Eating more carbs gives you more energy to lift heavier and work out longer.
Scientific Claim
Increased carbohydrate intake enhances intramuscular glycogen storage, thereby improving resistance training performance and volume capacity.
Original Statement
“My personal recommendation is if you're going to add calories, let's do it from just pure carbs. Cuz that's what's going to give you the glycogen and the energy that you need in your workouts.”
Context Details
Domain
nutrition
Population
human
Subject
increased carbohydrate intake
Action
enhances
Target
intramuscular glycogen storage and resistance training performance
Intervention Details
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (2)
Glycogen supercompensation in skeletal muscle after cycling or running followed by a high carbohydrate intake the following days: a systematic review and meta-analysis
This study shows that eating lots of carbs after a tough workout makes your muscles store more energy (glycogen). Even though the workout in the study was running or cycling, the same thing happens in weightlifting — more glycogen means you can lift heavier or longer, so it supports the claim.
Postexercise protein-carbohydrate and carbohydrate supplements increase muscle glycogen in men and women
This study found that eating carbs after exercise helps muscles store more fuel (glycogen), which is exactly what the claim says happens when you eat more carbs. Even though it didn’t test weightlifting, the science behind it still supports the claim.
Contradicting (2)
The Effect of Carbohydrate Intake on Strength and Resistance Training Performance: A Systematic Review
Even if you eat more carbs, your strength workouts don’t necessarily get better—unless you’re working out really hard and haven’t eaten anything beforehand. Most of the time, carbs don’t help you lift more or do more reps.
The study says eating lots of carbs isn’t needed to get stronger or do more reps during weight training — even with low carbs, people can still perform just as well and build muscle.