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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 to flavor your water, with no carbohydrates, try water flavorings. And for the peaks of a long outing, gels.
Own brand, and the grams per serving, salt included, are on the product page.
Intra-workout
Carbohydrates and a little sodium, no bottle required
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 you chew, with no stopping to drink
Spread-out doses
From the first third of the session, not the end
30-60 g per hour
Adding up bottle, gel and chews
Own brand
Salt 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.
Gym and CrossFit
In a strength session under an hour, water has you covered. If it runs past 60-75 minutes at high intensity, 30-60 g of carbohydrates per hour, as a drink or a chew. Amino acids during the session lack solid evidence; protein comes after.
Sessions of 1 to 2 hours
This is where spreading out carbohydrates and sodium starts to pay off. Electrolyte gummies are chewed: count the grams in each unit within the 30-60 g per hour. Or 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 in efforts over 2.5 hours 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
They differ in what they provide and in logistics; choose by your session and by what your stomach tolerates mid-effort.
Electrolyte gummies
It's the format you'll find in this category. You chew it, so it doesn't depend on your bottle: count the grams in each unit within the 30-60 g per hour, in sessions over an hour. The other gummies, some with caffeine, are in gummy bars.
Isotonic powder
The base for your bottle on long outings, at the label dose; in the heat, drink more volume and, if you dilute it, add sodium separately. 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.
Water flavoring
It flavors water with barely any calories or carbohydrates and provides very little sodium: it's for short sessions and light days. It's dosed per the label and has its own category: water flavorings.
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: look at those and at the grams, not at the promises.
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 intra workout) is the supplementation taken during exercise: carbohydrates as fuel and electrolytes, sodium above all, to replace part of what you lose in sweat. It starts to make sense past an hour of effort: it's a tool for long sessions and heat, not something to take every day.
What will I find in this intra-workout category?
Today, the chewable format: own-brand electrolyte gummies, for spreading carbohydrates and a little sodium 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 water flavorings.
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.
How is intra-workout different from pre-workout?
In timing and in what it provides. Pre-workout is taken before and often contains caffeine; intra-workout is taken during and replaces carbohydrates and sodium once the session passes an hour. For what you take before training, see pre-workout.
What should an intra-workout drink contain?
To claim in the EU that it contributes to the maintenance of endurance performance during prolonged endurance exercise, a carbohydrate-electrolyte solution must provide 80-350 kcal per liter from carbohydrates, with at least 75% of them from glucose, glucose polymers or sucrose, 460-1,150 mg of sodium per liter, and an osmolality of 200-330 mOsm/kg. Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 sets it.
Is there intra-workout without caffeine, sugar or carbohydrates?
No caffeine is the usual case, but some gels and gummies do contain it; the gummy in this category doesn't. If you combine several sources, EFSA gives 200 mg per dose and 400 mg a day for healthy adults as its safety reference. No sugar or no carbohydrates is a different matter: you're only replacing water and electrolytes, and for short sessions water is enough.
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 EAAs during training?
The evidence doesn't back it: the International Olympic Committee's 2018 consensus doesn't include BCAAs, EAAs 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.
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