I use salt stix as do a lot of triathletes, and have had no issues with them at all. In fact they have a new one that has a tiny bit of caffeine in them for racing or long rides, which comes in handy too. And you have to play around with dosage according to your body and the heat outside, so start small and increase as needed.

You're going to get mixed feedback here as well. Some people swear by them and some people won't touch them. If you want to try them start with the recommended dose and see if it works for you.

I think the first question you should ask is why do you think you need them and move on from there.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

Agreed. If you sweat heavy and cramp, you probably need them. Otherwise, probably not.

I sweat a lot and use to cramp. The only thing that seems to work is Gatorlytes. I don't seems to need that as much now except on IM races and very hot days. It's in a packet though, so not so convenient.

I started using Salt Stix and cutting back on my hydration mix. I seem to feel better than when I drank a recommended portion of hydration mix.

Saltstick. Nothing beats it. Easy to take the pills or break them open and mix the ingredients into any drink of your choosing.

The dispensers are super convenient as well. Worth looking into for LD training and racing.

Cheers

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@EddyRoche
www.eddyroche.com

I use Meta-Salt. Made by the same company that makes Carbo-Pro. I sweat a lot and Meta-Salt works, no cramping. I like them, too, because unlike Hammer's Endurolytes, which you have to take handfuls of at a time, I only take two Meta-Salt before a work out and then 2 every two hours thereafter, depending on the heat.

If you believe you need additional electrolytes, what we typically do is first look at what you're drinking, before we move towards taking electrolyte capsules. For example, we recently had an athlete who was consuming ~200cal /hour of HEED & then using about 1/2 dozen additional endurolytes. This 'recipe' had her around 320mg of sodium /hour, but her biggest issue was all the capsules & she wanted to simplify the process. It was beyond me why an athlete w/ above normal electrolyte needs would be using two products with the LEAST amount of electrolytes, so we aimed to correct this.

What we did was change her drink to EFS & at the same hourly caloric marks, moved her sodium intake from 320mg to 600mg /hour (& she's now taking ZERO electrolyte capsules vs nearly 20 of them over a 1/2 IM bike leg). So by changing the drink & removing her chosen electrolyte caps, we nearly DOUBLED her sodium intake from 320mg to 600mg /hr.

So...the moral of the story is you may need additional electrolytes above & beyond what's in your drinks (ie Jordan Rapp's IMNYC Nutrition Report). We're not averse to this & think the SaltStick Caps are a fantastic option if you need to do so, but before going in this direction, you may want to first look at the content of your drinks & go from there.

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Brian Shea
http://www.PersonalBestNutrition.com
Open-Water/Masters Swimming at the Jersey Shore:
Monmouth County NJ Ocean Swim/Masters Workouts

I had some expired leftover Endurolytes so used those, just got my Saltstick in the mail today, testing it out tomorrow. I'm switching over from Fizz because I'm starting to use the CamelBak and I like to be able to measure what of each I'm taking in and even it out through the race or training and adjust as necessary, and before with one Fizz per water bottle worked great but with the CamelBak not so much.

Haven't noticed any ill effects. I like to manage each thing separately, water, electrolytes, and calories. It may be hot and I may need more water but not more calories, etc.

Wow thanks for all the responses. Will definitely try some of the suggestions given to me.

Bumping this as I have finished a tub of HEED and curious what else is out there or if I should buy another tub of HEED.

Just looking at labels, it seems like HEED has less than 15% of the sodium that is in Skratch, eload, EFS, etc..., 25% of what is in Gatorade.

I really haven't paid much attention to this. I bought the HEED because the bike shop had some and other people in my club seemed to have enjoyed it. I normally use Gatorade while training because it is cheap. But I FEEL like I have raced very well on HEED in 1.5-2hr MTB races with very rare cramping issues, certainly not more than when I used to use Gatorade. Sometimes I'll drop in 1 Endurolytes pill but that is still only another 40mg of sodium. I guess I could buy something else to use for racing in the heat. I'm just generally curious why it's an outlier on sodium content.

I guess I could buy something else to use for racing in the heat. I'm just generally curious why it's an outlier on sodium content.

A zombie salt tab thread, love it!! And if you think about what you are taking vs salt tabs, it really is not an outlier. The tabs are a very small amount of sodium(some with more indegredints), so you just take what you think/feel you need. Everyone takes different amounts, that is the beauty of the salt tab, easily adjustable for each persons needs. If this mixture is working for you then just keep with it. If you need just a bit more on really hot or longer days, supplement with a salt tabs. From what I have seen in racing, it is really hard to take too much for those in need, more often very hard to keep up for many. I like salt stix, they had a couple other minerals that get leeched during extreme sweating, and they even have a lightly caffeinated version to go with that de fizzed coke in the last hours!!