The major focus of sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade is that they provide nutrients and electrolytes in addition to just plain water. In order to determine whether or not a sports drink is more beneficial than water we need to understand what happens when we sweat. The major electrolytes lost in sweat during exercise are sodium (Na) and Chloride (Cl). 4 liters of sweat contains 3-7 grams of sodium.

The average North American consumes 6-9 grams of sodium per day! Sweat is relatively hypotonic compared to the body’s cellular fluid which means that you lose a lot more water than electrolytes like sodium when you sweat.

There are 3 conditions where electrolyte replacement should be considered:

1) Exercise lasting longer than 1 hour
2) Excessive heat during exercise
3) Salty sweaters (athletes who notice that their sweat is salty as it usually tastes salty and leaves white marks on their skin and clothing)

A lot of hockey players meet at least one of the 3 conditions for electrolyte replacement. Another factor affecting hockey performance is maintaining adequate carbohydrate/sugar stores in the blood and muscles. Unfortunately, many sports drinks add way too much sugar to their products in order to enhance the flavor and therefore your buying habits. A sports drink should not contain more than 8% carbohydrates in the form of sugar. A few sports drinks on the market contain sugar and electrolytes in adequate proportions to satisfy most players’ sugar and electrolyte needs. Unfortunately most of them also contain artificial colors and flavors to make them more marketable.

I like to use the following home recipe modified from Nancy Clark’s Sport Nutrition Guide, 2nd edition:

• Dissolve 4 Tbsp. raw organic sugar and ¼ tsp. sea salt in a ¼ cup boiling purified water
• Add ¼ cup raw organic orange or lemon juice and 3 ¾ cup cold purified water and chill in the refrigerator

This is a great home recipe for a sports drink that you can bring to the rink or your next workout. Let me know if you have your own recipes that we can share with the HockeyOT community.

Dr. Chad Moreau is the President of HockeyOT.com, an online training site dedicated to improving the fitness level of hockey players of all levels. He was the former Strength & Conditioning/Nutrition Consultant for the Edmonton Oilers (NHL) and the Long Beach Ice Dogs (ECHL). For more information please visit hockeyot.com.