Elete Electrolyte Add-in

To cramp or not to cramp, that is the question.  With all apologies to Shakespeare, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in my case typically take the form of leg cramps.  Yes, I have to stand and confess, I am a cramper-upper of significant proportions.  I have cramped in the best of places and at the worst of times, typically about 3/4s into a long day on the bike.  Sometimes I know it has been lack of fitness; simply a muscle pushed too far.  Often not.  And the odd part is that under nearly the same circumstances among a group of riders, some will never cramp.  They may die of other maladies...bonking, crashing, or whatever, but not cramps. 

So it has been a quest of mine to find ways that help me go longer and harder without cramping issues.  I have read quite a bit of studies and opinions about the origin and prevention of exercise induced cramps and if there is one thing that the studies agree on is that they disagree on the reasons for and the science behind why some folks cramp up and others do not.  I have come to the opinion that they may not really know.  It has long been associated with loss of electrolytes from sweating.  The athlete perspires heavily and the salts and minerals that the body needs to work effectively are carried out of the body until the muscle fails to continue to perform.  You know that white rind that coats your helmet straps, clothing, and face after a long, hard ride, especially in hot weather?  That is salty stuff that used to be inside you.  You are now a walking, pedaling salt lick.  However, a recent study I read, and cannot find the website now, was dead against the idea that it was tied to electrolyte loss.  However, they did not really offer any answers either.  So in many ways, you are on your own to find a solution that works for you. 

Here is a bit of Elete's take on it from the website :

 

 Muscles need sufficient electrolytes—sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, etc.—in proper balance in order to function properly. The body manipulates the balance of these minerals inside and outside of muscle cells in order to get the muscles to contract and relax. An imbalance or deficiency of these electrolytes can cause problems with the body’s electrical impulses, which can lead to muscle cramps and/or spasms. These problems with electrolytes can cause muscles to contract but not relax or to randomly contract. You may have read that potassium, magnesium, or calcium, by themselves, is helpful, which is true to a degree, but misses the point that the body uses a balance of these minerals in order to keep muscles functioning properly. 

Electrolyte imbalances and deficiencies can occur due to imbalances or deficiencies in the diet, hyperexcretion from sweat, urination, diarrhea, or excretion caused by medication, including diuretics, as well as problems with absorption.* Electrolyte deficiencies can also be caused by increased demand for minerals in the body such as in the case of pregnancy or healing.* 

elete Electrolyte Add-In™ provides an excellent balance of potassium, magnesium, and sodium in their electrolyte/ionic state. The electrolytes in elete do not need to be broken down in order to be assimilated or utilized by the body. The electrolytes in elete also aid with the proper utilization of calcium within the body.* 

Whenever your body loses fluids, you are also losing electrolytes. The loss of electrolytes can create the problems described above, but dehydration can also cause cramps or spasms. Replacing the electrolytes along with fluids will fuel the rehydration process as well as help prevent electrolyte shortages. For this reason, elete was designed to be added into water or other beverages. 

*This statement has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

More here in this PDF file from Elete.

I have tried different sports drinks and recently had good luck with Carborocket, a quality powder supplement developed by an endurance mountain biker and fellow member of cramper-uppers anonymous. Carborocket is more than just electrolytes though, and is also an endurance fuel source, so I just use it in water bottles.  I also have been using the Endurolyte capsules and that has seemed to help as well.  But the biggest issues I have with the pills is remembering to take them and carrying another separate pouch or pocket of stuff.  Often I would forget to take one or two every hour or so and then time has gone by and the damage may be done.  A powdered mix that you add to a water bottle is fine (I do not mix sports drinks in my hydration bladders) but you have to carry the powder and continue to refill the bottles as you go.  That may not be easy to do. 

So when I read about Elete, a couple of things stood out right away.  I was able, so they claimed, to add it to the water in a hydration bladder without worrying about having mold grow inside the thing if I do not wash it out right away.  No rolling Petrie Dishes for me, thank you.  Also, it made perfect sense that I should be able to get the supplement I was looking for in every sip of water.  I may forget to take a pill and I may not be able to refill a water bottle in the middle of nowhere, but I will not forget to drink from the water I have on my back already. If it is in there from the beginning, more's the better.   

So I received some samples from Elete in the form of little plastic vials where the contents are added to the water in your hydration pack or bottle.  Two sizes of vials, one size for hydration packs and one size for water bottles, allow you to tailor the amount you add. As well, how much to add is largely up to you, but I wanted to stay with the recommended dose at first to see how it treated me.  So I loaded up a 100 OZ hydration bladder with water and Elete and went riding.  And riding.  And riding.  Over multiple rides and multiple hours I have had very good success with Elete.  The taste of the water with Elete in it is barely noticeable.  I perhaps expected it to taste salty, but it does not.  It does change the water a bit though...hard to describe, but it was kinda like taking bottled water and making it taste more like tap water, if that makes any sense. 

