Hydration That Actually Works: Electrolytes, Minerals & L-alanyl-L-Glutamine

There was a time when I thought hydration meant two things: water and pushing through, but not anymore. After one too many long rides in the summer heat, followed by a week of tight hamstrings, brain fog and flat performances, I realised that water alone wasn’t cutting it. My joints ached and my recovery lagged, and even a glass of tap water felt pretty underwhelming. I’d learned the hard way that when you sweat hard, especially in tough workouts or hot days, you lose more than water, namely: electrolytes, trace minerals, and the subtle chemistry that keeps your body functioning properly.

What I discovered, thanks to the Xendurance team here, is that real hydration occurs when you’re drinking smart. Think about it as replacing what you lost and not just refilling the tank. And that’s why I started using Hydro Sticks from Xendurance which are a blend of electrolytes, trace minerals, and L-alanyl-L-glutamine that doesn’t just rehydrate you, but helps your body absorb water, restore balance, and bounce back faster.

In my youth I always thought of sweat as basically your body’s salty water being released… ah, the simplicity of it makes me smile writing this. Sweat actually carries with it sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride, all minerals your muscles, nerves, and cells rely on to contract, to recover, and to regenerate. Lose enough of them, and things start to break down into cramps, cramps, fatigue, poor concentration, and/or sluggish recovery. Studies confirm that dehydration, especially during prolonged endurance work, can impair your plasma volume, reduce power output, increase perceived exertion, and delay recovery.

Plain water dilutes those ions and doesn’t simply replace like them like younger me would have thought. Here’s a worse fact for you: you can drink gallons and still be under-mineralised. That’s why your “I drank plenty of water” race-day excuse can still fall apart by kilometre 20 because your cells lack the electrolytes to hold onto it or use it. Interesting that isn’t it! Basically defying conventional wisdom to a degree.

If you’ve ever felt flat, weak, or crampy on a humid night ride despite thinking you “hydrated properly”, that was your body crying out for more than H₂O.

So getting into it, an effective electrolyte blend does two things really well: restores minerals lost through sweat and supports fluid uptake. Sodium, potassium and magnesium play critical roles in muscle contraction, nerve signalling, hydration balance and joint function.

But it’s not just about minerals — recovery and hydration happens at a cellular level. That’s where the added amino acid L-alanyl-L-glutamine becomes a game-changer. Scientific studies show that supplementation with this glutamine dipeptide helps improve fluid and electrolyte uptake during hydration stress, significantly enhancing endurance under heat or heavy sweat conditions.

In plain English? When you drink water with Hydro Sticks, you're giving your body the tools to absorb that fluid and actually make it usable again. It supports muscle hydration, helps maintain electrolyte balance, and reduces the risk of cramp or fatigue that sneaks in when you neglect sweat loss.

It’s tricky, because early dehydration doesn’t always shout, often it whispers like a niggling headache, slower reaction times, tight muscles, a slightly off mood, or that creeping tiredness before the run even starts. Some rock climbers or cyclists chalk it up to fatigue or lack of sleep but the root cause is often dehydration and mineral depletion.

In strength or endurance training, even a 2% drop in hydration can affect performance, reduce muscle output, and impair recovery.

For me, the turning point came on a hot summer block where I woke up crampy, basically flat-lined during intervals, then I couldn’t sleep because my legs kept twitching to the extent my wife called me Michael Flatley for days. That’s when I started treating hydration as part of the training and not something to fix afterwards, but a system to maintain throughout.

Hydro Sticks:

Here’s how I use Hydro Sticks, the little canister now sitting on my kitchen windowsill:

On hot or heavy training days, I mix one stick in 500–750ml of water and sip throughout the session. Sodium and potassium get me through sweat losses. Magnesium and trace minerals keep muscles and joints smooth. L-alanyl-L-glutamine helps the fluid actually get absorbed and not bounce around my stomach.

Afterwards, when others are grabbing water or sugary sports drinks, I’m topping up with Hydro again for the clean electrolytes, no sugar crash, and no artificial load. Even on non-training days, if I'm working long hours or outside in warm weather, I’ll mix one with water midday. It’s become part of my daily hygiene, like brushing teeth or stretching after a session.

When the weather turns cold and people forget about sweat, I don’t. Like, it’s part of what I do now. In the cold, your sweat rate drops, yes, but other stressors (such as heating, dry indoor air, or busy work and family lifestyle) actually make dehydration more insidious. Hydro becomes the safe-guard, the subtle but powerful layer that says “body, dude, don’t slip.”

I’ve now come to see hydration as a foundational system just like sleep or nutrition. Having a “heat plan” now means I start every session with at least one bottle of Hydro ready. I sip through warm-up, sip during effort, sip after. That way I never start with a deficit.

In the same way that you plan your nutrition, your warm-ups and recovery, hydration gets slot in. I honestly believe when you leave this type of element to chance, you’re gambling with performance. And when you perform for a living (or try to), chance isn’t a strategy.

Minimal fuss, maximum effect. That’s how I like it.