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It’s time you start thinking more about your water intake. As a review article published in Nutrients in 2021 explains, hydration status during endurance exercise can affect an athlete’s overall performance, with moderate to severe dehydration hindering aerobic exercise and increasing physiological strain (in other words, it makes your body work harder). To avoid this, researchers recommend going into your rides with a hydration plan, rather than only going off thirst.
While prepackaged sports drinks are convenient for maintaining hydration, homemade sports drinks can offer an alternative, more cost effective option. Plus, it leaves you with no plastic bottles to put in the recycling bin!
A homemade sports drink needs to include three ingredients to help replace the water and minerals lost in sweat and the carbohydrates burned during exercise that you need to keep moving: sugar, salt, and H2O. While commercially-made drinks include electrolytes, it is easy enough to add them at home too, Leslie Bonci, M.P.H., R.D., a sports nutritionist at Pittsburgh-based company Active Eating Advice and co-author of Bike Your Butt Off tells Bicycling.
“The carbohydrate is the cheapest part of the sports drink,” she says. “We pay for the bottle, added flavors, and any number of added ingredients. Sugar water is not fancy but can be as effective, and if you add a couple of shakes of salt, you have a drink that’s comparable to a sports drink at a fraction of the cost.”
Why do you need to add sugar to a homemade sports drink?
Table sugar a.k.a. sucrose is probably the number-one ingredient to add to a homemade sports drink if you want to maintain your energy on a ride. “Sucrose can provide the necessary carbohydrate during exercise to prevent a drop in blood glucose, which is really the reason you’re taking in fuel for prolonged activity,” Bonci explains.
“A mix of carbohydrates, like sucrose, which is actually two sugars—glucose plus fructose—may be more efficiently used by your muscles during exercise than a single source such as glucose,” Bonci says. That’s because each sugar has specific transporters in the intestines, and once one type’s transporters become saturated (this happens around 60 grams of glucose per hour), you can’t absorb any more of that type until they become available again; they can only absorb so much per hour. Taking in different kinds of sugars helps you absorb more.
Why should you add salt to a homemade sports drink?
Replacing the salt lost in sweat is important for endurance athletes, particularly if you’re a salty sweater or riding in a hot environment, as it helps you absorb and retain fluids. According to the researchers of the Nutrients study mentioned, if you have large amounts of white salt deposits on your shirt, jersey, or shorts, that might be an indicator that you have a high sweat rate and high levels of sodium in that sweat. Additionally, if you find you’re craving salt during or after a ride, it could mean you need to take in more sodium.
Keep in mind, you don’t need a ton of salt to help replenish or maintain sodium levels. Let the recipes below guide you to those necessary sodium numbers.
9 Homemade Sports Drink Recipes
These recipes below offer the easiest and quickest mixes. For recipes one to five, just fill up your bottle with water, add the ingredients, shake well, and go! Recipes six to nine are a little more time-intensive, but they’re well worth the effort.
Feel free to adjust the sweetness and saltiness for your preferences. When you like the taste of something, you’re more likely to drink what you need to stay hydrated.
1. Short & Sweet
The most basic of the bunch, you can use this recipe on its own or as a base to get creative with your own concoction.
Ingredients:
- bottle of water
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
2. Lemon-Lime Delight
With a minute of preparation the night before, you can have a tasty sports drink base ready to roll when you are, says Bonci. “Infuse water with any fruit flavor you prefer by slicing the fruit into a pitcher of water and letting it sit overnight,” she says. Citrus fruits, such as lemons and limes, provide a refreshing flavor boost for any season.
Ingredients:
- Bottle of lemon-and-lime infused water
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
3. Tropical Blend
Add a dash of potassium to your homemade sports drink with coconut water.
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups water
- 1 cup coconut water
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Makes about 30 ounces
4. Taste of Honey
A mix of honey and pineapple juice make this drink extra sweet, while still providing the nutrients you need to perform.
Ingredients:
- 3 ½ cups water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ¼ cup pineapple juice
Makes about 30 ounces
5. Maple Sports Drink
This easy-to-make, maple syrup-flavored recipe is delicious and settles well because it is not acidic, says recipe developer and author Nancy Clark, R.D, author of Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook. “When you are working out for more than an hour, enjoy this all-natural sports beverage to energize your workouts,” she says.
