Powerlifters eat candy because it delivers fast-absorbing sugar that replenishes muscle fuel, keeps blood glucose stable during long sessions, and is easy to eat between heavy attempts without causing stomach problems. It’s not a guilty pleasure or a joke. It’s a deliberate fueling strategy, and the science behind it is straightforward.
Muscles Run on Stored Sugar
Your muscles store carbohydrates as glycogen, which is their primary fuel during intense contractions. A heavy powerlifting session, especially one involving multiple sets across squats, bench press, and deadlifts, steadily drains those glycogen stores. While a single maximal rep lasting a few seconds draws most of its energy from creatine phosphate (the body’s instant energy reserve), glycolysis takes over as the dominant energy pathway after about six seconds of effort. Warm-up sets, accessory work, and the sheer volume of a full training session or multi-hour competition all add up to significant glycogen depletion.
Once glycogen drops, performance follows. The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends that athletes consuming carbohydrates during resistance exercise can maintain normal blood sugar levels and preserve higher glycogen stores throughout the session. Candy, particularly varieties made from glucose or dextrose, is one of the simplest ways to do this in real time.
Why Candy Works Better Than “Clean” Carbs
Not all carbohydrates hit the bloodstream at the same speed. Simple sugars like those in gummy bears, Pixy Stix, or Swedish Fish are absorbed rapidly because they require minimal digestion. Research on glycogen resynthesis shows that high-glycemic carbohydrate drinks restored muscle glycogen at a rate of about 50 mmol per kilogram per hour during the first two hours after exercise, compared to roughly 30 mmol per kilogram per hour for slower-absorbing alternatives. That’s a 67% faster refueling rate in the window that matters most.
Complex carbohydrates like oatmeal, rice, or whole grain bread are great for meals hours before training. But between squat attempts at a meet, a powerlifter needs sugar that’s available in minutes, not hours. Candy fills that role perfectly.
Keeping the Brain Online
This is the part most people don’t think about. Your brain depends on blood glucose to function, and when blood sugar drops during prolonged exertion, your central nervous system dials back its output. A study measuring maximal voluntary muscle contractions found that when blood glucose fell from a normal 4.5 mmol/L to 3.0 mmol/L during exercise without carbohydrate intake, force production dropped from 248 newtons at baseline to 197 newtons. Athletes who maintained normal blood sugar with glucose supplementation only dropped to 222 newtons, and their central nervous system activation remained at baseline levels.
For a powerlifter, central nervous system drive is everything. A competition can last four to six hours. Each lift demands maximal neural output, precise technique, and the ability to brace and coordinate under loads that are literally the heaviest you can handle. Letting blood sugar crash between attempts means you’re not just losing muscle fuel, you’re losing the brain’s ability to fully activate those muscles. A handful of gummy bears between lifts is cheap insurance against that.
Easy on the Stomach Under Pressure
Heavy lifting dramatically reduces blood flow to the digestive system. During high-intensity exercise, gastric emptying slows significantly because the body redirects blood to working muscles. Trying to digest a chicken breast and rice between deadlift attempts is a recipe for nausea.
Candy sidesteps this problem. Small amounts of simple sugar require minimal digestive effort. A few gummy worms or a pack of Skittles sits lightly in the stomach and passes through quickly. The portions are small, easy to carry in a gym bag, and don’t need refrigeration or preparation. Powerlifters also tend to eat candy in small doses throughout a session rather than consuming a large amount at once, which further reduces the chance of GI distress.
Glucose vs. Fructose: Which Candy Is Best
Not all candy is created equal for this purpose, and experienced powerlifters are selective. The human body can absorb a maximum of about 60 grams of glucose per hour through one intestinal pathway, and about 30 grams of fructose per hour through a separate pathway. This means candies that contain both glucose and fructose can potentially deliver up to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, though powerlifters rarely need that much.
The popular choices break down roughly like this:
- Gummy bears and Swedish Fish: Contain a mix of sugar sources, absorb reasonably fast, and are easy to chew between sets. These are the most common choice.
- Pixy Stix and Smarties: Made primarily from dextrose (pure glucose), which enters the bloodstream fastest. Some lifters prefer these when they want the quickest possible spike.
- Fruit snacks: Often higher in fructose, which must be converted to glucose in the small intestine before it can fuel muscles. Slightly slower but still effective.
- Sour Patch Kids: A mix of sugar types with the added benefit of citric acid, which some lifters feel helps with alertness (though that’s likely just the sour taste waking them up).
For most powerlifters, the differences between these options are minor. The key is choosing something that tastes good enough to eat when you’re exhausted and stressed, doesn’t require chewing a meal’s worth of food, and provides 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour of training or competition.
The Sodium Bonus
Some candy choices carry a secondary benefit: sodium. Sour and salted candies provide small amounts of sodium, which helps with fluid retention during long sessions. Sodium maintains blood osmolality, suppresses the kidneys from flushing water, and supports overall hydration. Research shows that beverages with adequate sodium concentration promote significantly greater fluid retention than water alone. While candy alone won’t replace a proper electrolyte strategy, salty-sweet options like salted caramel chews or even pairing candy with a salty snack give lifters a two-for-one benefit.
How Much and When
The ISSN recommends roughly 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour during extended high-intensity exercise. That’s about one to two small bags of gummy bears or a couple handfuls of Skittles spread across an hour. Most powerlifters start eating candy after their warm-up sets and continue nibbling between attempts or exercises throughout the session.
For rapid glycogen restoration when there’s less than four hours between sessions (common at meets where squat, bench, and deadlift sessions can be back to back), the recommendation increases to about 1.2 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour, with a preference for high-glycemic sources. For a 200-pound lifter, that’s roughly 109 grams per hour, or a substantial amount of candy paired with a sports drink.
Outside of training and competition, powerlifters eat normal meals. The candy isn’t replacing whole foods in their diet. It’s a targeted tool used at specific moments when speed of absorption and convenience matter more than micronutrient density. Think of it less like a cheat meal and more like putting the right fuel in the tank at the right time.