After a short, super-hard workout, your muscles refill their energy stores way faster than after a long, slow one—even if you eat the same amount of carbs.

After a tough leg workout, drinking a sugary sports drink instead of water helps your muscles refill their energy stores faster, so you recover better after six hours.

Even when eating almost no carbs after a race, athletes who’ve been on a high-fat, low-carb diet for months can still rebuild their muscle sugar stores just as well as those eating lots of carbs.

Lifting weights refills muscle energy slower than sprinting or HIIT, maybe because you don’t build up as much lactic acid and your muscles get more sore from stretching under load.

For male endurance athletes who are dehydrated after long workouts, drinking a little or a lot of fluid with carbs doesn’t make a difference in how fast their muscles refill energy stores in the first 4 hours after exercise.

After a hard, short workout, your body releases more sugar and insulin into the blood, which helps your muscles refill their energy faster.