Carbs ?

ive realized more and more over the years it isnt so much about the type of carbs but the timing that will be the difference between good, lean gains or excess BF

Try centering the bulk of your carb intake before and after your workout...

Ive had good luck with all kinds of fruits(love watermelon), grits, oats, rice, potato, heck even pop tarts and fruity pebbles

good luck!

ive realized more and more over the years it isnt so much about the type of carbs but the timing that will be the difference between good, lean gains or excess BF

Try centering the bulk of your carb intake before and after your workout...

Ive had good luck with all kinds of fruits(love watermelon), grits, oats, rice, potato, heck even pop tarts and fruity pebbles

good luck!

I agree with try to eat the majority of your carbs pre and post workout. Carbs protect muscle better than any other macro during and after your workouts.

Muscle building requires increased protein. However, you should look up the maximum grams of protein to gain muscle. Also you need to strength train using resistance or weights. Too much protein can cause kidney problems. Carbohydrates help full your work out. Great magazines that talk about these are Muscle and Fitness for Women, Shape, etc.

Also, carb timing doesn't affect your lean gains or fat mass gains.

Also, carb timing doesn't affect your lean gains or fat mass gains.

I'm not so sure about that. Insulin is key to both muscular endurance and repair, therefore to gaining lean mass. Carbs not only provide extra on-tap energy but also help raise insulin levels. Timing that insulin spike to occur during your workout and after seems like common sense.

Also, carb timing doesn't affect your lean gains or fat mass gains.

I'm not so sure about that. Insulin is key to both muscular endurance and repair, therefore to gaining lean mass. Carbs not only provide extra on-tap energy but also help raise insulin levels. Timing that insulin spike to occur during your workout and after seems like common sense.

http://www.jissn.com/content/10/1/5

"Even more so than with protein, carbohydrate dosage and timing relative to resistance training is a gray area lacking cohesive data to form concrete recommendations. It is tempting to recommend pre- and post-exercise carbohydrate doses that at least match or exceed the amounts of protein consumed in these meals. However, carbohydrate availability during and after exercise is of greater concern for endurance as opposed to strength or hypertrophy goals. Furthermore, the importance of co-ingesting post-exercise protein and carbohydrate has recently been challenged by studies examining the early recovery period, particularly when sufficient protein is provided. Koopman et al [52] found that after full-body resistance training, adding carbohydrate (0.15, or 0.6 g/kg/hr) to amply dosed casein hydrolysate (0.3 g/kg/hr) did not increase whole body protein balance during a 6-hour post-exercise recovery period compared to the protein-only treatment. Subsequently, Staples et al [53] reported that after lower-body resistance exercise (leg extensions), the increase in post-exercise muscle protein balance from ingesting 25 g whey isolate was not improved by an additional 50 g maltodextrin during a 3-hour recovery period. For the goal of maximizing rates of muscle gain, these findings support the broader objective of meeting total daily carbohydrate need instead of specifically timing its constituent doses. Collectively, these data indicate an increased potential for dietary flexibility while maintaining the pursuit of optimal timing."

but it's not *only* beneficial for repair, it's also beneficial for endurance. Shipping glycogen into the muscle quickly as you are depleting it. You will still deplete faster than you can replenish, but the net result should be more work done before fatigue.

I don't mean cardio endurance. I mean muscular endurance. As in, how many reps/sets one can perform at a given weight before fatigue becomes too great (training to failure). I know that since I've started timing my carbs I've noticed a longer time to fatigue in the weight room (more work done), and faster recovery afterward. It's not an earth-shattering difference, but it is noticeable. I've added weight to my workouts a little more quickly, so I'm getting stronger faster.

I'm not saying it's *required*. It's more of a fine-tuning thing... but I didn't do this on a whim. I decided to give it a shot based on what I was reading about how insulin affects muscles and fat. I like the results so far. After a few more weeks of doing it this way I'm going to switch it up, to see if I notice a decrease in the same aspects of my workouts that have seen an increase with this plan. I'm after the truth, whether my technique is right or wrong. So far, though, the signs are pointing towards carb timing being effective.

ive realized more and more over the years it isnt so much about the type of carbs but the timing that will be the difference between good, lean gains or excess BF

Try centering the bulk of your carb intake before and after your workout...

Ive had good luck with all kinds of fruits(love watermelon), grits, oats, rice, potato, heck even pop tarts and fruity pebbles

good luck!

