't actually the gold standard if you look at the research, it seems like 1:0.8 is - so much closer to 1:1 which is what table sugar is!
@@NutritionTriathlon I believe that research is what SiS refer to for their beta fuel line formula. The caveat is: In table sugar, glucose and fructose dön"'t float around as immediately available monosaccharides, which that new lower ratio appears optimized for. I persist in adding a bit more immediately available maltodextrin to my sugar and elewctrolyte water. If it congests my absorption bandwidth for glucose incrementally liberated from the sucrose, fine. The sucrose gets split anyway, giving me additional fructose absorption on top of the already maxxed out glucose vector. If the latter is not yet maxxed out from maltodextrin, even better - additional gluco-cals per minute from the sucrose to join the effort.
You should make an advanced video where you mix maltodextrin and fructose instead of sugar for the next step;) And let me know how long I can store those mixes;)
Yeah this is something I'll definitely do! It's on the list 😉 thanks for your comment on my other video, and like that one I think if drinking within 24 hours it should be fine 🙂
Can say now that it's not worth adding potassium to it. Not really useful for sporting performance, you can get enough through your diet. You're welcome!
Hey, you're welcome! I don't quite understand your question fully, sorry! You mean you want to make the same drink but less volume of liquid? The same or less ingredients?
I mean if you want the same drink just less of it just use less of the ingredients but keep the ratio (say you only want 200ml then multiply the numbers from the video by 0.4). But i dont think theres any need for this when you just want to run a 5k
Hey James, I have been trying out to mix Maltodextrin and Fructose in a 2:1 ratio. It is so incredibly sweet I can almost not drink it. Any advice? Only Maltodextrin is the best, because it doesn’t taste sweet at all. But if I try to get in more than 60 grams per hour I would need to add those 30 grams of fructose, right?
Hey Mathias! Yep, you're right. Theoretically you might be able to tolerate more glucose/maltodextrin on its own but it's better to have the fructose. You could try using a bitter type squash instead of a sweet fruity one. Also make sure you've added the salt, but admittedly that might not be enough. Personally I don't mind it so haven't tried experimenting on how to make it less sweet. Let me know if you find anything!
Magnesium and potassium are not required in a sports drink, not are vitamins and minerals. Get those through your diet! Caffeine is also not needed and someone could consume that as an extra if they wanted!
Potassium just isn't really needed. No good evidence to show it helps with endurance performance. Have a healthy, balanced diet and you should be getting enough
I'm in Brazil and climate here is pretty hot, I sweat moderately, any adjustments I should consider or stick with the basic recipe? For z2 cycling how much fluid should I be taking per hour, roughly? I'm 68 kg.
Hey. My first question would be how do you find your training? Do you feel particularly dehydrated or like you struggle? If not, the basic recipe might be fine. However you could double the salt content and still be within sensible limits. So that would be 2g of salt per 500ml fluid, which would be 800mg sodium, or 1600mg per litre. As mentioned, some people may need as much as 2000mg/litre. Very much individual though! A good starting point of fluid per hour is 500ml. If you find yourself still thirsty or dehydrated then you should drink more. 750-1000ml isn't uncommon - again individual. How thirsty do you feel, how dehydrated?
@@NutritionTriathlon I'd say I've been lacking when it comes to rehydration. I finish a 2 hour ride, drink lots of water when I come home and still find my urine to be concentrated. I'm still organizing things in my bike, so that I can take more water along, currently I only carry a single bottle and use the other holder for food and tools. I'll be taking 2 bottles now and I'll start with the basic recipe and see how my body responds. Thank you
Unfortunately that's one of those "it depends" because that's really context specific (t1dm vs t2dm, insulin controlled vs not, what the scenario is etc). Can't give a broad answer there - sorry
Sounds good! Similar to another comment about molasses, as I understand it with maple syrup there is also a combination of sucrose and as well as individual glucose/fructose molecules, which means knowing the exact glucose:fructose ratio is more difficult and there will be variation across products. But it can definitely work!
Is that the roctane powder? Depends on your intended use. I'm not aware of any evidence that BCAAs improve performance in endurance exercise, and for the most part BCAAs are unnecessary. Beta alanine is useful for interval training, but you have to supplement and take it every day for it to be useful, so it's kind of pointless in this. Better to just buy beta alanine separately if you want to use it!
@@NutritionTriathlon Yes it was the roctane powder. They are marketing for endurance exercise so I was wondering if there was any benefit. Thanks for responding!
