Wondering how many carbs you actually need during exercise? It depends on how long and how hard you're training, not just your body weight. Below, we break down exactly how many carbs to take per hour, session by session, so you can fuel smarter and perform at your best.
How Many Carbs Do I Need During Exercise?
Carbs during exercise aren't one-size-fits-all. The old-school rule of thumb (1g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight per hour) no longer stands. Today, sports science tells us that your fuelling should be far more personalised and carbs per hour are based on the duration and intensity of your session, not your weight alone.
The harder you work, the more carbohydrate your muscles need to keep up with demands. Similarly, the longer you exercise, the more your glycogen stores become depleted, increasing your need for additional carbohydrates to maintain performance.
There isn't one perfect carbohydrate target that suits every athlete. Factors such as your training intensity, fitness level, environmental conditions, gut tolerance and duration all influence how much carbohydrate you should consume. However, the following recommendations provide a good starting point for most athletes:
|
Session Length |
Easy Training | Moderate Training |
Hard Training |
| <60 min | No carbs or <30 g/hr | <30 g/hr | <30 g/hr |
| 60-60 min | 30 g/hr | 30 g/hr | 30-60 g/hr |
| 90 min-2 hrs | 30 g/hr | 60 g/hr | 60 g/hr |
| 2-3 hrs | 60 g/hr | 60-90 g/hr | 60-90 g/hr |
| 3+ hrs | 60-90 g/hr | 90+ g/hr | 90+ g/hr |
How Many Carbs Do I Need If I Train For Less Than 60 Minutes?
If you are training for less than 60 minutes, you likely don’t need extra carbs as you can rely on the glycogen stores within your muscles to provide enough energy, as long as you have started well fuelled.
Early morning session? Aim for 1-2g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight, ideally 1-2 hours before. However, we all know that this isn’t always possible when rushing out the door at 6am! In this case, having a light snack, and fuelling with <30g of carbohydrates during the session, is a good alternative to ensure you are fuelling your body appropriately.
Rhise™ Performance Fuel delivers 20g of carbs per serve, making it an easy swap for, or addition to, a pre-session snack when time is tight.
How Many Carbs Do I Need For A 60-90 Minute Session?
Once you're training past the 60-minute mark, your body starts leaning harder on carb intake to maintain performance, progressively depleting your muscle glycogen stores.
Studies support that moderate to hard sessions in this window benefit from 30-60g of carbs per hour. Do not wait until you are tired to start consuming carbs. Instead it should be done within the first 30-40 minutes of longer sessions. A single serve of Rhise™ Performance Fuel (20g carbs) works well here, or half a serve of Rhise™ Endurance (23.1g carbs) if you want a blend that also covers electrolytes.
How Many Carbs Do I Need For 2-3 Hours Of Exercise?
For training longer than the 2-hour mark, athletes can benefit from higher intakes of 60-90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, provided it doesn't upset your stomach.
Faster athletes in longer races tend to have the highest carbohydrate needs, which is exactly why gut training matters. This involves incorporating race day nutrition into your training and getting the gut used to consuming carbohydrates during exercise.
A full serve of Rhise™ Endurance (46.2g carbs) plus a top-up of Performance Fuel (20g carbs), or a double serve of Endurance (92.4g carbs) split across the hour, both work well depending on where you sit in that 60-90g range.
How Many Carbs Do I Need For Exercise Over 3 Hours?
Your muscles and liver can only store on average 500-600 grams of carbohydrates as glycogen. After 3 hours of continuous endurance exercise, muscle and liver glycogen stores become substantially depleted, making carb intake the single most important lever for maintaining performance. This is where your needs peak, at around 90g per hour.
A double serve of Rhise™ Endurance delivers 92.4g of carbohydrate, a simple way to land right at that ~90g/hr target without having to stack multiple products.
How Many Carbs Is Too Many Carbs?
More recently, athletes have been exceeding this 90g per hour target, however, this isn’t required for everyone. For most recreational and competitive endurance athletes, 60–90g per hour remains the evidence-based recommendation for events lasting longer than 2 hours.
Elite and ultra-endurance athletes may benefit from carbohydrate intakes exceeding 90 g per hour, particularly when aiming to maximise performance during long, high-intensity
efforts. Getting there requires progressive gut training though, gradually increasing carbohydrate intake during training to build tolerance over time.
Fuel Smarter With Rhise™
Whichever end of the carbs-per-hour spectrum you're training at, Rhise™ has a product built for it:
- Rhise™ Performance Fuel: 20g of carbs per serve. Ideal as a pre-session top-up or during shorter sessions under 90 minutes.
- Rhise™ Endurance: 46.2g of carbs per serve (take a half serve, full serve, or double serve to hit your target g/hr). Built for sessions over 45-60 minutes, with a blend of Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin and Maltodextrin for sustained carbohydrate delivery, electrolytes to replace what you lose in sweat, L-Tyrosine for focus, and CoQ10 and Vitamin B12 to support energy metabolism, all with natural flavours and no artificial sweeteners or colours.
Whether you're running long kilometres, riding for hours, tackling a HYROX session or playing field sports, Rhise™ has the fuel to match your effort.
Written by Megan Chapple
References
Burke, L. M., Hawley, J. A., Wong, S. H., & Jeukendrup, A. E. (2011). Carbohydrates for training and competition. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29(Suppl. 1), S17-S27.
Impey, S. G., Hearris, M. A., Hammond, K. M., Bartlett, J. D., Louis, J., Close, G. L., & Morton, J. P. (2018). Fuel for the work required: A theoretical framework for carbohydrate periodisation and the glycogen threshold hypothesis. Sports Medicine, 48(5), 1031-1048.
Jeukendrup, A. E. (2014). A step towards personalised sports nutrition: Carbohydrate intake during exercise. Sports Medicine, 44(Suppl. 1), S25-S33.
Podlogar, T., Wallis, G. A., & Shaw, D. M. (2022). New horizons in carbohydrate research and application for endurance athletes. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 122, 1925-1939.
Thomas, D. T., Erdman, K. A., & Burke, L. M. (2016). Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and athletic performance. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 116(3), 501-528.