I have been on rides up to 5 hours long and several that were very hard SS rides.  Perhaps not the ultimate test yet, but you get a feel after a while of what circumstances will bring leg cramps and I have been to that point and beyond a couple of times now and so far, so good.  Not conclusive though.  What I have noticed is that I have not gotten one headache after rides of long duration and high loss of fluids.  Typically I would feel dehydrated later in the day after the longer, harder rides and would get some nasty headaches. That has not happened since I began using Elete and that seems to point to the fact that my body is dealing better with the stress of that kind of effort.  I also have the vague feeling that my legs are performing better under pressure on those longer, harder efforts but that is so subjective that I cannot swear to it.  The lack of post-ride headaches is much more factual. 

I do not for a moment think that my leg cramps are all behind me.  What I would like to find is that my leg cramps are not the determining factor of how long and how far I ride and I believe that Elete is giving me a much better shot at achieving that.  I am pleased with the way Elete has treated me so far, the packaging, the easy addition to the water container of your choice, and the way it does not make pond scum grow inside my hydration bladder.  I plan on using Elete thru this summer and I will revisit my results then.  Stay tuned. 

As well, Guitar Ted has been using Elete longer than I and he has some words to say about his results with the product.

Guitar Ted sez: 

As Grannygear said, I have been using Elete quite awhile now. I was introduced to it by my former co-worker, Jeff Kerkove, who is now featured in testimonial ads for Elete. I would estimate my time using Elete has been about three and a half to four years now.

Before using Elete, I was much like Grannygear: Twitching muscles halfway through a long, hot ride, and then- WHAM! The cramp would hit, and I would be pretty much done. For myself, it wasn't a predictable thing. I had plenty of rides in hot weather when I didn't cramp, but when I did have the cramps in the legs, my day was over. Not a good situation to find yourself in! I had started out using an anti-cramping pill, but I also found the protocol for using these pills was cumbersome. The pills did work though, they were just inconvenient. When Jeff told me about Elete, and how he had been just adding it to water bottles with no adverse effects on himslf or his equipment, I was intrigued. Jeff had a few sample packs that he pitched my way, and then I was off on to using the product for myself.

Elete is so easy to use. I just dump some in when I re-fill my hydration bladder or water bottles. Easy-peasy, and Elete comes in several different packaging options from small, single serving sizes that are easily packed along with to large bottles for everyday/training uses. I have just started using the small bottles that I pack in my hydration pack, for instance, so when ever I am out, and get a hydration bladder re-fill, it is there to add in. Then everytime you sip your water, you are getting some Elete too, and for me, that has totally killed the cramping issue. If I do cramp, it is because I am not using Elete!

That said, I recently read an article, much like Grannygear has read, that says scientists do not understand the mechanism that creates cramping fully, or at least well enough to offer a solution to athletes who suffer from this malady. In the article I read, pickle juice was cited as a highly successfully used anti-dote to cramping. A study was conducted that showed that merely ingesting pickle juice seemed to be enough to turn off cramps, leading scientists to another mysterious block in the quest to understand cramping. The theory now is that something in vinegar is triggering the muscles to relax properly. Vinegar, eh? No thanks! Pickle juice may work, but isn't always practical. Maybe someday the actual reasoning for the phenomenal success of pickle juice/vinegar will be discovered, but until then, Elete seems to be doing the job for me, and it is a heck of a lot more palatable and easy to pack around than pickle juice is! 

Elete's web site.

Comments

[Samanatha]

Wow, genius scientists there. Aside from vinegar, one thing pickle juice has a great deal of is SALT. Cucumbers have negligible amounts of salt as they grow on the vine. To make them pickles you take lots of vinegar, LOTS of salt, and other spices to soak the cucumbers in. Eventually they become pickles, and when they do they have simply astonishing amounts of salt.

Pickle juice? Is more Salt than vinegar believe it or not. Massive amounts of it.

Now, any medical professional who treats people for blood pressure issues worth his salt will tell you that if you're taking BP meds, the cure for cramps you can get is salt. Or pickles! Why? Because a common side effect of BP meds is loss of salt and the retention of potassium. When a CBC work up is done one of the things we look at are the levels of electrolytes and the ration of some of them to each other. Like Sodium (Salt) and Potassium. If either one is dramatically higher than the other, BANG! Cramping! Same thing with Magnesium and Chloride. These big four WILL cause cramping if they are majorly out of balance. Period. End of discussion. Medical fact. Balance those? Cramps are gone.

Scientists will not commit to saying that. Why? Because no one will continue to pay them to study the subject if they come up with an answer. Doctors worth their salt? They will tell you this because they are paid not to do any harm.

Worth their salt? Historically that has a meaning. In the "cradle of life" mainly Africa and the middle east where mankind traces it's roots, the hot, dry climate will suck the life out of you in terms of sweating. Salt is a precious commodity because it helps the body retain water. You can and will die of thirst in the heat if you don't have enough salt, no matter how much water there is. Because you body will not retain enough long enough, to counter the sweating. Thus the old saying worth one's salt.

Elete? Gives you all four of the electrolytes you loss along with water when you sweat. It's really simple medically.