What Is Intra-Carb?
Intra-Carb is a carbohydrate powder you drink during training, not before or after. The job is narrow. You are burning through muscle glycogen on long or high-volume sessions, and once those stores drop, output drops with them. Sipping carbohydrate through the workout keeps blood glucose available and slows the point where the tank runs dry. Intra-Carb runs on three carb sources instead of one so the supply arrives in waves rather than a single spike.
Key Ingredients & What They Do
One scoop (21.7g) holds 20 grams of total carbohydrate, of which 9 grams are sugars. The three sources each do a different job.
This is the workhorse of the formula. Cluster Dextrin has a high molecular weight and low osmolality, which is the property that lets it leave the stomach quickly instead of pulling water in and sitting there. Research on cyclic dextrin points to faster gastric emptying than standard glucose or maltodextrin solutions, which is why athletes who bloat on other carb powders tend to tolerate this one mid-session.
- Isomaltulose (Palatinose), 5g
Palatinose is a disaccharide that breaks down slowly. Blood glucose rises in a long, low arc instead of a sharp peak. That slow curve is what holds your energy through the back half of a session and keeps the crash off. It carries a low glycemic index relative to dextrose.
Dextrose is glucose with no conversion step. It moves into the bloodstream fast and drives an insulin response. Taken alongside protein, that insulin signal supports the muscle's shift toward protein synthesis. It is the fast front end that Palatinose then backstops.
Who it's for
- Athletes on high-depletion workouts: It earns its place on sessions that actually deplete you.
- Bodybuilders: Those running high-volume hypertrophy blocks.
- Endurance/Long-session athletes: Anyone training past the 60 to 90 minute mark.
- Athletes in a fat-loss phase: Anyone trying to hold training output while calories are low.
- Performance-driven lifters: People whose training drains the tank far enough that what they drink during the session changes how the last third feels.
How to use it
Mix one scoop in 16 to 24 ounces of water and sip it across your workout rather than drinking it down at once. The point is a steady feed, so spacing it through the session matters more than timing a single dose. On long endurance work or a two-hour leg session, some athletes run a scoop and a half. Pair it with a protein source if your goal is the protein-synthesis side of the dextrose mechanism. It comes in Fruit Punch, Strawberry Lemonade, and Unflavored.
Why Granite Intra-Carb is built differently
Search Intra-Carb and the first result is often Amazon or eBay selling the same tub at a markup. Buying direct from Granite is the lower price, and you are buying from the brand that made it rather than a reseller. That is the practical reason to start here.
The deeper reason is the label. Most intra-workout carb powders print one combined carbohydrate number and call it a blend. You have no way to know whether you are getting 12 grams of premium Cluster Dextrin or 2 grams of it propped up by cheap maltodextrin. Granite prints all three doses, 10 grams Cluster Dextrin, 5 grams Palatinose, 5 grams Dextrose, because the whole brand runs on labels you can verify against the scoop. John Meadows built Granite for who read the back of the tub and want the gram weights, not the marketing on the front. Intra-Carb follows that rule exactly.
