If athletes eat a meal a few hours before working out, drinking carbs with water afterward doesn’t help their recovery as much as it does when they hadn’t eaten beforehand.

Drinking a carb mix with water after a workout—especially if you haven’t eaten—can give you a 4% boost in power during your next workout, as long as it’s within 4 hours.

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 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.

After eating, when adults go for a moderate workout, their bodies burn more carbs over the next 24 hours but don’t burn any more fat — meaning meals push the body to use carbs for energy instead of fat, even with exercise.

The more intense or longer your workout, the more carbs and protein your body needs to keep up.