Glycogen Depletion Question

brucedelaney

I know that you can fully deplete the glycogen in your muscles through resistance training each major muscle group.

Can you achieve total depletion through Cardio as well?

trail_rnr

You bet. You know that "wall" that long distance runners talk about? It's often a glycogen depletion problem. (For many, myself included, it's a brain problem )

Some ultra runners purposely train to depletion as a way to train the body to run on less fuel. I'm talking about people who run 50-100 miles at a shot. The jury is out on whether this acheives the desired effect; many studies and opinion (scientific and bogus) both ways. I think it is highly individual, and highly dependent on your natural endurance economy/VO2 max (which can be improved through training).

I like food and the muscle that I do have too much (and not feeling fuzzy headed) to ever go to depletion. I seem to do OK with my nurtition during long events (I do 50 miles, max) and I recover quickly.

rybo

Yes, its why hitting the "wall" at the 20+ mile mark in a marathon is so common.

How long & hard would one have to lift to reach glycogen depletion?

Ambrogio1

100 miles is insane

brucedelaney

How long & hard would one have to lift to reach glycogen depletion?

Typically you'd be doing 3-4x10-15 rep sets per major muscle group at 80% of your max weight to reach total depletion.

hpsnickers1

You bet. You know that "wall" that long distance runners talk about? It's often a glycogen depletion problem. (For many, myself included, it's a brain problem )

Some ultra runners purposely train to depletion as a way to train the body to run on less fuel. I'm talking about people who run 50-100 miles at a shot. The jury is out on whether this acheives the desired effect; many studies and opinion (scientific and bogus) both ways. I think it is highly individual, and highly dependent on your natural endurance economy/VO2 max (which can be improved through training).

I like food and the muscle that I do have too much (and not feeling fuzzy headed) to ever go to depletion. I seem to do OK with my nurtition during long events (I do 50 miles, max) and I recover quickly.

And that "second wind" that happens is your body kicking over to burning fat for fuel (it has just ran out of it's immediate fuel)!

joejccva71

How long & hard would one have to lift to reach glycogen depletion?

Typically you'd be doing 3-4x10-15 rep sets per major muscle group at 80% of your max weight to reach total depletion.

Over the span of a few days while eating low carbs, yes. Hence, the need for refeeds.

brucedelaney

How long & hard would one have to lift to reach glycogen depletion?

Typically you'd be doing 3-4x10-15 rep sets per major muscle group at 80% of your max weight to reach total depletion.

Over the span of a few days while eating low carbs, yes. Hence, the need for refeeds.

Yep, just wanted to know if a good cardio session was capable of finishing off the job the day before a refeed.

Based on what people are saying.... yes it will.

joejccva71

How long & hard would one have to lift to reach glycogen depletion?

Typically you'd be doing 3-4x10-15 rep sets per major muscle group at 80% of your max weight to reach total depletion.

Over the span of a few days while eating low carbs, yes. Hence, the need for refeeds.

Yep, just wanted to know if a good cardio session was capable of finishing off the job the day before a refeed.

Based on what people are saying.... yes it will.

Yep it will. When I was doing UD 2.0 by Lyle McDonald, I would do 10 minutes of post-training cardio HIIT. 30 seconds as fast as I could go, then 15 seconds slow, then 30 seconds fast, then 15 slow. Repeat.

Mom_4_More_Muscles

And that "second wind" that happens is your body kicking over to burning fat for fuel (it has just ran out of it's immediate fuel)!

THAT's the rush I love in my spinning class. It's like lightning strikes the system... cold rush on the inside, sweatin' my a** off.

brucedelaney

How long & hard would one have to lift to reach glycogen depletion?

Typically you'd be doing 3-4x10-15 rep sets per major muscle group at 80% of your max weight to reach total depletion.

Over the span of a few days while eating low carbs, yes. Hence, the need for refeeds.

Yep, just wanted to know if a good cardio session was capable of finishing off the job the day before a refeed.

Based on what people are saying.... yes it will.

Yep it will. When I was doing UD 2.0 by Lyle McDonald, I would do 10 minutes of post-training cardio HIIT. 30 seconds as fast as I could go, then 15 seconds slow, then 30 seconds fast, then 15 slow. Repeat.

Exactly the reason I was asking about it. I'm planning to do a modification on the UD2.0