Ingredients:
- 3 ¾ cups cold water
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Makes about 32 ounces
Pro Tip: Maple syrup is also a tasty alternative to energy gels. Put some in a small flask and take nips during extended exercise.
6. “Greaterade”
When the Golden State Warriors decided to ban commercial sports drinks and started making their own with Himalayan sea salt, John Mitzewich (also known as Chef John) of FoodWishes in California's Bay Area, was inspired to try his own—with less sugar. “You can tweak this recipe to create your perfect formula,” Mitzewich says.
Ingredients:
- 8 cups fresh cold water
- 3 tablespoons honey or another sweetener to taste
- ½ teaspoon fine Himalayan pink salt, sea salt (or any pure salt)
- ¾ teaspoon calcium magnesium powder (like NOW Foods Cal-Mag Citrate)
- Pinch of cayenne
- ¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- Juice of 2 lemons
- Juice of 2 limes
Directions:
- Pour 1 cup of water into a large pot.
- Add honey, salt, calcium-magnesium powder, and cayenne.
- Place pot over low heat and whisk until ingredients have dissolved.
- Remove from heat and allow to return to room temperature.
- Add juices to room temperature mixture in pot.
- Pour in remaining 7 cups water and whisk until well blended.
Makes about 9 cups
7. Workout Punch
This tangy, sweet punch courtesy of the former Rodale’s Organic Life has just enough carbs to keep you fueled, while the water-sodium combination enhances hydration.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup hot water
- ¼ cup orange juice (not concentrate)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 ½ cups cold water
Directions:
- Dissolve sugar and salt in the bottom of a pitcher of hot water.
- Add juices and remaining water.
- Chill for 30 minutes.
Makes about 32 ounces
8. Watermelon-Mint Slushy
Research shows that cooling your core with an ice-cold slushy before exerting yourself in the heat can make hard rides in high temperatures more comfortable and help prevent overheating. As a bonus, the star player in this fruity slushy is watermelon—which is brimming with the antioxidant, lycopene to protect your skin from UV damage, as well as anthocyanins to help tame inflammation, and citrulline, an amino acid that might improve exercise performance or at least perceived effort and recovery from exercise.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups ice cubes
- 1 cup seltzer or flat water
- 1 cup cubed watermelon
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 1 tablespoon agave syrup or honey
- Juice of ½ lemon
Directions:
- In a blender, pulse the ice to the size of pebbles.
- Add the water, watermelon, mint, agave, and lemon juice.
- Pulse a few times until slushy.
Makes about 32 ounces
9. Iced Green-Ginger-Mint Tea
Sometimes a ride is just a ride, not a workout. We like this zingy green tea for just that occasion. It’s naturally loaded with flavor and high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, while being low in calories. Mint has also been shown to provide mental energy during exercise. You can add as much or as little honey as you’d like.
Ingredients:
- 3 cups cold water
- 3 bags green tea
- 2 slices of lemon
- 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and mashed
- 2 sprigs of mint
- Dash of honey simple syrup (2 to 3 tablespoons honey mixed with 2 to 3 tablespoons boiling water)
Directions:
- Add everything to your pitcher, pour in cold water, and let sit for a few hours. (Sun is great, but not necessary, while it steeps.)
- Pour over ice or refrigerate until chilled.
Makes about 24 ounces
Dr. Namrita Brooke is a full-time endurance sport coach and sport nutritionist advising active individuals and amateurs to professional athletes. She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Movement Sciences and Health at University of West Florida. Professionally, she also serves on the Board of Editors of the Sports Nutrition Care Manual and remains involved in nutrition and exercise-related research, student mentorship, and coach development. Namrita's personal athletic experience ranges from ultra-endurance mountain biking to off-road triathlon, cross-country mountain bike racing, gravel cycling, duathlon, cyclocross, running, and trail running. Her research background includes hydration and sports drink research, and the interaction of nutrition, physical activity, and the brain.