Should still work for that too, yep! 1g of table salt (so 400mg sodium) per 500ml of fluid should work well for that. If you're feeling dehydrated despite that, and depending on how much you sweat and how hot it is, you could increase that to about 1.5g of table salt per 500ml of fluid
Hi James how could you make your own powdered carb mix if doing something like a grandfondo or ironman. Would love to see a video on making another carb mix drink that can be powdered for long events or being able to travel with the mix.
How comes that you tell that in table salt there is 40% sodium and 60% chloride? Chemical Term is sodium chloride, but it is one ionic compound, formula: NaCl. You can not seperate it. If it shall be calculated the ratio must be 1:1. This is the state it exists in nature as sea salt or rock salt and so it comes to the customer in packages. Minor Trace elements exist of cause. In your Video it sounds like the factory mixes sodium and chlorine and sells it as salt. Same with the sugar, but more complex because of bigger molecules. Chemically, sucrose is one chrystal which is built up by 1:1 ratio of glucose and fructose. Again this is not the factory's reciepe, but the natural beeing of household sugar.
Hey. You're right that it's a 1:1 ratio but for simplicity's sake I'm talking about the weight/mass of it and not the ratio. By weight, sodium chloride is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. In practical terms, this means that you can take 40% of "salt" and that is how much sodium it contains. Hope that makes sense!
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How much time before a game
2 tbl spoons sugar, 3 spoons maltodextrin, 1 spoon honey, small spoon of salt (or hidration tablet), sqused lemon juice and water . This goes in one 550ml bottle and should be good for 2h ride with two bottles of water to wash down. I go 2g3 sips on 20 minuter after first 45 min.
Nice one, sounds like a powerful mix!
You have one of those bottles and then two bottles of normal water ?
@@tomcarr-hopkins6911 One-one, usually I have stop for refill water. If longer ride then I go with 2x750ml or 1x750 and 1x1000ml
Honey is just sugar as well honey in supermarkets are all fake
No sugar for me and maltodextrin
First of all thanks for the advise you give to everybody!
I have to say, as somebody who works in triathlon and endurance sports with athletes… I really like the way you answered all comments in a positive, polite and educated way.
The more people like you we found on the Net… the more useful would be.
Keep it up! Thanks!
Thank you, that's a really kind comment and exactly what I'm hoping for with the channel 🙂
I like it. Simple, straightforward, easy to remember.
Perfect!
I use maple syrup, lemon juice, salt and water. It's absolutely delicious and natural. I'll have to look into the types of sugar contained now...
Your option is great, and if it works for you then keep going! Maple syrup contains mostly sucrose, which is the same as table sugar. It also contains individual glucose and fructose molecules. It's a great choice
I stayed up all night before a soccer game and this helped and I will be bringing this to the soccer game thanks mate
Awesome, my pleasure!
I remember Graham Obree extolling the virtues of whole meal bread jam sandwiches rather than gels on a similar basis - bread slower release carbs, jam 85% sugar so fast release
Can be good but depends on the scenario. Not great for sports like running where that will digest slower and cause an increased risk of GI upset
@@NutritionTriathlon
Graham Obree was a cyclist as far as remember. Agree what works on the bike may not work for other sports. Jam butties would get a bit soggy on the swim ! 😆😆😆
I legit do this before going gym.
I noticed that sports drinks are both salty and sweet, so I tried 1 tspn salt and 3 of sugar with some squirts of lemon juice in my bottle. top it with water and ice and it made a decent drink.
I noticed that compared to water I sweat less and felt less bloated in my sessions.
I truly think everyone should try making their own, it'll save so much money
edit: have I been using too much table salt? 1/5 tspn? oof
Love that you've been experimenting yourself! And yeah they can save a heck of a lot of money.
But you're right, you are using a LOT of salt 😅 I would lower to what I've suggested!
@@NutritionTriathlondoubled your recipe for my 1 litre bottle. too much salt was making it bad.
tastes good with the juice concentrate
Basically a watered down Orangeade with a dash of salt. Cool!
Good hey? 🙂
I don’t even use the juice. Just salt, organic cane sugar and water is all I need. Excellent performance and tastes good too!
Sounds good to me!
I like orange, lemon, pinch of salt an powder ginger.
i used water+ Brown sugar+salt(Na:K=4:1) in amusement park .. felt better than before
Question with regards to the juice. It says no added sugar, not no sugar, so does this not change your amounts? so most prob less need for 30g of sugar
Even the no added sugar stuff has next to no sugar in.
Sorry for the slow reply here. Yeah it's basically 0 sugar, so the 30g sugar still stands. And you could go a lot higher too
I didn't believe the "no sugar" but the label says less that 0.5g sugar in 250ml reconstituted.
