Carbs Help Muscles Rebuild Faster After Exhaustion
Dietary carbohydrate and postexercise synthesis of proglycogen and macroglycogen in human skeletal muscle.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Macroglycogen synthesis showed no net increase under low carbohydrate conditions over 48 hours, despite adequate protein and fat intake.
Many believe the body can convert fat or protein into glycogen efficiently—this shows that without carbs, the body literally cannot build the major energy storage form in muscle.
Practical Takeaways
If you do intense endurance training, consume high-carb meals (75% of calories) in the first 48 hours post-workout to maximize muscle energy recovery.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Macroglycogen synthesis showed no net increase under low carbohydrate conditions over 48 hours, despite adequate protein and fat intake.
Many believe the body can convert fat or protein into glycogen efficiently—this shows that without carbs, the body literally cannot build the major energy storage form in muscle.
Practical Takeaways
If you do intense endurance training, consume high-carb meals (75% of calories) in the first 48 hours post-workout to maximize muscle energy recovery.
Publication
Journal
The American journal of physiology
Year
1998
Authors
K. Adamo, M. Tarnopolsky, T. Graham
Related Content
Claims (6)
Right after a super-hard workout, eating lots of carbs makes your muscles start rebuilding their first energy store (proglycogen) three times faster than if you eat fewer carbs.
Between 4 and 24 hours after a hard workout, your muscles keep rebuilding their first energy store no matter how many carbs you eat, but the bigger energy store only grows if you eat lots of carbs.
After a really hard workout, eating a lot of carbs helps your muscles rebuild a special type of stored energy (macroglycogen) much better than eating fewer carbs.
After a hard workout, your muscles keep making the big energy store only if you eat a lot of carbs — if you eat few carbs, that big store doesn’t grow at all over two days.
Right after a super-hard workout, only about 1 in 8 of your muscle’s energy stores is in the big storage form — but if you eat lots of carbs afterward, that big store grows to nearly half of all your muscle energy.