For the last couple of months, I have been out in the weather for work, fitness and freetime. The weather out here in Virginia/West Virginia during summer is hot and humid (not east Texas hot and humid but still wet). I have been testing out some other options for staying hydrated besides water and high carb sports drinks. Military days and even the beginning of my Law Enforcement career, chugging water was the liability protection hydration method of choice. When I relocated to south Texas and then southern Arizona, I found that forced hydration was not going to cut it. In fact in Arizona we had several fellow agents go down for heat related injuries that had drank too much water (they had flushed all the electrolytes from their system making it almost impossible for their body to hydrate). Back in the beginning, when there were only sports drinks with high fructose corn syrup, I had a team medic tell me to maintain a 1:1 or 2:1 water to sports drink ratio to stay hydrated. This worked for several years, coupled with advice from a senior teammate that eating throughout the day would also assist with electrolyte replacement. 

Armed with this knowledge, I maintained my hydration levels pretty well. Not saying there weren’t days I ended on a very negative balance, but I never went down due to heat related injuries. About the time I moved to Arizona, the market had come out with electrolyte infused water of various brands. This seemed to work better than regular bottled water. Then about 6-8 years later, out came the hydration powder mixes with specially formulated electrolyte mixes with less sugars than original sports drinks. I have been given samples and tried them out on hot days and long strenuous activity days. These new balanced electrolyte rates seemed to be the way to go to gain and maintain hydration. 

Recently, I was sent out some samples of Hoist 16oz bottles and powdered mix to try out. It was a variety pack of 4 flavors in 16oz bottles – Strawberry Lemonade, Watermelon, Peach Mango, Orange and 5 flavors of the powder sticks – Tropical Orange, Watermelon, Grape, Fruit Punch, Peach Mango. First weekend out, I went for a 10 mile hike with the plan to start out behind the power curve on hydration and see how my body absorbed the electrolytes and water. I brought a 30oz water bottle with one packet of powder mix and 3 of the 16oz bottles.  I hiked about 3 miles before I started to feel thirsty, so I stopped and drank half a bottle. Walked another mile before I stopped to finish off the bottle.   As the temperature began to climb I started drinking from the water bottle with the powder mix, just a couple ounces every ⅓ of a mile or so. By this time I was at the lowest point in the hike and was starting to climb back up to the top of the ridge where I had parked the jeep. I was feeling good, still sweating and no side aches. At about mile 6 I drank a full bottle of Hoist to see how fast it absorbs or if I would feel it sloshing around in my stomach while I climbed back up the trail. At no time did I get the belly full of water feeling nor any side aches. About mile 7 the sun was up and the trees were thinning back out, so it was getting pretty warm (about 20 degrees warmer than the start of the hike). I continued to drink from the water bottle every half to full mile until I reached the Jeep. Once at the Jeep, I felt like I had maintained pretty good hydration and didn’t feel thirsty or dehydrated. I had finished off 2-16oz bottles of Hoist and about 25oz of the 30oz water bottle with the Hoist Powdered mix. The rest of the day I went home and did work around the house, to include mowing the lawn. After which I finished off the third bottle of Hoist I had taken for the hike. Daily temps hit the high 80s with the standard late summer high humidity of Virginia. Woke up the next day still feeling hydrated. 

For the next couple of weeks I mixed the Hoist powder mix into the 30oz water bottle to take for workouts and rehydration at work. The new workout usually includes a pretty solid engine builder and builds up quite a sweat, that takes me a while to cool down. Having had the Hoist hydration drink during the workout and after never left me feeling thirsty throughout the workday. We had a couple (several) high 90s temp days with crazy high humidity that I would finish off the 30oz water bottle with a powder mix and have a 16oz bottle of Hoist for lunch to stay hydrated during the work day. 

Now for the nerdy stuff. Hoist is designed to match the osmolality of our bodies using a specially formulated blend of carbohydrates, electrolytes and fluids. This allows for your body to absorb Hoist rapidly without digestion. This means you get hydrated faster and keeps you hydrated longer. Hoist has 3x the electrolytes and ½ the sugar of traditional sports drinks. It is on par with most of the other specifically blended hydration powdered mixes when it comes to sodium and carbohydrates. There are no artificial preservatives, sweeteners or dyes (in fact all the drinks are clear in color), no high-fructose corn syrup and is made in the USA. Hoist has been tested and approved for the US Department of Defense and has been Operational Rations program. It is being used for training and operations to include Military Humanitarian aid to keep soldiers and natural disaster or military conflict victims hydrated.

It can currently be found in 50 Military bases around the world and prestigious academies in the United States. It can be found in all but 6 states and besides on military bases is also carried by Kroger, HEB, Fry’s and HyVee retail partners. It is sold in 12 packs of 16oz Hoist bottles and 16 packs of the powdered mix for about $24 each pack. They offer a first responder/military discount and there are discounts for signing up for a subscription based plan. 

Final Thoughts: With half the carbs and no high fructose corn syrup, these specially blended hydration drinks both work and taste good. I will be looking for these in my local grocery stores and quicky-marts for on the road and on the move hydration. 

I received this product as a courtesy from the manufacturer via Spotter Up so I could test it and give my honest feedback. I am not bound by any written, verbal, or implied contract to give this product a good review. All opinions are my own and are based on my personal experience with the product.

*The views and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Spotter Up Magazine, the administrative staff, and/or any/all contributors to this site.