After a hard bike ride or run, eating lots of carbs for a few days almost always makes your muscles store more energy than before—even if the amount varies.

After biking really hard and then eating a lot of carbs for a few days, your muscles store way more energy than they do after running hard and eating the same way.

When you eat a higher percentage of your calories from carbs (like 80% vs 60%), your muscles store more energy after a hard bike ride—even if you’re eating the same total amount of carbs.

The more you deplete your muscle energy stores during a hard bike ride, the more your muscles can overfill with energy afterward when you eat carbs.

If Japanese male endurance athletes don't eat enough carbs after tough exercise—like less than 7 grams per kilo of body weight—their muscles refill energy slower in the first half-day, especially between 4 to 12 hours after.

If untrained guys eat a high-fat diet for 7 weeks, their muscles use less stored sugar during medium-intensity exercise compared to eating a high-carb diet — it’s like saving their fuel — but their legs still take up the same amount of glucose from the blood.