My Step son is in OCS in USMC, I want to give him some form of oral liquids to hydrate on at beggening and end of day, any suggestions?? maybe a powder so i can mail it easier?

Are they allowed to receive mail and take supplements ??? I know when I went to basic training no supplements were allowed. Maybe things have changed. God Bless

Don't laugh at me but when I was racing offroad motorcycles for 7 hour races I used to get dehydrated all the time even though I was drinking lots of Gatorade. I then switched to Pedialyte, the stuff for babies with diarrhea. It solved my hydration problems including the bad cramping that would come halfway through a race. Not a fancy name but damn it worked for me.

And please thank your son for his service, and yourself!

Let him make that decision on his own. OCS has seen thousands of candidates pass through. Don't mail him something and it gets seized and/or he is disciplined for it.

We were not allowed any supplements, OTC medicine or liquids other than water and Gatorade during the week at OCS.

Probably just plain Water for most people.
But personally, I prefer making an electrolyte solution when working out for any period greater than 2 hrs at a time. It prevents me from getting a headache thats caused by drinking too much water.

For every 2 liters of water:
1 tsp potassium cloride
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp pink salt
1/2 tsp magnesium sulfate

Gatorade. Seriously, end of thread. It has the water, electrolytes, and sugars your body needs when under duress.

Gatorade. /thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
Gatorade. Seriously, end of thread. It has the water, electrolytes, and sugars your body needs when under duress.

Gatorade. /thread.

Not exactly. While it does have a good amount of sugar, it does not have optimal amounts of electrolytes to carbohydrates.

Cera-sport, while not the best tasting, is probably one of the best options.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Oregon,

Don’t mail him supplements. If he’s allowed to have them they’ll be available for him to buy there.

It’s not different than buds I’d imagine, you cannot even have protein powder while there.

As a current AD member of the US Navy I can assure you, no one outside of specwar are doing any workouts that require anything more than water.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
...water.

Sums it up.

I use Propel powder primary. But like many things during the pandemic, my usual monthly shipment hasn’t shown up for several months like other products. You can buy it online and it comes in little boxes with individual packets to pour into a water bottle. I won’t touch Gatorade unless it’s the no sugar version. Hydrolyte makes some good powder as well.

Pre workout I use C4 or ON.

My nightly gym sessions are up to 3 hours. Without electrolytes during, I’d crash and never make it through it. Same for riding sportbikes in a suit in our heat here. 100 and high humidity, you have to rehydrate and water alone doesn’t cut it. Seen some guys get bit bad at the track. Heat stroke and bam off to the hospital. If I feel it coming on and convenience store isn’t close to get water I’ll just pull over and eat that powder. Same for the lake on the waverunner. It’s a bucking bronco at 70 mph and the sun whips your ass also. Even hydrating the whole time you can get bit. You see the people hitting boos and they’re out bad when it’s over. Intense activity means electrolytes for me. I have it auto shipped so I don’t even have to think about it. Had to switch brands to get it but no worries.

During TX Summers when I was road biking a lot I'd take Endurolytes capsules and water.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
I use Propel powder primary.<snip>

I use Propel powder packets too. I buy it from Amazon. They offer multi-flavor orders, but I’ve settled on the Raspberry Lemonade flavor. I find it to be tasty.

www.amazon.com/dp/B01HCPLUP4/r..._api_i_6BHxFbXNW1SFE

As a former Marine officer and OCS grad I’ll second what others have said about not sending him supplements. He’ll have access to plenty of water and hydration is something that the instructors always harped on. Even in the classrooms we took canteens of water to stay hydrated. If he needs more than that there are corpsmen at every PT session, hikes, etc and they can give him something.

I wouldn't know about OCS, but at Parris Island, if some private gets a care package from Mommy or Daddy.... oh good Lord... that priv could expect some serious, hard sweating PT!

I suggest not humiliating your son... he is going to be a Marine Officer, he's not at summer camp.

quote:

Originally posted by paul45:
... he is going to be a Marine Officer, he's not at summer camp.

This.

When I was in boot camp if someone sent you something to eat or drink you didn’t get to keep it. And as mentioned above the drill instructors would put the recruit through some hell for even getting it.


Of course some relatives of recruits knew that and sent stuff on purpose. One guys dad would write stuff on the outside of letters and packages like “sorry you’re DI is an asshole”. That was fun.

Pedialyte. Just don't let his fellow Officer Candidates see him using it.

If they want him to have it, they will give it to him.

I didn’t go through OCS, but I had a fellow recruit at Parris Island whose mother sent him a big powdered tub of Gatorade. Since there wasn’t enough for the entire platoon, the Senior DI made him eat it with a spoon.

The Armed Forces is really cracking down on service members taking any type of supplements during training cycles.

I remember the first big crackdown was in the late 90s and early 2000's when a lot of service members were falling out from taking supplements that had ephedrine in it.


After a 17 year break in service I re-enlisted and had to go back to Fort Knox, KY for basic then AIT at Fort Bragg, NC.

The Drill SGTs at Fort Knox, and the instructors at Fort Bragg pushed drinking water and eating fruit.

When I was in Southern AFG the temperature ranged from about 100-117 degrees during the seven months I was there. I drank a crap ton of water and ate tons of fruit cocktail, plums etc.. to get my nutrients and to stay hydrated.

The first thing I did when I arrived in Helmand Province was ask some of the USMC Infantry guys what they did to stay hydrated, and get acclimated on patrols. One tough SSG, who was on his fourth deployment (AFG/Iraq) told me to drink a ton of water, and eat all the fruit I could. Plus stay off the energy drinks and coffee. (The coffee was a killer for me to give)

That little tent chow hall out on the Air Wing side was loaded to the gills with fruit.