Wow! I always slow down starting from 8kM because I already felt something on my calves that I am about to have cramps. But when I followed your advised, I ran 15kM without any cramping and I felt I still have energy. Thank you.
That's brilliant, cool to hear! Glad I could help 😀
Use *lite' table salt. It has potassium chloride which you also need for the water exchange.
No you don't!
Thanks for this. I usually play tennis for 4 or more hours a day during sem breaks and I noticed that I get bad head aches after I go home and wake up after a nap. Drinking sports drink during exercise was an excellent remedy. I probably got my head aches from lack of electrolytes.
Yep sounds very possible, I would get the same after long exercise sessions if I didn't consume enough water and sodium! Glad to help
excellent! I like these kind of hacks!
Me too, they're the best!
Sodium citrate is superior and it’s cheap. Table salt is fine if you only use a little bit, but if you’re going all day or super intense, you need sodium citrate instead, otherwise you will likely have stomach problems.
Hey! Sodium citrate is a good option too and there might be some benefits to using it above sodium chloride. But sodium chloride is still totally fine to use, and especially so for a DIY sports drink which is just using things that most people have in their house already!
For what it's worth, sodium chloride is still fine to use for long distance events, like ironman triathlons. I've coached many athletes who have only used sodium chloride instead of citrate and have had no issues at all.
I've seen a lot of sports electrolyte tablets and powders containing potassium, magnesium, calcium and chloride. Apparently we lose those through sweat alongside the ever important sodium. Can you advise if its worth adding those to your basic solution? Would certainly be great to use your solution over purchasing more expensive tablets and powders. Thank you.
I'm not aware of any strong evidence to suggest the other ones are necessary or contribute to sports performance, outside of the realms of mineral deficiencies through your diet. As a sports hydration drink, just including sodium with water is fine. As long as you're eating a healthy, balanced diet with fruits and veg etc then you should be getting sufficient quantities of the others through your diet.
@@NutritionTriathlon thank you for your reply, much appreciated.
You're welcome!
There was an old boy in the gym I used to go to. He was massive and swore by his workout drink which was just water with a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of sugar in it.
Sounds like he was on to something!
quick question, do you not have to worry about adding any potassium?
Nope, no requirement to supplement potassium in a sports drink. No good evidence to support it's use during exercise. You should be able to get what you need through your diet
I used to make honey water back in the 90s when I was a competitive swimmer.
You were on it before it was trendy!
I use mineral salt 1/2 tsp per Liter water and 7 tsp of dextropur.
Gatorade mix for flavor, some extra sugar and salt, boom. Easy and cheap
Nice one!
I use coconut water too. Makes it more expensive though.
Very fancy 😉
Will be using this instead of spending on powders! I take it this is also good to use pre-run if taken over a couple of hours beforehand.
Thank you.
Yep, it can be used before a run. Personally, I'd either increase the amount of carbs or have it with some sort of solid food to help your carb stores be nicely topped up
Thanks, this is very informative.
I’m currently on vacation in Florida from Norway and was thinking I should try this out.
Would you ad some more salt to the recipe as it’s very warm her and I sweating a lot🥵😅
You're welcome! 😀 Norway to Florida is quite a change! You definitely can add more salt if you're sweating a lot. Up to about 1500mg of sodium per litre of fluid should be well tolerated for most people. That means 750mg of sodium per 500ml of fluid, which when converted, is just under 2g of table salt. So just under double the amount used in this video!
@@NutritionTriathlon Thank. This is very helpful. I will give it a try and get back to you with my experience😅
@21espeland you're welcome, yeah let me know 😀
@@NutritionTriathlon It worked🥳 On Saturday I joined a 50k here in Florida (John Holmes Trail Run) and I based my nutrition during the race only on this. Thanks ☺️
I hope to do this route someday! I didnt mind the music... i bet you spent a ton of time editing, so thank you for sharing
My pleasure, thank you too!
Hi, what about risk of diabetes etc? I normally only drink water. Or sparkling water when i train. Normally try to avoid calories from sugary drinks etc. outside milk and water, i dont drink much else.
I normally train 5/6 days a week. And go sauna each of those days too, and I'm very sweaty lol. So I'd probably need this drink most days I'm training anyway. So this is where I have a slight fear of it effecting me long term possibly
If you're using it appropriately, during exercise, and you need the calories/sugar then there should be no issue or relationship with diabetes!
