Intra Workout Nutrition - Your Secret Weapon Or Not Required?

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IN TODAY’S ISSUE
Intra-Workout Nutrition.

We will have all seen people sipping on bright coloured liquids in shaker bottles during their training, whether they include carbohydrates, electrolytes or the “famous BCAA’s” which we know are pretty pointless if your consuming enough daily protein.

It’s like a house fire, where they are hosing down the house and you turn up with a teaspoon of water…

Today we will take a look at the data regarding intra workout nutrition for both endurance training and strength / hypertrophy training, whether you're wasting your money or if its worth while optimising it.

What You'll Find Out

• 🏃‍♂️‍➡️ Intra Workout & Endurance Training

• 💪 Intra Workout Nutrition For Strength & Hypertrophy Training

• 🧃 The Role Of Electrolytes

• ✍️ TL:DR - Key Takeaways & Practical Applications

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WHAT’S UP
Intra Workout & Endurance Training

Intra Workout “during workout” has became somewhat of a focus point for a lot of people. Ensuring they have the “perfect blend” of carbs, protein and electrolytes. The idea is to sustain energy and performance levels during your training, and some believe that it helps prevent the body from breaking down muscle.

You’ll see people wolfing down jelly babies, sports drinks and the old school, yet revitalised through Tik Tok, rice crispy squares bars. (For those of you in the USA, it’s basically a high sugar cereal bar).

So, do you actually need it?

Inta-Workout For Endurance Training

We know carbohydrates are important for optimal performance, we covered this in our last issue.

In terms of Intra-Workout carbohydrate ingestion and endurance training, the trend of the scientific literature points towards a benefit.

A large Meta-Analysis by (Bourdas et al., 2021) which included data from the past 45 years from 96 studies, including 1560 test subjects, looking at the effects of carbohydrate ingestion during prolonged endurance training.

The studies authors found an advantageous role of carbohydrate supplementation when ingested during endurance exercise lasting 1–2 hours and 2-4 hours. The benefits were not significant when training lasted under 1 hour. The authors also found that a two carbohydrate source solution of Glucose and Fructose was the best to increase performance.

See Figure A below for the forest plot of the results 👇.

A systematic review with meta-analysis, published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research by (Stearns et al., 2010) looked at consuming Protein and Carbohydrates together in terms of performance with endurance training. The review included 11 total studies, and found that carbohydrates improved performance, however when combined with protein, they found protein to have an ergogenic effect (positive effect) on performance.

What this review lacks is evidence of total daily protein intake in the subjects. So if that was adequately met, the authors may not have seen any benefit from during workout protein ingestion.

Similar results were found in a Systematic Review by (Espino-González et al., 2015), finding that protein ingestion in combination with carbohydrates during exercise demonstrated an ergogenic effect on endurance performance when assessed by time to exhaustion.

Again, similar issue to study above where it does not specify total daily protein intake, which in our previous issue was found to be far more important that pre workout protein intake.

SCIENCE BRO
Intra-Workout Nutrition For Strength & Hypertrophy Training

I’ve grouped both strength and hypertrophy together here for the purpose of making it easier to read, however they are vastly different, squatting a set of 3 repetitions vs 8-15 repetitions for example.

Firstly we have a study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , which had weightlifters perform 2 hard squat sessions in one day. Split into two groups, one group consumed a drink containing carbohydrates during and after the first workout, while the other half took a placebo.

The group who consumed the carbohydrate sports drink significantly outperformed the placebo group in their second workout, completing more sets (~19 vs. ~11) and reps (~199 vs. ~132).

While this study may seem to be a clear big thumbs up for intra workout carbs while resistance training, most people don’t squat twice a day.

A Systematic review with meta-analysis by (King et al., 2022), which included 21 studies and 226 subjects, looked at the effects of carbohydrate ingestion on resistance training.

The authors found a significant benefit to carbohydrate consumption and total training volume and performance enhancement when sessions lasted over 45 minutes. See Figure B for results.

In terms of strength training, we have a study by (Kulik et al., 2008) which looked at the effects of carbohydrate intake and performance of squats to failure in the 5 repetition maximum range in eight resistance-trained men.

Subjects, split into two groups, either consumed 0.3g/kg of carbohydrates or a placebo of equal volume immediately before exercise and after every other successful set of squats.

The results suggest that carbohydrate supplementation does not enhance performance of squats performed with 85% 1RM to volitional failure.

IN TERMS OF INTRA-WORKOUT PROTEIN

What we have covered before around total daily protein intake is king. Beyond this consuming protein during resistance training seems to have no benefit. This has been shown through various studies and reviews, including (Morton et al., 2017), published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

SCIENCE BRO
The Role Of Electrolytes

Something we have covered in depth before, but just to complete this article and for those who haven’t read it, it's worth touching on.

A Systematic Review by (Veniamakis et al., 2022) found that sweat electrolyte concentrations and sweat rate can vary from person to person and each should take appropriate measures to restore electrolytes lost during exercise. Plain water was not sufficient at restoring fluid balance in the body and they also state that most sports drinks contain lower sodium levels than are normally lost during sweat.

A Review by (Valentine V. 2007) states that fluid replacement with just water leads to incomplete rehydration resulting in decreased performance, heat cramps and eventually hyponatremia.

A study by (Coso et al., 2008) compared commercially available electrolyte sports drinks (low sodium vs higher sodium) vs water, and if they could help maintain leg power and force during prolonged cycling in the heat. The results showed that all electrolyte drinks out performed water when it came to preserving leg force. However the electrolyte drink lower in sodium seemed to dull the benefits of the sports drink- leaning towards a higher sodium content in the drink being advantageous.

Unfortunately most studies have been completed on endurance athletes.

With the above in mind, your sodium intake should match your needs. For the general population their normal diet may be sufficient through processed foods, salt added to food normally and lack of sweat. If you are eating well, sweating a lot and finding your quite fatigued, maybe adding some extra salt to your diet could improve your performance and overall health. Along with the other electrolytes.

Track your salt intake and keep in mind the guidelines set by the various governing bodies on recommended intakes, based on potential health issues from consuming too much salt.

TL:DR
Key Takeaways & Practical Applications

• If you perform high-volume training, work out for more than 60 minutes (resistance or endurance training) or train fasted, consuming an intra-workout drink containing carbohydrates will likely increase your exercise performance.

• If you train for less than 45 minutes and perform moderate volume, intra workout nutrition likely isn’t something to focus on to increase your performance.

• With regards to strength training, sets of 3-5, there may not be as much of a benefit to consuming carbohydrates during training and your pre workout meal may be enough. Test it for yourself and see if performance increases.

• Ensure you meet your total daily protein intake and you won’t need to worry about intra-workout protein.

• With regards to electrolytes, this can be totally person specific, with some people losing more in their sweat than others. The body of data does trend towards a benefit of electrolyte supplementation on performance. Similar to carbohydrate guidelines above, high volume, longer sessions may require more, lower volume, shorter sessions may require less.

That’s it for today ✌️

If you have any questions you’d like answered, topics you would like discussed, or perhaps some feedback, email them over to me at: [email protected]

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