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Intra-workout
Intra-workout for sessions that run long. Here, intra-workout supplements are chewable: electrolyte gummies you take one at a time during training, without stopping to drink. They fit in your jersey pocket, your trail belt or your padel bag.
Choose by how you drink. If you'd rather have it dissolved, your spot is isotonic drink powder. If you just want water with electrolytes and no carbohydrates, try flavorings with electrolytes. And for the peaks of a long outing, gels.
Own brand, and the grams per serving — sodium included — are on the product page.
Intra-workout
What sweat takes, comes back one chew at a time
Chewable intra-workout, in small doses
Intra-workout is what you take during the session once it passes an hour: carbohydrates and sodium spread out while you keep moving. It's for anyone who notices that, past the second hour, the stomach calls the shots as much as the legs.
Shop chewable intra-workoutChewable format
Electrolyte gummies, no bottle required
3-6 units per hour
Doses spread out from the start of the session
30-60 g per hour
What the session calls for: check what each unit provides
Own brand
Sodium and grams per serving on every product page
How to choose for your session
Duration decides, not the sport. Under an hour of moderate effort, water covers the session.
Strength under an hour
In a short gym session you don't need intra-workout: water has you covered. If you want to invest in something taken daily instead, look at creatine.
Sessions of 1 to 2 hours
This is where spreading out carbohydrates and sodium starts to pay off. The electrolyte gummies in this category are chewed, 3-6 units an hour, or you carry the base dissolved in your bottle with isotonic powder.
Endurance over two hours
In cycling, long running or trail, what rules is carbohydrate per hour: 30-60 g as a reference, and up to about 90 g/h with glucose-fructose mixes, according to Jeukendrup's review. Split it between your bottle and gels.
Heat or a sensitive stomach
In heat, raise the sodium before the sugar: you sweat 0.5 to 2 liters an hour. And if sweet liquid isn't sitting right mid-effort, chewing changes how well you tolerate it without changing the figures.
The four intra-workout formats
All four cover the same goal. What changes is your stomach's tolerance and your sport's logistics; where each moment falls is mapped out in sports supplements.
Electrolyte gummies
It's the format you'll find in this category. You chew it, so it doesn't depend on your bottle: 3-6 units an hour, spread out, in sessions over an hour. The energy versions, without electrolytes, are in gummy bars.
Isotonic powder
The base for your bottle on long outings: one dose in 500-750 ml, more diluted if it's hot. It carries water, sodium and carbohydrates in the same dose. It's in isotonic drinks.
Energy gel
It concentrates the carbohydrates in one sachet, taken with water, never instead of it. One every 30-45 minutes at the peaks, when you can't drink much. You'll find them in gels, with and without caffeine.
Flavoring with electrolytes
Fluid and sodium with barely any carbohydrates, for short sessions and light days. Dosed per the label in 500-750 ml, and it has its own category: flavorings with electrolytes.
What to check before you buy
Three facts you check on the label before you pay.
Sodium per serving, in milligrams
Sodium is the electrolyte you lose most in sweat: between 10 and 70 mmol per liter, depending on the person. If the label doesn't state it per serving or per liter as prepared, you don't know what you're buying. Why that matters, in why we need to replenish electrolytes.
How many units per hour
Divide the 30-60 g of carbohydrates for an hour by the grams in each unit. That number tells you whether the format is practical on the move, and how many sessions the tub really lasts.
Amounts broken down
A "proprietary blend" with no grams per ingredient can't be compared to anything. In the EU, only authorized health claims can be declared: if the label promises effects that aren't on that list, rule the product out.
Tip: start taking them in the first third of the session and spread them out; waiting until you're already struggling arrives too late. How the gummies work is covered in what GummyPower gummy bars are; once you're done, it's post-workout's turn.
Frequently asked questions
What is intra-workout and what is it for?
Intra-workout, also written without the hyphen, is the supplementation taken during exercise: carbohydrates as fuel and electrolytes, sodium above all, to replace part of what you lose in sweat. It comes as a drink, gel or chewable, and it starts to make sense past an hour of effort. It's a tool for long sessions and heat, not a daily toll.
What will I find in this intra-workout category?
Today, the chewable format: own-brand electrolyte gummies, for spreading electrolytes across small doses without stopping to drink. The other intra-workout formats live in their own categories, and we link to them from here: isotonic powder, gels and flavorings with electrolytes. We'd rather tell you than dress up the range.
What's the best intra-workout?
The one that covers your real loss and sits well mid-effort. In sessions of 1 to 2.5 hours that means 30-60 g of carbohydrates an hour and sodium matching your sweat rate, which runs from 0.5 to 2 liters an hour. If your session is under an hour, none: water.
Gummies, drink powder or gel: which format should I take?
Gummies, if sweet liquid is hard to drink or you'd rather spread it out chewing. Isotonic powder, if you want it sorted in your bottle. Gel, for the peaks, always with water. What changes is your stomach's tolerance and your sport's logistics, not the goal.
When do you take intra-workout?
During the session, from the start and in spread-out doses, once sustained effort passes an hour. Waiting until you're already struggling arrives too late, because your stomach tolerates it worse the more tired you get. In the heat, start earlier and prioritize sodium over sugar.
What should an intra-workout drink contain?
A carbohydrate-electrolyte solution has to provide between 80 and 350 kcal per liter and between 460 and 1,150 mg of sodium per liter. Only then can it claim in the EU that it contributes to the maintenance of endurance performance during prolonged endurance exercise. Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 sets it, and it's the reference to check any label against.
Is there intra-workout without caffeine, sugar or carbohydrates?
No caffeine is the usual case: caffeine mostly shows up in some gels, and here no electrolyte gummy carries it. No sugar or no carbohydrates is a different matter, because then you're only replacing water and electrolytes: that's a job for a flavoring with electrolytes in short sessions.
Does a natural or homemade intra-workout work?
Yes, if it hits the figures: water with carbohydrates and a sodium source is a functional homemade intra-workout when it reaches 30-60 g an hour. What you pay for in a formulated product is the measured dose, a taste you can tolerate mid-effort, and a format that survives in your pocket.
Does creatine work as an intra-workout?
Not really. Creatine works by accumulation: the authorized claim in the EU requires 3 grams a day, and it doesn't matter whether you take it inside or outside training. You can add it to your bottle for convenience, but it doesn't replace carbohydrates or sodium. You'll find it in creatine.
Do I need BCAAs or amino acids during training?
The evidence doesn't back it: the International Olympic Committee's 2018 consensus doesn't include BCAAs or glutamine among the supplements with solid evidence. During the session, what you're replacing is carbohydrates and sodium; protein fits in after, in doses of 20-40 grams.