I’ve been using this recipe for nearly 20 years, sometimes substitue salt for rehydration sachets. Always worked for me. Did the Marin Rough Ride and forgot to make up my juice. Used Lucozade Sport i stead. Had such bad cramp in my legs we had to abandon the ride. Not enough salt in it..
Sorry to hear about the cramps but sounds like you've perfected your own recipe!
@@NutritionTriathlon yeah my own fault. Bad preparation, but like I said, the recipe you use works an absolute treat and is so much cheaper than anything you can buy.
Also - the best value pre workout I’ve found by a long way is Aldi Energise Effervescent tablets. You get 20 of them in a tube next to the multivitamins. They’ve got beetroot extract in them and they are cheap as chips.
Pop one in some fruit juice before going out and you’re good. The beetroot extract makes your wee look like you’re massively dehydrated though!
good good. so on 1litre: -60gram- (EDIT: 30g rather, since the orange-jus already has lots of sugar (like 90g/l) sugar, 2gram salt, 330ml orange-jus. 660ml water. tastes good.
Yes, although your orange juice might contain calories, so I would double check that. I use orange squash which is double concentrated, so it's only a very small amount (15ml or so)
@@NutritionTriathlon I see, then I could use less sugar I guess. Thanks a lot!
Yes regular juice has sugar, @NitritionTriathlon uses a almost sugarfree concentrate that's sweetened with artificial sweeteners. It's not really juice and could confuse some that won't use the exact same product.
Excellent advice
Thank you!
Thank you for the helpful advice. During the UK summer, I spend a lot of time playing golf. I frequently experience fatigue due to the heat and I’m contemplating purchasing an electrolyte drink, but they tend to be quite pricey. Do you think your recipe could be a suitable alternative? Cheers in advance.
Hey, great question. Yes, absolutely, this would work well 🙂 depending on whether you need the carbohydrates for energy you could decrease the sugar content leaving you more of a "pure" electrolyte drink and then just eat normal food for your energy needs!
@@NutritionTriathlon I was thinking exactly the same thanks 🙏
Very interesting. One thing I noted when I went from X brand to another that I started to get get muscle cramps. Then I saw that the new brand didn't contain any magnesium (basically it was just sugar) so eventually I went back to the one that I was using before.. How would you add magnesium here?
Honestly, I wouldn't. Totally get why you might feel like you want to but based on the evidence we have available magnesium shouldn't be supplemented during exercise because there's no benefit
Table salt is highly processed would it not be better to use sea salt or similar?
No. Table salt is totally fine!
@@NutritionTriathlonDon't agree. Use Celtic sea salt with loads of minerals, everyone could use that extra magnesium (less cramps). It's also very cheap.
I challenge you to make a video on a non refined DIY sports drink. Especially on non refined sugar. If you truly care about peoples health... Don't blindly follow science and prescribe those horrible refined stuff. You know perfectly how much of this stuff athletes consume. Take your responsibility.
"Blindly follow science". What else do you propose, when the evidence supports using table salt and sugar within a sporting context? No good evidence for magnesium stopping cramps when adequately consumed through diet. No harmful effects shown when consuming sugar (refined or not, they all break down to the same basic molecules) appropriately around exercise
@@NutritionTriathlon Two problems with science: first of all evidence based science wasn't designed to be leading, it's just a source to help make decisions on. Second is the part of assumptions. Your assumption is that people are on healthy diet. That assumption is not evidence based, because most people are not. You assume people already have table salt in their kitchen. People who have that kind of salt, are in general people that know nothing about nutricion. They use refined products that lack most of the important minerals.
Your presented sports drink should be for people who don't have table salt or refined sugar in their kitchens at all. I still dare you to present that unrefined version :) for people who think they eat healthy but in general still use table salt for daily cooking. Because that's what most people do sadly.
Thanks for the simple instructions! Luckily I am a coffee nerd and have 0.1g scales for salt measurement.
I am not a fan of super sweet drinks but found juicing half a lemon into a similar mixture helped considerably.
Ha, perfect! Yet another perk of being a coffee nerd! That sounds great, and yeah you're not alone with the sweet drinks part. Glad the video was helpful 🙂
Great content, detailed and yet concise. As a swimmer doing 2,500-3,000 meter workouts, I'll slam down my sports drink in between sets. However, I find that I cramp up towards the end, especially during kick drills. Is there anything you would suggest that I could add to my drink to reduce cramping in the water?
Honestly I haven't really found a work around this with swimmers, it's something I've seen a lot. Other than increasing the sodium amounts (which you definitely could) there's no real evidence for anything else. The common problem I've seen is simply muscular fatigue rather than anything else - and there's not much you can do for that other that gradually improving strength + distance!
