When it comes to supplements, finding which one and the type of products to help optimize your performance and training can be challenging. One type of supplement you may be wondering about, are intra-workout supplements. As the name aptly implies, intra-workout supplements are made to be used during your workout, for the specific purposes of providing fuel for your workout, to help improve endurance, workout volume, muscle maintenance, and hydration while you’re training. We’re going to talk more about intra-workout supplements, their benefits, and what ingredients you need to power your performance.

What Are Intra-Workout Supplements 

Intra-workout supplements are specific sports performance nutrition products made to help power your training while you work out. Intra-workout supplements can come in a wide variety of different forms, either with essential amino acids (EAA), branched chain amino acids (BCAA), electrolytes, carbohydrates, and endurance enhancing ingredients.

Intra-workout supplements can be extremely beneficial to help boost endurance and provide fuel for long-lasting training and prolonged bouts of exercise. Athletes who train for several hours in the gym, on the track, or on the pavement, need to keep their energy levels, focus, and hydration optimized at all times to maximize their training capacity and output. That’s where intra-workout supplements can benefit performance the most.

Intra-Workout Ingredients

The majority of intra-workout supplements contain fast-acting carbohydrates, essential amino acids, and electrolytes.

For example, Swolverine’s Intra Workout Supplement contains

• ELECTROLYTES: Himalayan Pink Salt, Calcium Citrate, Magnesium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, and Coconut Water
• SUPERFOOD/SPORTS NUTRITION INGREDIENTS:Essential Amino Acids (EAA), Spirulina, Tart Cherry, and Pomegranate
• ENERGY/FOCUS INGREDIENTS:Panax Ginseng, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12

Essential Amino Acids (EAA)

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and vital to human health. Essential amino acids (EAA) stimulate muscle protein synthesis and work by creating new protein cells for muscle size, growth, and recovery. Your body needs 20 amino acids for proper biological function, however, only 9 are considered essential.

These are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

Your body cannot make essential amino acids, hence whey they are considered “essential.” EAAS must be obtained from dietary supplements or from the food in your diet.

A large body of evidence shows that that EAAs can improve athletic performance, delay muscle and mental fatigue, and enhance muscle recovery. A systematic review, including 4274 patients across thirty-nine randomized controlled trials found that EAAs improves muscle strength, physical function and fatigue [1]

Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for your body. Carbohydrates provide glucose to feed your muscles with prolonged endurance capacity, better athletic performance as well as improving cognitive performance and processing. When it comes to training, carbohydrates are needed to help build more muscle mass, improve recovery times, and replenish glycogen for optimal energy output.

Carbohydrate supplements are often created for the purpose of muscle recovery and providing more energy, intra-workout. Fast absorbing Carbohydrate supplements like maltodextrins and dextrose, are specifically made for endurance athletes, triathletes, crossfitters, or those participating in high-intensity functional training protocols. The average gym goer will not necessarily need fast-acting carbs and can easily get those dietary sources and food.

Muscle glycogen is a major determinant of endurance exercise capacity and recovery. Intra-workout carbs can help with glycogen re-synthesis or reloading your body with efficient glycogen stores. Carbs can also help initiate muscle protein synthesis, and produce energy intra or pre workout for better endurance and prolonged exercise capacity.

RELATED ARTICLE The Ultimate Guide To Carbohydrate Supplements

Carbohydrates are also a great source of macronutrients to help with intra-workout energy and endurance. Swolverine's Clean Carbs for example is made from real food and contains sweet potatoes, yams, oats, and blueberries to help provide glycogen for long lasting energy and endurance. Unlike fast acting carbs, this product can help with body optimization, energy levels, and recovery without the unnecessary added sugar from a dextrose or maltodextrin.

Antioxidants And Vitamins

Nutrient dense ingredients, such as spirulina, tart cherry, and pomegranate, are rich with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, in addition to nitrates.

Antioxidants have been proven to reduce muscle damage and inhibit muscle mass breakdown due to their protective effects from eradicating oxidative stress.