Well said, I totally agreed, timing is so important:flowerforyou:

I would just stay away from refined flour and sugar. Try to get carbs from natural whole grains. That does seem like a load of carbs, but I think if you are training hard you need more of everything!

The type of carbs do not matter - pick the ones you like the most and give you better energy in the gym.

This is mostly true with caveats

A. You need to make sure you get a good dose of MICROnutrient. Carbs would be the actual food source to do this. A multivitamin can be used to make it matter much less.

B. A sedentary person will start to show signs of diabeties if they consume over 50g of fructuose daily (which is a lot). we can suppose that an active person could tolerate more although there is no data on the topic as yet.


Also, it has been proven that spiking insulin directly after hard physical training is in fact not possible. This is the marketing material of suppliment hucksters.

A. Agreed. I assumed it was given, but probably should have clarified

B. OP is not sedentary

Re spiking insulin - could you point me to where this is shown not to be possible? Post from Alan Aragon:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=131821473&p=678321011&viewfull=1#post678321011

The type of carbs do not matter - pick the ones you like the most and give you better energy in the gym.

This is mostly true with caveats

A. You need to make sure you get a good dose of MICROnutrient. Carbs would be the actual food source to do this. A multivitamin can be used to make it matter much less.

B. A sedentary person will start to show signs of diabeties if they consume over 50g of fructuose daily (which is a lot). we can suppose that an active person could tolerate more although there is no data on the topic as yet.


Also, it has been proven that spiking insulin directly after hard physical training is in fact not possible. This is the marketing material of suppliment hucksters.

A. Agreed. I assumed it was given, but probably should have clarified

B. OP is not sedentary

Re spiking insulin - could you point me to where this is shown not to be possible? Post from Alan Aragon:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=131821473&p=678321011&viewfull=1#post678321011

Yes, please link the studies showing insulin release isn't possible after physical training. Timing carbs and "spiking" insulin solely to maximize muscle growth post workout is futile, and any benefit would be minute if best. Our bodies would require an exogenous introduction of insulin for any noticeable gains or benefits, hence bodybuilders taking insulin shots and timing meals, a dangerous practice that is argued where the cost (death) outweighs the benefit (marginal). However, your body is always releasing insulin, even at basal levels. Whey protein alone post workout will release insulin and trigger muscle protein synthesis.

So did you mean that there is no benefit to spiking insulin post workout?

The type of carbs do not matter - pick the ones you like the most and give you better energy in the gym.

This is mostly true with caveats

A. You need to make sure you get a good dose of MICROnutrient. Carbs would be the actual food source to do this. A multivitamin can be used to make it matter much less.

B. A sedentary person will start to show signs of diabeties if they consume over 50g of fructuose daily (which is a lot). we can suppose that an active person could tolerate more although there is no data on the topic as yet.


Also, it has been proven that spiking insulin directly after hard physical training is in fact not possible. This is the marketing material of suppliment hucksters.

A. Agreed. I assumed it was given, but probably should have clarified

B. OP is not sedentary

Re spiking insulin - could you point me to where this is shown not to be possible? Post from Alan Aragon:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=131821473&p=678321011&viewfull=1#post678321011

Yes, please link the studies showing insulin release isn't possible after physical training. Timing carbs and "spiking" insulin solely to maximize muscle growth post workout is futile, and any benefit would be minute if best. Our bodies would require an exogenous introduction of insulin for any noticeable gains or benefits, hence bodybuilders taking insulin shots and timing meals, a dangerous practice that is argued where the cost (death) outweighs the benefit (marginal). However, your body is always releasing insulin, even at basal levels. Whey protein alone post workout will release insulin and trigger muscle protein synthesis.

So did you mean that there is no benefit to spiking insulin post workout?

What I meant was that it can't be spiked enough to have any real benefit which is the reason as you say that enhanced lifters inject it directly. If they could raise it high enough by just eating food, they would do that rather than inject it. The reality is that we can not acutely manipulate ANY hormone in our body enough to make much difference outside of using drugs.

Ahh..got it. Agreed, to a point. A small increase in insulin is shown to be beneficial to net protein breakdown, however, a bunch of carbs is not needed and there is a pretty big window. Just eat food during a 'normal' eating schedule is usually enough. Trying to manipulate HGH etc via exogenous means is pretty much an exercise in futility.

Doesn't matter where the carbs are coming from missy