@@NutritionTriathlon thanks James. I’ll keep up with sodium and electrolytes and continue to build the meters in the pool and open water.
What about potassium and magnesium? I thought you also lose those while sweating
Not necessary to replace them during exercise - no good evidence for this
Hey James, thanks for this. What do you think about replacing sugar with honey?
You could definitely do that 🙂
Yes, but remember that honey is more acidic than ph neutral sugar so the honey could cause dental issues if used long term.
Now im new all to this so im expecting to be wrong here. Isn't all that sugar unhealthy? Or is it different since youre expecting to burn it off? How does it work?
Hey, and welcome! Sugar isn't unhealthy in isolation - it's all about context! If you have lots of sugar when you aren't doing exercise or needing it then it's going to be more "unhealthy". If you use it for exercise then it's definitely fine and more "healthy". I use speech marks there because it's all about context and moderation 🙂 there is pretty much no food that is categorically good or bad
James amazing person
or just mix fresh orange juice 50 50 with water...
I only drink water and get calories from food (not gels)
If it works for you then awesome! :)
Hey what about Potassium, Phosphate, Calcium, Chloride and Magnesium? 🙂
Hey 🙂 there's no good evidence to suggest those are useful for performance as part of a sports drink. Should be getting adequate through your diet, and sports focus only needs to be sodium.
Ok i shall try your drink, but what if i substitute juice with herbal tea? 🤔@@NutritionTriathlon
That's fine, as long as you enjoy the flavour and tolerate it. The juice is just used for flavour
Doesn't the juice add more carbs? Should we reduce the amount of sugar then?
The juice I used doesn't contain any as it's just a concentrate. If yours does and you want to keep the same overall quantity of carbs then yep!
On my run i have 2 squirts every 3 mile...this is 150ml water with 2 teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoon creatine and a squuze of lemon is this ok?
Depends on the length of your run and what your aim is. That's going to be quite low in carbohydrates so isn't going to provide much energy. Personally, I'd also save the creatine for a different time, like after your run
What about honey instead of table sugar?
Honey works too!
Would it help to add potassium?
Nope. No evidence to suggest supplementation of electrolytes other than sodium is useful during exercise. In your normal daily diet they're great, but no need with this.
I eat ca. 45-60 GR carbs a day!
That's not many!
A pack of staminade is $10 at my supermarket and I have heard of adding extra sugar to a serve to increase the carb mix as required and the staminade is just for flavour although 1 serve gives 20 grams carbs
I haven't heard of staminade, but it sounds like some sort of electrolyte carb mix. So yep, mixing in some extra table sugar would work well. But you definitely could skip the staminade altogether and just use table sugar, table salt and water 🙂
I was told to add it for a bit of flavour
Yeah fair enough! If that works then go for it, otherwise normal squash is good too 🙂
@@NutritionTriathlon might play around with a few combos
Is the benefit of the juice just flavor?
What about water, sugar, salt and then letting some fruit or cucumber seep in the fridge over night?
Yeah it is just for flavour. Your option would work 🙂
Question how many oranges would I need. Or lemon lines?
Honestly not sure I'm afraid, sorry! Probably a lot 😅
What about using cane molasse dissolved in water? I like its taste.
Should i add salt too?
From what I understand molasses contains a combination of glucose, fructose and sucrose. So it works, but the ratio of glucose:fructose won't be controlled as easily so it might be more likely to contribute to stomach upset. Yep, unless there's salt added otherwise then you can add salt with guidance as I mentioned in this video.
@@NutritionTriathlon thx for the answer.
I tolerate 60g/h of It with ease, will try adding salt as you said and test It.
What do i use if I‘m medically not allowed to use raffined sugars? :)
Does this mean you could have something like honey or maple syrup?
Thanks for this. I knew these ingredients were the only real things in sports drinks, but I've had the ammounts way off (too much salt, not enough sugar).
No problem at all, happy to help!
What temperature for the water? Also can it be stored in the fridge overnight once mixed?
I just use room temperature water. And yep should be fine to store overnight and use the next day, but I wouldn't store it for longer than that
@@NutritionTriathlon Thanks. Just for convenience as Iride first thing in the morning.
You're welcome. Me too.. just about to hop on the bike 👍
Raw sugar and sea salt is the best.
It's not "the best" but it's definitely an option!
I have been doing this my whole life
Awesome!
