Are Intra Workout Supplements Necessary?

Proper nutrition around a workout is vital, particularly when compared to other parts of the day. All progress, whether it’s in the form of muscle gain, fat loss, or improvements in athletic performance, stems from the workout itself.

Naturally, you want to be fueled and energized for every workout in order to squeeze the most out of each session. Nutrient timing is a term used to describe eating specific foods around a workout (peri-workout) to improve strength, performance and recovery.

Nutrient timing isn’t limited to food. Nor is it limited to just pre and post workout.

Intra workout nutrition, also known as during the workout, focuses on supplements consumed while training. Intra workout nutrition is critical for people who want to optimize their training, like to work out on an empty stomach, or train for long periods of time.

Intra workout supplementation isn’t necessary for beginners, but becomes more important as lifters reach the intermediate and advanced levels of training. With advancement comes the challenge of building new muscle and more strength, thus optimizing nutrition around the workout is vital.

Intra workout supplements come in the form of carbohydrate powders, electrolyte powders, amino acids, or a combination of the three.

Intra Workout Supplement Benefits

Intra workout supplementation can improve muscular endurance, jumpstart recovery, aid in muscle growth, and increase strength. The specific intra workout ingredients will determine which benefits the supplement offers.

Naturally, there is crossover between the ingredients and what workout enhancement they offer. Some ingredients provide more than one benefit.

Carbohydrates are the main fuel source for intense workouts. This applies to lifting weights, cardio, and strength and conditioning sessions. Basically, anyone doing any sort of strenuous training can benefit from carbohydrates.

In addition, carbohydrates are stored in muscle in the form of glycogen. Refilling glycogen stores that have been depleted from a workout helps recovery. Therefore, carbohydrates can positively affect today’s workout session and have you ready for tomorrow’s session as well.

There are many different types of carbohydrate powders, such as dextrose, waxy maize, and Karbolyn (starch). One that stands out above the rest is cluster dextrin, due to its ability to exit the stomach and enter the bloodstream quickly. As a result, stomach cramping should not occur.

Essential amino acid powders contain all 9 essential amino acids necessary for muscle growth. Essential amino acids (EAAs) cannot be created by the body and must be obtained from diet, whether in the form of food or supplements.

Some people may be familiar with branched chain amino acid supplements (BCAAs), but not essential amino acids. Branched chain amino acids are part of the essential amino acid umbrella; therefore any EAA supplement will also contain BCAAs.

In truth, BCAA supplements provide almost no benefit on their own. The only thing they are scientifically shown to do is slightly improve muscle soreness after workouts.

The reason is because you need all 9 essential amino acids to build and repair muscle. Only having the 3 branched chain amino acids leaves you falling short. Unfortunately, many consumers are unaware of this and continue to waste money on BCAA products.

The question then becomes: why supplement with an essential amino acid powder during the workout when you can just have a protein shake? The reason is twofold.

Essential amino acids are basically pre-digested protein; therefore they get into the bloodstream more quickly than protein powder. In addition, you don’t want a heavy protein shake sitting in your stomach as you’re trying to lift heavy weights or go through an intense training circuit.

During a workout, blood is flowing intensely to the muscles being exercised. The theory is that having essential amino acids in your system coupled with the enhanced blood flow to muscles leads to greater muscle growth.

Electrolytes like sodium, potassium, and magnesium come in the form of powders and pills. But they are often added to intra workout supplements. These ingredients are sometimes overlooked, similar to the way vitamins are overlooked in a pre workout supplement.

Electrolytes serve an important function for muscle contraction and pumps. They also need to be replenished during workouts that lead to sweating, like cardio or outdoor workouts in hot climates. A standard lifting session usually won’t induce much sweating, but the muscle contraction aspect gives electrolytes merit in that regard.

Most electrolyte powders honestly aren’t that great. Consider any additional electrolytes found in an intra workout supplement to be a bonus, as it is likely not worth your time to find the right concoction in a standalone product.

Who Can Benefit Most From Intra Workout Supplementation?

Some people don’t like to eat before their workouts because it makes them feel bloated, which negatively impacts performance. However, they still want carbohydrates in their system for energy. A carbohydrate powder can provide this benefit without sitting heavy in the stomach.

Those who are new to lifting weights likely won’t have much of a need for intra workout supplements. As beginners, their bodies are so primed for muscle growth that supplementation just isn’t necessary. They are essentially working with a blank slate, so muscle growth comes easy to them in the short term.

However, as one becomes more advanced, the law of diminishing returns sets in. The body is more resistant to muscle growth as it begins to reach its natural muscle building potential. At this stage, it’s more important to optimize all facets of diet, training, and supplementation in order to build new muscle.

Advanced trainees and athletes need to focus more on nutrient timing to see results. This includes pre, intra, and post workout nutrition. As mentioned, intra workout nutrition becomes crucial for individuals who do not like to eat before training.

The one exception when it comes to the necessity of intra workout supplementation is the length of a person’s workout. Individuals who train for 90 minutes of longer, regardless if they are beginners or advanced, can benefit from intra workout supplementation.

At a certain point in a long workout your energy reserves will run low. This is where a carbohydrate powder or even an essential amino acid powder (or a combination of the two) can help. Anyone who plays a sport knows that practices can run upwards of two hours. Proper intra workout nutrition can mitigate fatigue during grueling workouts.

What Makes a Good Intra Workout Supplement?

Most intra workout products come in the form of carbohydrate powders, essential amino acid powders, electrolyte powders, or some combination of the 3.

We touched earlier on highly branched cyclic dextrin, sometimes referred to as cluster dextrin. This is considered the highest quality carbohydrate powder. As a result, it is usually the most expensive.

One thing to look out for is a product touting cyclic dextrin on the label, but has other forms of carbohydrate mixed in. This is a way of fooling the consumer into thinking they are getting 100% cyclic dextrin, but in reality they are getting a mixture of multiple products.

A tier below cyclic dextrin are carbohydrate sources like waxy maize and starches like Karbolyn. Below that are sources like dextrose and maltodextrin, which is basically sugar. There is nothing necessarily wrong with using sugar, but it is a lower quality carb source compared to the others that have been referenced so far.

What you choose depends on how much you are willing to invest. The higher quality sources will run about $40 a bottle or more, while a bottle of Gatorade costs about $2.

The 9 essential amino acids are isoleucine, leucine, valine, histidine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine and tryptophan. All 9 should be in your EAA supplement. There should be about 10-15 grams of EAAs in each serving, with at least 2.5-3g of leucine. This amount of leucine is necessary to increase muscle protein synthesis (a.k.a. the process of building muscle).

The best essential amino acid product recommendations can be found here.

Some intra workout supplements are a one size fits all combo of carbs, aminos, and electrolytes. The best combo you are likely to find comes in the form of Granite Supplements Recovery intra workout powder. It has all 9 EAAs (plus glutamine, a conditionally essential amino acid), carbohydrates in the form of cluster dextrin, and electrolytes.

Granite Supplements is John Meadows’ company, who is well-respected in the fitness community and an advocate for peri-workout nutrition and nutrient timing.