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.

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.

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.

If endurance athletes eat a specific amount of carbs right after a workout—especially a mix of glucose and fructose—they’ll probably refill their muscle energy faster, especially if they’re not eating a lot of carbs overall and need to recover quickly for their next session.