Intra Workout Nutrition and Dietary Supplement Strategies To Reach Your Goals

Intra workout is defined as what takes place during your training. It could be the obvious, which is lifting weights at your favorite gym, or something more sporting like playing hockey or football. Many people look for an edge, boost, or simply more energy intra exercise. There are a wide variety of choices one can make when it comes to nutrition and supplementation intra workout, from something as simple as water to something more elaborate like amino acids. This article will discuss those choices and what are the best options to make for intra workout nutrition and supplementation. 

Intra workout carbs

It has been well established that intra workout carbohydrate usage is beneficial to athletes, especially those activities that last more than 2 hours or athletes that train twice a day. However, bodybuilders tend to train less than 60 minutes per day; therefore, this puts into question whether intra workout carbs are effective for bodybuilders. In my opinion, I believe if a bodybuilder is in a mass building phase, yes. That being said, there are a few ways to look at intra workout carbohydrate intake and supplementation, depending on one’s goals. These goals are energy, mass gaining, lean gaining, and weight loss.  

Mass Gaining Or Weight Gaining Intra Carb Usage

If one uses carbs intra, they wish to increase calories during the exercise and not burn up calories. This makes rational sense because extra calories are needed to increase weight. Therefore I would recommend a wide variety of different carbohydrates to use. My first recommendation would be raw honey. Raw honey is a superfood. Not to be confused with raw honey you buy from the supermarket. Most likely, it’s a scam. And not regular honey, which in my opinion is complete garbage. Only purchase raw honey from a local farm. That is what I do. I bought it from a local farm about 15 minutes from my house. Raw honey contains at least four different types of carbs and many nutrients that are great for intra workout. My recommendation is to take at least 2-3 tables spoons of raw honey intra workout. The next carbohydrate I would recommend is fruit. My two favorites are blueberries and bananas. My company Protein Factory has a product called Blue Generator that one can use. Finally, my last intra workout carb of choice is Rilose. This is a very fast-digesting rice sugar carbohydrate that will provide one’s body with quick energy and spike one insulin to help shuttle nutrients throughout the body, like amino acids to fight off the catabolic reaction that occurs when one lifts weights. 

Intra Workout Carbs For Energy

Intra Workout carbs for energy should be used by athletes that are training longer than 2 hours; anything less is pointless. The body simply cannot digest and utilize even the fasting digesting carbs in less than 1 hour that results in an ergogenic effect.  

My first recommendation for intra workout energy is Rilose. Rilose is a rice sugar that is digested very quickly, and because it is rice, it should be easy on the stomach.  

My following recommendation for intra workout carbs would be a product called Cera Lyte. It contains hydrolyzed rice syrup solids plus electrolytes. One can find it on Amazon.com.

Intra Workout Carbohydrates for Lean Gaining

Leaning gaining is defined as attempting to gain muscle mass while not gaining any body fat. This, for most people, is very difficult. Only the genetically gifted can accomplish this. However, for those that are not genetically gifted, using carb intra workout might help. In my opinion, the best carbohydrates for lean gaining intra workout would be low to medium glycemic index rating carbs. My first recommendation would be Oatmuscle. That is what I like to call the Holy Grail of carbs. Being semi-sweet, it will give users a boost of energy intra workout and help spare muscle tissue from going catabolic.

Intra Workout Carbs For Weight Loss

If one is trying to lose weight, I do not recommend using any carbs intra workout. One wants their body in a fat-burning state. Consuming calories will not support fat burning intra workout. 

Best Intra Workout Supplements

Most people’s objective when working out and lifting weights is to increase muscle mass and lose body fat. To increase muscle mass, one needs to be in an anabolic state or a positive nitrogen state (the two really go hand in hand). How does one create an anabolic condition in their body naturally? Increase their dietary protein intake. Thus my first recommendation would be protein. But not just any protein powder, hydrolyzed protein powder specifically. Why? Because you want a FAST and rapid digesting protein. This, in turn, will do two things. One provides the body with amino acids intra workout, and second, it will spike the insulin levels in the body, and insulin is one of the most, if not the most, anabolic hormone in the body. Yes, regular old whey protein is fast digesting, but not nearly as quickly as a hydrolyzed whey protein, and I believe not nearly as effective as raising insulin levels.   

Hydrolyzed protein is the best intra workout supplement you can use because of its ability to help the body recover from the workout done. The best hydrolyzed protein to chose for would be the Total Frag 250. Because it is 100% hydrolyzed, it will give one’s body the amino acids needed for recovery and will create an insulin spike. The next choice would be any of Protein Factory’s hydrolyzed proteins such as Peptopro, Salmobolic, or Hydrolyzed 520.

BCAA’s For Intra Supplementation.

I do not recommend free-form branched-chain amino acids (BCAA’s). At this point in time, they are obsolete. They are only being sold today as a marketing gimmick. There is absolutely no point in using a BCAA supplement intra workout when whey protein, milk protein, plasma protein, and even egg protein are readily available. Whey protein contains 30% BCAA’s, which are more readily absorbed than free form BCAA’s. I try to tell my readers that using a free form BCAA supplement is like being back in the 1980s BEFORE whey protein was invented. Yes, they can be ergogenic, but they are much more expensive to use and are not as beneficial as whey protein. If one was set on using a BCAA supplement intra workout, I would instead get my BCAA peptides powder which is called Advanced BCAA. Advanced BCAA is not a free-form mixture but a peptide-protein powder. Technically it’s a hydrolyzed whey protein but specifically made to be 50% BCAA, whereas whey protein is 30% BCAA.  

Things I would NOT recommend

One of the more popular things I see people consume for intra workout is Gatorade. Gatorade is simply high in glycemic carbohydrates and electrolytes. Unless one is in a bulking phase or mass-gaining phase, I would not recommend Gatorade. If one is concerned about getting dehydrated because of lost electrolytes during a sporting event, such as playing soccer or football outside on a hot day, I would get something much better like pickle juice. I would dilute this with water and add some flavoring if one does not like the taste.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the best intra workout nutrition and supplements techniques would be to maintain energy, support staying out of a catabolic state, weight loss, and hydration.

• The best products for supporting anabolism is hydrolyzed proteins, in particular, Total Frag 250.

• The best intra workout supplement for supporting weight loss would be nothing but water. If anything, use something like Capsimax pre-workout to help increase metabolism. 

• The best intra workout supplements to increase mass is carbohydrates, like raw honey and Oat Muscle.

• Get pickle juice if you are very concerned with staying hydrated.

• And the worse products to consume are high GI carbohydrate mass-market commercial drinks. These are just made to sell you on flavor. But meanwhile, they are filled with artificial colors, sweeteners, and sugars that are very unhealthy for you.  

Alex Rogers is a supplement manufacturing expert. He has been formulating, consulting, & manufacturing dietary supplements since 1998. Alex invented protein customization in 1998 & was the first company to allow consumers to create their own protein blends. He helped create the first supplement to contain natural follistatin, invented whey protein with egg lecithin, & recently imported the world’s first 100% hydrolyzed whey.