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16 July 2026 · Team Brotein
Long sessions, hot days, heavy sweaters: sometimes plain water leaves you flat. Here is when electrolytes actually matter, and when they are just flavour.
Hydration advice usually stops at "drink more water". For most desk days that is the whole answer. But if you train hard, train long, or train in South African summer heat, water alone can leave you flat. Here is the honest version of when electrolytes earn their place.
Sweat is not just water. Its biggest dissolved loss is sodium, with smaller amounts of potassium and other minerals. The American College of Sports Medicine's position stand on fluid replacement puts typical sweat rates during exercise anywhere from roughly half a litre to two litres an hour, varying hugely between people, and flags sodium as the main electrolyte to replace when losses are high.¹
That "varies hugely" part matters. A salty sweater doing a 90 minute session in Durban humidity and someone doing 40 minutes in an air-conditioned gym are playing different games.
Shortish sessions, cool conditions, normal sweat: water covers you. Your kidneys and your next meal handle the rest. Nobody needs an electrolyte drink for a 45 minute lift in winter, and we are not going to pretend otherwise to sell sachets.
The case for adding sodium and friends gets real when the losses do¹:
Drinking large amounts of plain water in those situations replaces the water but not the sodium, which is exactly the mismatch the ACSM guidance warns about.¹ That is the flat, headachy, crampy feeling late in a long session.
Simple: mix OGC Hydration Salts into your session bottle when the conditions above apply, or grab the African Citrus 30-pack if you want single servings for the gym bag. Sip through the session rather than downing it at the end.
And on the days it is 40 minutes in a cool gym? Water is free. Use it.
