Workout nutrition series: Intra-Workout

Feb 4

Pay attention - good intra workout nutrition IS A CHEAT CODE. Consuming intra-workout carbs during a 90+ minute training session is like putting gas into a car with an empty tank - these carbs literally help you move better, train harder, and be faster.

If you’re skipping intra-workout carbs then you are limiting your training intensity, your performance, and reducing your ability to recover and adapt to your training. Saying no to intra workout carbs is basically like being offered legal PEDs with no side effects and saying, “Nah, I don’t want to be fitter and feel better. I’d rather run slower, thanks.”

In my coaching experience, clients often fear and demonize carbs, therefore they resist eating enough of them. But listen - if you eat enough carbs within the context of eating enough for your goals, then you don’t have to fear fat gain! It won’t happen because you won’t be in a calorie surplus. In fact, eating enough carbs will help you build muscle and lose fat because in general you will perform better and train harder and give your body a stronger stimulus to build muscle and adapt to training. So - here’s your permission to ditch the carb-phobia common in nutrition advice and eat carbs during your workouts.

Do You Need Intra-Workout Carbs?

If a session lasts less than ~75 minutes, then intra-workout carbs aren’t necessary.
If a session lasts longer than ~75 minutes, then consuming carbohydrates during exercise becomes critically important.
- Intra-workout carbs are even more important when training in extreme environmental conditions (cold, heat, or high altitude) for more than ~75 minutes.

How many carbs per hour?

For a general recommendation: consume approximately 30–60 grams of carbs per hour.
If you want to be more precise: consume 0.7 g carbs/kg of bodyweight per hour (0.32 g/lb for my metric averse readers)
- For example, a 70 kg (154 lb) athlete would need about 49 grams of carbs per hour (0.7 × 70 = 49).
- For super-intense or 3+ hour events, intake can exceed 60 g/hour and reach closer to 90 g/hour (body weight dependent).

What Kind of Carbs?

It’s best to use a blend of different sugar types, specifically glucose and fructose. This is because these sugars use separate absorption pathways in the gut, which prevents digestive backup and discomfort (most sports drinks account for this and include both sugars in their formulations).

Examples of glucose + fructose carb sources - Gatorade, Powerade, most sodas, orange juice, and then carb supplements made for endurance events, such as Tailwind, Skratch Labs, etc.

When and How Should I Consume Carbs?

Drink carbs at regular intervals - every 10–30 minutes. Experiment to find what feels best. More frequent ingestion tends to improve performance.
- For example - if you’re going to be running for 2 hours, start consuming carbs at the 15-30 minute mark and continue every 15-30 minutes.
For optimal absorption and digestion, carbs should be delivered in a 6–8% carbohydrate solution.
- A 6-8% solution = 6–8 grams of carbs per 100 mL of water (6/100= 6%)
- For example: Our 70 kg athlete would mix 49 grams of carbs into ~700 mL of water (7 g carbs per 100 mL = 7% carb-electrolyte solution) and they would drink the 700 ml spread out across an hour.

Electrolytes: Do you need them?

Yes, you need electrolytes along with carbs in order to replace electrolytes lost through sweat during intense training or competing. However, the guidelines here are less clear cut because the amount of electrolytes an athlete needs is highly dependent on,

the duration and intensity of exercise
the individual's sweat rate and sweat sodium concentration.

The good news is that if you’re using a carb supplement or sports drink like Gatorade or Tailwind, etc., then you probably don’t have to worry about your electrolyte intake as those products already include them. Learn more about specific electrolyte recommendations.

If you do take a carb supplement with electrolytes and you still experience symptoms of electrolyte loss (such as cramps) then you may need to experiment with additional supplementation.

Part of Performance Nutrition: Train Your Gut

When you first start introducing intra workout carbs, you could feel some digestive discomfort. That’s normal. Start with a small amount of carbs and build up to the recommended dose for your bodyweight. You literally have to train your gut just like you train the rest of your body. So practice your fueling strategy during training in order to prevent GI distress in a race/competition. A good piece of advice is to not do anything in competition that you haven’t tested in practice.

For example - if you aren’t regularly eating carbs during your training runs, and then come race day you try to slam 90 carbs an hour, you’re going to feel bloated and gross and slow and you’ll say “Kenny was wrong about intra workout carbs, they make me feel terrible!”. However, the truth would be it’s not the fault of the carbs, it’s your fault for not training your gut leading up to your race.

If you’re training hard and want your nutrition to actually support performance, recovery, and consistency, grab our free Performance Nutrition Guide. It breaks down how to fuel training without overcomplicating things—so you can eat enough, train better, and feel stronger session to session.