In a systematic review, conducted by Cambridge University, eleven studies were identified that examined the effects of pomegranate intake on exercise performance exercise-induced muscle fatigue, soreness, muscle damage, oxidative stress, inflammation and cardiovascular function. Identified studies investigated the effects on several training modalities including; running, cycling, weightlifting, and endurance training. The review concluded that pomegranate has the potential to enhance endurance, strength performance, and improve post workout recovery by conferring antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and improving cardiovascular responses during and following exercise.

Additionally, A study published in the journal Plos One, investigated the effects of pomegranate supplementation on recovery, muscle damage, and soreness following Olympic weightlifting training and concluded that pomegranate ingestion 60 minutes before training, improved total workload by 8.3%, maximal load lifted by 3.26% and cut down DOMS by 13.4% 48 hours post workout.

Intra-workout supplements will often contain b-vitamins and ingredients for mental focus and energy such as Panax Ginseng which can help with prolonged endurance capacity and athletic performance. Mental focus is crucial during prolonged endurance activity and resistance training to help push maximum training capacity.

Intra Workout Supplement Benefits

1. Hydration

The biggest goal of any good intra-workout supplement is to provide adequate and efficient hydration by including electrolytes. Hydration during your workout is crucial to prolong endurance activity and to help improve workout volume.

Electrolytes are minerals and vitamins that conduct electrical activity in the body so that we can perform mechanical functions, such as muscle contraction and relaxation, which are a part of daily and athletic functions. With just a 1-2% reduction in body weight from fluid loss alone, performance takes a dive and perceived exertion goes down. In a typical workout, you can lose anywhere from 2-6% of your body’s water weight just by sweating. The loss of water and electrolytes, coupled with not replenishing them, effects recovery times, oxygen levels, and nutrient deliveries contributing to muscle wasting and a poor removal of waste from the blood stream. 

Electrolytes such as magnesium, potassium, salt can help replenish hydration. Coconut water is also a great ingredient for hydration. Naturally low in sugar, coconut water boosts the electrolyte potassium along with a few other nutrients.

RELATED ARTICLE 10 Symptoms Of Electrolyte Imbalance

2. Prolonged Endurance Capacity 

Another goal and benefit of Intra-Workout Supplements is prolonged endurance capacity. The longer you can work out with more fuel in your gas tank without as much muscle fatigue, the better results you’re going to achieve. Intra-workout supplements will help delay muscle fatigue and provide more energy. Ingredients often found in these supplements are nitrate focused such as pomegranate, beet root, betaine, or citrulline malate, which helps improve oxygen delivery by releasing nitric oxide and widening blood vessels. Studies have shown that more oxygen and nutrient delivery can help improve endurance capacity, strength, and recovery.

3. Faster Recovery

Maintaining muscle mass by inhibiting muscle mass breakdown is crucial to performance and recovery. Essential amino acids, which include the branched chain amino acids, help improve the process of muscle protein synthesis by reducing the rate of catabolism or muscle breakdown. This will help improve recovery times and provide more fuel for your body to replenish key amino acids when your body is in a deficit. Maintaining a positive amino acid balance, especially during prolonged endurance activity such as running, cycle, and CrossFit is important for maintaining muscle mass and reducing muscle soreness. 

Runners and endurance athletes rave about the purported benefits of tart cherry juice as a potential ergogenic aid for exercise recovery. Given the high concentration of bioactive compounds, studies have found that tart cherry juice benefits recovery from pain after strenuous exercise.

A systematic review published in the journal Nutrients found that 8 of 9 studies showed tart cherry juice significantly reduced exercise induced muscle pain, soreness, and loss of strength [R] One study showed that long distance runners who drank tart cherry juice pre workout reported significantly less pain, showing improved biomarkers of inflammation and reduced muscle damage as compared to those who did not [R].

RELATED ARTICLE Tart Cherry Juice Benefits

Intra-Workout Supplements: Takeaway 

If you’re looking to maximize your performance, whether it be running, cycling, or a heavy lifting session, intra-workout supplements can be extremely beneficial to help provide the muscle fuel you need during your workout. Essential amino acids, inhibit muscle protein breakdown, while ingredients like carbohydrates can replenish glycogen for better energy output and recovery.

When you’re looking for a high-quality intra-workout supplement, look for products that have essential amino acids, electrolytes, and proven sports nutrition ingredients at optimal doses to help improve your training for the best results.

Grab The Best Intra Workout Supplement From Swolverine