BUT a mixture of pure Glucose and fructose is absorbed more efficient because if you take sucrose your body has to break it down into its components
While you're right in that your body has to break down sucrose, the reality is that this is negligible in terms of time + performance differences. You'll break down sucrose rapidly and it's not going to significantly impact absorption or substrate utilisation times. Plus, sucrose has a lower osmolarity than glucose/fructose together, which actually might make it better due to quicker transit time through the stomach (but again, realistically negligible and I'm just playing devil's advocate).
I do something similar except I skip the sugar because of diabetes. Just lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt and water.
You're doing it wrong, your mix has zero carbs ie zero energy
@@RealWorldAustralia I don’t need the energy. I need the electrolytes. I’m not out long enough to need the energy, but I’m a crazy sweater.
Made it with extra sugar so yummy yum
All the sugar!
Couple of questions…if I don’t have scales at all, is it roughly 3 spoons of sugar to half a spoon of salt? And also, I’m assuming that by ‘tablespoon’ you mean a larger spoon like you’d eat pudding with, , rather than a ‘teaspoon’ which is the smaller one for stirring tea, coffee etc? Just so I don’t get the wrong size and proportions…many thanks.
Tea spoon yes.
Hey. With the sugar I'm talking about TABLESPOONS but with the salt I'm talking about TEASPOONS.
Only reason I'm putting those in caps is because it's really important to highlight those two are different - a tablespoon of salt would be dangerous! (plus taste awful)
@@NutritionTriathlon thank you
How many carbs are in the 30 grams of table sugar ? Is it 30? Just trying to figure out how much sugar to put in for a two hour ride in a 22 oz bottle
Yep! It will contain 15g of glucose and 15g of fructose
Is it any good for people doing powerlifting or bodybuilding? Do you have to take it before/while/after workout?
To be honest unless it's a particularly long session I would just focus on a good meal beforehand with plenty of carbohydrates, so rice/pasta/bread etc
You said the juice doesn't contain sugar but its made with 40% fruit?
Sorry, probably a bit confusing there. More of a marketing thing on their behalf. When you actually look at the carbohydrate amount per serving it's
How big is the serving tho?
It's great, thank you😁
My pleasure!
About to start a sports drink Company with this information
😉 easy
Might give it a go, does a 90g sugar mix still dissolve okay?
Yeah it does, it'll just be very sweet! Give it a go and see what you think 🙂
Use caster sugar rather than standard table sugar. Caster sugar is exactly the same as table sugar but is much finer and therefore dissolves easier.
Thank you very much for this recipe, I've tried it a couple of times and really like it. I do have one questions though. I looked at some of the cheapest premixed sports and found that at Decathlon they sell two versions of their cheapest homebrand iso sport drink. The regular iso and their iso+ for workouts over 3 hours. The main difference in ingredients that I found was that their iso+ uses a lot more maltodextrin and less sugars (dextrose, sucrose, fructose). After a bit of googling I found that maltodextrin is a longer carb chain than those sugars and should thus take a little longer to enter your bloodstream? (I think, my knowledge is limited). To me that logic makes sense for longer workouts one the one hand, but on the other you use the sugars so quickly that it might not matter that much? Anyway my question is do you think there is any merit to using a mix of tablesugar and maltodextrin for longer workouts or should just tablesugar still be fine for longer efforts?
Thanks in advance
Hey. Great question. To be honest this is a very minimal difference. Maltodextrin is still broken down rapidly for energy, and the overall difference is going to be minimal. If you want slower digesting carbs/sugar then you should consider ones like isomaltulose. However, I don't actually recommend these due to the increased risk of tummy problems with slower digesting sugars and no clear performance benefit according to evidence.
@@NutritionTriathlon Hi, thanks for the quick response and clear explanation. I will stick to regular tablesugar for now then. Although I heard maltodextrin is also nice because it tastes less sweet, so I might try it for that reason!
I'm primarily a sprint course athlete at the moment so I know this doesn't apply to my as much as others, but I was curious...I'm currently taking Gatorade Endurance which is 22g of carbs and 300mg of sodium. Do you think that range is fine for me or should I go looking for a different supplement? Thanks as always, James!
Totally depends on exercise duration 🙂 do you mean during a sprint triathlon? If you do, that range is ok as you aren't really getting much benefit from it because if
Or you could use 1 serve for flavour then add extra sugar
This looks great!!! Would you recommend having this most days? I need something in the afternoons whilst at work, would this be any good? I am fed up with lucozade! it makes my feet swell :( I must be allergic to something in it!
Hi 🙂 What do you do for work? I wouldn't recommend this for most people for work, unless they do a physically active job and cannot get enough energy through whole foods. Something like this or lucozade should almost always be reserved for sport specific scenarios.
