Shakers and water bottles: choosing, using, and cleaning them

A shaker and a water bottle are the cheapest gear you will ever buy, and probably the only pieces you use every single day. Which makes it strange how many people own three pairs of training shoes and one shaker that has smelled bad since last year. Here is what actually matters when choosing, using, and maintaining them.

How much fluid you actually need

A rough baseline on a rest day is 30 to 35 ml per kilogram of body weight. For an 80 kg person that is 2.4 to 2.8 litres a day, including fluid from food, coffee, and tea.

Training comes on top of that. In an hour of serious work you lose somewhere between 0.5 and 2 litres of sweat depending on temperature and intensity. A practical range is 400 to 800 ml per training hour, taken as 150 to 200 ml sips every 15 to 20 minutes, not half a litre chugged at the end.

If you want a real number instead of a guess, run this test once: weigh yourself before training and immediately after, and write down how much you drank in between. Every kilogram lost is roughly a litre of fluid. Replace 1.25 to 1.5 litres per kilogram lost over the next 2 to 4 hours.

What size to buy

• 500 to 600 ml - the standard protein shaker. Enough for 30 g of powder and 300 to 400 ml of water, with headroom so the mixing actually works.
• 700 to 1000 ml - a training bottle. One fill covers a full session so you are not cutting rest periods short to hunt for a tap.
• 1.5 to 2 litres - a desk bottle. The advantage is that you can see your intake without counting glasses.

Keep the weight in mind: a litre of water is a kilogram. A 2 litre bottle in a backpack next to a laptop is a difference your shoulder notices.

Materials

Plastic

Lightest and cheapest. Look for PP or the number 5 in a triangle on the base, or tritan. Downsides: it absorbs odour over time and scratches, and those scratches are exactly where residue sits. Do not pour hot liquid into it and do not leave it in a car in the sun. Dishwasher only on the top rack and on a cycle up to 60 degrees.

Stainless steel

Look for 18/8 or 304. It does not hold odours and it survives being dropped on a lifting platform. A double walled vacuum bottle keeps water ice cold for 12 to 24 hours. Empty, it weighs 300 to 500 g, three to five times a plastic one. Do not put carbonated drinks in a vacuum bottle with a screw cap, and do not leave milk based drinks in it for more than 2 hours.

Glass

The most neutral tasting and the easiest to clean, but heavy and breakable. Bad idea for the gym floor, fine for a desk.

A BPA free label is standard now and tells you very little on its own. How you treat the bottle matters more: heat and deep scratches are a bigger problem than the type of plastic.

Getting rid of the clumps

1. Liquid first, powder second. The other way round you get a concrete layer on the bottom that ten minutes of shaking will not break up.
2. The ratio that works for most whey products: 250 to 350 ml per 30 g scoop. Casein and fibre blends want 400 to 500 ml.
3. Use a wire ball or a mesh insert. Without one, shaking does very little.
4. Shake for 15 to 20 seconds, not three. Let it stand for a minute before drinking and the foam settles.

Hygiene, the part everyone skips

Milk, protein, and sugar at room temperature are an ideal medium for bacteria. A shake that has sat more than 2 hours at 25 degrees, or overnight in a gym bag, should not be drunk no matter how normal it looks.

• Rinse the shaker with water within 30 to 60 minutes of use. That alone solves about 80 percent of smell problems.
• Wash it every day with warm water, detergent, and a narrow brush. A sponge does not reach the bottom edge.
• Take the lid apart: threads, valve, silicone gasket. Almost all the residue collects there, and hardly anyone removes those parts.
• Once a week soak the disassembled parts for 15 to 20 minutes in one tablespoon of baking soda per 500 ml of warm water, or in white vinegar diluted 1:3.
• Dry it apart, open, and upside down. A sealed damp shaker in a cupboard is the fastest route to mould.

If you see black or pink specks in the silicone gasket, do not spend time scrubbing. Replace the gasket.

Electrolytes and what else goes in

For sessions under an hour, plain water is fine. For training longer than 60 to 90 minutes, in summer, or when you are a heavy sweater, adding sodium makes sense: 300 to 700 mg of sodium per litre, which is roughly 0.75 to 1.75 g of table salt. On long sessions, 30 to 60 g of carbohydrate per hour in the same bottle handles fuel and fluid at once.

When to see a doctor

• Constant, unquenchable thirst with frequent urination and weight loss - get your blood sugar checked.
• Headache, nausea, confusion, or cramping after drinking several litres of water in a short time - this can be hyponatremia and needs urgent care.
• Tea coloured urine with severe muscle pain after a very hard session - see a doctor the same day.
• If you have kidney or heart disease, set your daily fluid intake with your doctor; general recommendations do not apply.
• Repeated digestive trouble after protein shakes - check for lactose intolerance before blaming the bottle.

The short version

• Budget 30 to 35 ml per kilogram daily, plus 400 to 800 ml per training hour; a 700 to 1000 ml bottle covers one session.
• Liquid first, then powder, 250 to 350 ml per 30 g, always with a ball and 15 to 20 seconds of shaking.
• Rinse within the hour, wash daily, take the lid apart, and dry it open and upside down.
• Plastic is light but holds odour, steel lasts and stays cold 12 to 24 hours, glass belongs on a desk not a gym floor.
• Sodium at 300 to 700 mg per litre is only worth it for sessions over 60 to 90 minutes.