Sport & training
Replace what
sweat takes.
From 45 minutes of effort onward, water alone starts falling short. Here’s the pre-during-post serve plan that keeps training days productive — without the sugar load of a sports drink.
The numbers
A hot session is a different session.
Training indoors in an air-conditioned gym, you might lose half a litre an hour. Move the same session outdoors — a 5 PM pitch in a Gulf summer, a dawn run before the humidity lifts — and sweat rates multiply, taking sodium and potassium with the water. A litre of sweat carries somewhere between 460 and 1,840 mg of sodium and 160 to 390 mg of potassium out of the body, and plain water refills the volume while replacing none of it. Cramps, headaches and flat second halves usually trace back to that gap.
A 500 ml Hydralyte serve puts 105 mg of sodium and 180 mg of potassium back, with chloride, calcium and magnesium alongside and 500 mg of vitamin C — the balanced, potassium-led ratio the science page explains, at a fraction of the 20–35 g of sugar a sports drink carries in the same bottle. Which pack you reach for depends on the moment: a 20 g stick in the hour before, a tablet in the flask during, a chilled VitaSport+ after. Pick a flavour you will finish; the serve is identical across all four. The same plan scales down for children on a sports day and shifts its clock for training while fasting.
The serve plan
Pre, during, post — and after that.
Four moments around a session, timed from the start of the effort. Most training days need one or two of them; a long, hot one uses all four.
Prime
20 g stick · 500 mlA full serve in the hour before training starts you hydrated, not chasing hydration. A stick mixes into any bottle in ten seconds.
Sustain
Tablet · 250 ml flaskPast the 45-minute mark, sip a mixed bottle through the breaks — one tablet or a 10 g mini per 250 ml — replacing electrolytes while you drink, not after.
Recover
VitaSport+ · 500 mlA cold VitaSport+ after the session replaces the last of the losses — 17 kcal per 100 ml, low sugar, ready where you finish. A stick in a bottle does the same job.
Rebalance
Water · a mealWater with the next meal. The remaining sodium gap is deliberate — food closes it — and one to three serves a day is the ceiling for most people.
The serve guide
How much, when, which pack.
Every value is the pack ratio from the formats page — 20 g per 500 ml, one tablet or 10 g per 250 ml — placed at the moment it does the most work.
| Moment | Water | Format and amount | How often |
|---|---|---|---|
| The hour before | 500 ml bottle | One 20 g stick, or two effervescent tablets | Once per sessionsipped, not downed |
| Past 45 minutes | 250 ml flaskor a 500 ml bottle | One tablet or one 10 g mini per 250 ml; one stick per 500 ml; or a chilled VitaSport+ | Through the breaksonly on sessions that run long |
| After the session | 500 ml | One VitaSport+ bottle (ready to drink), or one 20 g stick | Oncecold, where you finish |
| Rest days | Water | Nothing to mix | Water is all you needone to three serves a day is the ceiling in heat, training or illness |
A note on conditions. The serve is built for daily prevention — low sodium, low sugar — not clinical recovery. If you manage a medical condition, or your training is medically supervised, check with your doctor before changing what you drink around sessions. For a target sized to your body weight and the day’s heat, run the personal hydration calculator.
Formats for training
Three packs, one gym bag.
The stick for the bottle, the tube for the flask and the drawer, the bottle for the moment you will not stop to mix. All three carry the same five minerals and vitamin C.
The 20 g stick
One stick, one 500 ml bottle, one complete serve. Tears open with wet hands and takes up no more room than a pen.
Read about the stick
The effervescent tube
Twenty tablets, each making a 250 ml serve — two for a 500 ml bottle. Nothing to measure, and the backup that lives in the drawer.
Read about the tube
VitaSport+ RTD
A chilled 500 ml bottle — 17 kcal per 100 ml, low sugar, three formulas for before, during and after. No mixing, no excuse.
Read about the bottleThe dawn-run kit
Light enough to run with.
The early session is the one the heat lets you have, and it is the one where carrying a jar makes no sense. A 10 g mini and a soft flask weigh nothing, mix at the railing and turn a 250 ml top-up into a full serve of the five minerals — no bottle to fill, no powder to measure.
- The hour before: a 20 g stick in a 500 ml bottle at home, sipped while you get ready.
- In the pocket: one 10 g mini per 250 ml soft flask — tear, pour, shake, run.
- Past 45 minutes: sip through the run rather than waiting for the finish.
- At the door: a VitaSport+ from the fridge, then water with breakfast. Mixing notes for every format.
The playbook
Three habits that keep sessions honest.
Pre-load, don’t chase
A serve before the session beats two after it. Once you are behind in the heat, the rest of the workout is spent catching up.
Count the minutes
Under 45 minutes indoors, water is enough. Past it — or any time outdoors between 10 AM and 4 PM — the serve earns its place.
Cold sells itself
A bottle that is cold gets finished; a warm one gets abandoned in the car. Keep the case in the cooler, not on the dashboard.
Training FAQ
The questions athletes ask.
When does water alone stop being enough?
From about 45 minutes of effort onward, and sooner outdoors between 10 AM and 4 PM. Any time you are losing more than you are sipping — a long session, a hot pitch, a drive home with the AC fighting 45°C outside — a balanced serve replaces the minerals that water cannot.
Is Hydralyte a sports drink?
No. Sports drinks are built for taste and carry 20–35 g of sugar per 500 ml with modest electrolytes. A Hydralyte serve flips the ratio: 105 mg of sodium, 180 mg of potassium, 500 mg of vitamin C and low sugar. It is hydration with a purpose, not a soft drink in gym clothing.
Which format goes in the gym bag?
The 20 g stick — flat, sealed, one 500 ml serve, mixes in any bottle. Keep a 20-tablet tube in the locker or the drawer as the backup, and a case of VitaSport+ in the fridge for the moment you will not stop to mix. The formats page has the full size guide.
Can it help with cramps after training?
Sweat removes potassium, calcium and magnesium as well as sodium, and all of them are implicated in heat cramps when they run low. A serve replaces all five minerals; taking it before and during a long session, rather than after, is what keeps the gap from opening. If cramps persist, check with your doctor.
Can I drink VitaSport+ before training as well as after?
Yes. The three formulas — Ignite, Defence and Perform — are built for before, during and after the heat, and every bottle is the same five-mineral serve with 500 mg of vitamin C, low sugar and 17 kcal per 100 ml (85 kcal per bottle). Chill it; a cold bottle gets finished. The VitaSport+ page compares the three.
More on the numbers, the flavours and the packs: science · flavours · formats · VitaSport+.
More guides
Also for you.
Train hard. Recover easy.
Stock the gym bag with sticks and the fridge with VitaSport+ — the full how-to lives on the formats page.