You probably just need good sleep and avoid too many carbs for lunch
Is this good for hockey players ? Doesn’t the sugar make you crash after an hr or so ?
Defo works for hockey players. No, the sugar shouldn't lead to crashes. If anything it will improve performance
@@NutritionTriathlonthank you for your quick reply … can I use Greek honey instead and add a little less sugar?
I also use Himalayan and Celtic salt , is that in ?
Very helpful, thanks!
My pleasure 🙂
Thanks for that clip!!!!!!
You're welcome! 🙂
Combination of two sugars is superior as long as it’s in 2:1 ratio for glucose to fructose. 60g maltodextrin and 30g fructose does a far better job and it’s a lot healthier for your teeth. Both are available as powder and in bulk.
Hey, thanks for the comment! The 2:1 ratio isn't actually the gold standard if you look at the research, it seems like 1:0.8 is - so much closer to 1:1 which is what table sugar is!
@@NutritionTriathlon
Wow great info. Could you link the papers please.
@@NutritionTriathlon I believe that research is what SiS refer to for their beta fuel line formula.
The caveat is: In table sugar, glucose and fructose dön"'t float around as immediately available monosaccharides, which that new lower ratio appears optimized for. I persist in adding a bit more immediately available maltodextrin to my sugar and elewctrolyte water. If it congests my absorption bandwidth for glucose incrementally liberated from the sucrose, fine. The sucrose gets split anyway, giving me additional fructose absorption on top of the already maxxed out glucose vector. If the latter is not yet maxxed out from maltodextrin, even better - additional gluco-cals per minute from the sucrose to join the effort.
I like sport drink very much.
I use a sugar laden iced tea mix and add some potassium chloride and some sodium chloride and I stick that in my Salomon sensibelt bottle.
Sounds good to me! Probably quite refreshing with the iced tea?
they upped the price of lucozade sport at my local spar shop to £2.80 per bottle... absolutely fucking not. will be making these from now on, cheers!
Haha no problem! So expensive!!
You should make an advanced video where you mix maltodextrin and fructose instead of sugar for the next step;) And let me know how long I can store those mixes;)
Yeah this is something I'll definitely do! It's on the list 😉 thanks for your comment on my other video, and like that one I think if drinking within 24 hours it should be fine 🙂
Maybe in that video it would be worthwhile mentioning whether it’s worth adding potassium to our DIY drinks! Thanks for this video!
Can say now that it's not worth adding potassium to it. Not really useful for sporting performance, you can get enough through your diet. You're welcome!
any need for potassium?
Nope! No evidence to use potassium in a sports drink
Great video, thank you. I wanted to ask, if I were to run 5k and wanted to make such drink but just in a cup. What would the servings be?
Hey, you're welcome! I don't quite understand your question fully, sorry! You mean you want to make the same drink but less volume of liquid? The same or less ingredients?
I mean if you want the same drink just less of it just use less of the ingredients but keep the ratio (say you only want 200ml then multiply the numbers from the video by 0.4). But i dont think theres any need for this when you just want to run a 5k
I doubt you would need a carb drink for a 5K run, no matter how slow you were.
how about replacing sugaer with stevia though?
Then you miss out on the carbohydrate benefit of sugar, which is beneficial for lots of different exercise
Why do you need fructose at all?
Because it improves exercise performance and carbohydrate absorption
Any details on that? How does it do it.
awsome! thanks
Welcome! 🙂
Hey James, I have been trying out to mix Maltodextrin and Fructose in a 2:1 ratio. It is so incredibly sweet I can almost not drink it. Any advice? Only Maltodextrin is the best, because it doesn’t taste sweet at all. But if I try to get in more than 60 grams per hour I would need to add those 30 grams of fructose, right?
Hey Mathias! Yep, you're right. Theoretically you might be able to tolerate more glucose/maltodextrin on its own but it's better to have the fructose. You could try using a bitter type squash instead of a sweet fruity one. Also make sure you've added the salt, but admittedly that might not be enough. Personally I don't mind it so haven't tried experimenting on how to make it less sweet. Let me know if you find anything!
1:16 ilike the video BUT BUT 1G OF SALT I CRAZY SALTY
NORE THEN CHIPS
It's really not that crazy!
Bro looks goofy in that reflection 😂 1:34
GoPro and other cameras 😆
Where's the Mg, the K and the caffeeine? Not very diverse on vitamins either
Magnesium and potassium are not required in a sports drink, not are vitamins and minerals. Get those through your diet! Caffeine is also not needed and someone could consume that as an extra if they wanted!
@@NutritionTriathlon Cope
What about potassium?
Potassium just isn't really needed. No good evidence to show it helps with endurance performance. Have a healthy, balanced diet and you should be getting enough
wondering if i can do this with Dextrose Glucose
Well, dextrose is just glucose, so you'll be missing out on the fructose
Thx!
Welcome 😊
I'm in Brazil and climate here is pretty hot, I sweat moderately, any adjustments I should consider or stick with the basic recipe? For z2 cycling how much fluid should I be taking per hour, roughly? I'm 68 kg.
Hey. My first question would be how do you find your training? Do you feel particularly dehydrated or like you struggle?
If not, the basic recipe might be fine. However you could double the salt content and still be within sensible limits. So that would be 2g of salt per 500ml fluid, which would be 800mg sodium, or 1600mg per litre. As mentioned, some people may need as much as 2000mg/litre. Very much individual though!
A good starting point of fluid per hour is 500ml. If you find yourself still thirsty or dehydrated then you should drink more. 750-1000ml isn't uncommon - again individual. How thirsty do you feel, how dehydrated?
@@NutritionTriathlon I'd say I've been lacking when it comes to rehydration. I finish a 2 hour ride, drink lots of water when I come home and still find my urine to be concentrated. I'm still organizing things in my bike, so that I can take more water along, currently I only carry a single bottle and use the other holder for food and tools. I'll be taking 2 bottles now and I'll start with the basic recipe and see how my body responds. Thank you
can diabetics drink this?
Unfortunately that's one of those "it depends" because that's really context specific (t1dm vs t2dm, insulin controlled vs not, what the scenario is etc). Can't give a broad answer there - sorry
what about all the other electrolytes
They aren't required for this :)
I've done this with maple syrup instead of sugar / squash? I find it doesn't get sticky?
Sounds good! Similar to another comment about molasses, as I understand it with maple syrup there is also a combination of sucrose and as well as individual glucose/fructose molecules, which means knowing the exact glucose:fructose ratio is more difficult and there will be variation across products. But it can definitely work!
So you don’t need to make the sugar water on the stove?
Nope! 🙂 Just give it a good shake in the bottle and it should mix in fine
What's your take on GU powder with the BCAA in them?
Is that the roctane powder? Depends on your intended use.
I'm not aware of any evidence that BCAAs improve performance in endurance exercise, and for the most part BCAAs are unnecessary. Beta alanine is useful for interval training, but you have to supplement and take it every day for it to be useful, so it's kind of pointless in this. Better to just buy beta alanine separately if you want to use it!
@@NutritionTriathlon Yes it was the roctane powder. They are marketing for endurance exercise so I was wondering if there was any benefit. Thanks for responding!
Is this good for wolt courier on bike going up to 30km distance on sun, sweting like crazy!?
Should still work for that too, yep! 1g of table salt (so 400mg sodium) per 500ml of fluid should work well for that. If you're feeling dehydrated despite that, and depending on how much you sweat and how hot it is, you could increase that to about 1.5g of table salt per 500ml of fluid
@@NutritionTriathlon thank you on replay, it helpes so much. I mean drinks for it are so expensive here
Hi James how could you make your own powdered carb mix if doing something like a grandfondo or ironman. Would love to see a video on making another carb mix drink that can be powdered for long events or being able to travel with the mix.
Hey, this is a great idea. I've got a bit of a backlog with videos at the moment, but I've added this for the future!
So... basically lemonade but with orange juice instead of lemons...
And without the fizz 😉
What if I use honey instead of sugar?
Honey will work well too! It won't be a a 1:1 ratio but it will be good to use 🙂
Sure you can do that, but be aware that bears will get attracted to you.
Is it vegan?
Yes! 🙂
How comes that you tell that in table salt there is 40% sodium and 60% chloride? Chemical Term is sodium chloride, but it is one ionic compound, formula: NaCl. You can not seperate it. If it shall be calculated the ratio must be 1:1. This is the state it exists in nature as sea salt or rock salt and so it comes to the customer in packages. Minor Trace elements exist of cause. In your Video it sounds like the factory mixes sodium and chlorine and sells it as salt.
Same with the sugar, but more complex because of bigger molecules. Chemically, sucrose is one chrystal which is built up by 1:1 ratio of glucose and fructose. Again this is not the factory's reciepe, but the natural beeing of household sugar.
Hey. You're right that it's a 1:1 ratio but for simplicity's sake I'm talking about the weight/mass of it and not the ratio. By weight, sodium chloride is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. In practical terms, this means that you can take 40% of "salt" and that is how much sodium it contains.
Hope that makes sense!