Recently, more and more talk about the "carbohydrate window" for the rapid restoration of glycogen stores. Find out when to load your body with carbohydrates. According to the theory of the "carbohydrate window", which has become quite widespread in recent years, to restore glycogen stores in muscle tissues, carbohydrates should be consumed within a couple of hours after the completion of a training session. But is this really so and when to do a carbohydrate load in bodybuilding? With this we will try to figure it out in this article.
Glycogen Recovery and Carbohydrate Loading
As many people know, carbohydrates act as a source of energy during high physical exertion. Throughout the history of mankind, a mechanism has been formed in our body that can protect against prolonged starvation. This applies not only to fatty deposits, which provide energy for the entire body, if necessary, but also to muscle tissue. There, carbohydrates are stored in the form of glycogen.
When an athlete conducts a training session, these reserves are consumed. At the same time, one interesting fact should be noted that confirms the rationalism of the human body. In ordinary people, glycogen accumulates mainly in the liver. However, during physical exertion, it is necessary to provide muscle tissue with energy as soon as possible. If these loads are constant, for example in bodybuilders, then glycogen begins to accumulate in the muscles.
This fact explains the significant increase in strength indicators among novice athletes after a month of intensive training in the gym. Stored glycogen needs to be bound and water is used for this. Thus, the muscles store more and more glycogen and water for its binding. This also explains the gain in muscle mass in beginners. When glycogen is consumed, the released water is excreted from the body in the form of sweat.
The body stores glycogen constantly. This process occurs even during training, however, for obvious reasons, it is very weak. The period during which the rate of glycogen accumulation is maximal is called the "carbohydrate window". It occurs immediately after the end of the workout. It is this period that is when you should do a carbohydrate load in bodybuilding. Scientists suggest that at the dawn of human civilization, the "carbohydrate window" was absent in humans and appeared as a protective reaction of the body. Ancient people had to make long transitions in search of food, which in a certain steppe is an aerobic exercise. To avoid the many dangers, it was often necessary to become sprinters. This is already an anaerobic load. This type of load also includes the pulling of weights, which was necessary in the construction of housing or in battles.
Thus, scientists studied wild tribes, the way of life which is very similar to that which was inherent in our ancestors. As a result, it was found that their energy consumption significantly exceeds the ability to obtain glycogen in a natural way. This is how the "carbohydrate window" was discovered. During this period, glycogen is stored twice as fast as the rest of the time. The duration of the "carbohydrate window" is a couple of hours, which is quite enough to restore most of the glycogen. It should also be noted that information about the 45-minute "carbohydrate window" is very common. The duration of the period of accelerated "storage" of glycogen directly depends on the intensity of physical activity. With a strong load, the body needs to stock up on a large amount of glycogen, which is why the information about the "carbohydrate window" appeared, lasting 45 minutes. Two hours is an average value and during this period the accumulation of glycogen is more intensive than in the remaining time.
How Do I Carry Out a Carbohydrate Load?
By and large, we figured out when to do a carbohydrate load in bodybuilding. Now it remains to find out how to help the body restore glycogen stores. To begin with, if for some reason this fails, then, of course, the next day the athlete's performance will significantly decrease. It will already be very difficult to work with large working weights and the body will get tired quite quickly.
Now let's talk about how to provide a carbohydrate load. There are three simple rules to remember to help you avoid the troubles of glycogen deficiency.
Rule 1
Food should be taken as soon as possible after the end of the training session. The "carbohydrate window" is rather short and after about two hours the rate of glycogen storage will decrease by half, and after another six it will return to normal. This fact has been confirmed experimentally.
During the experiment, the subjects were divided into two groups. The representatives of the first group took food immediately after the training, and the control group ate two hours later. As a result, the rate of glycogen recovery in the first group was 200% higher than in the control group. But the most interesting in this case is not this result, but the fact that in the future glycogen was stored faster in the representatives of the first group.
Rule 2
The question of the amount of carbohydrates that should be consumed after training is also very important. Here scientists and sports professionals have different opinions. Methodologists recommend taking up to 200 grams of carbohydrates, and scientists believe that this will cause a strong release of insulin, which will slow down the rate of glycogen recovery. Thus, we agree with the opinion of scientists who recommend taking from 50 to 80 grams of carbohydrates after training.
Rule 3
Perhaps someone will think that the question of the type of carbohydrates is not relevant here. You can take chocolate or candy, which contains fast-digesting carbohydrates. But studies have shown that cereals and legumes are most effective in this case. There is no answer to the question why they are yet.
In conclusion, it should be said that when using the "carbohydrate window" changes in the daily diet should not be allowed. Simply put, it is not worth transmitting during this period. Remember to eat right. After training, all you need to do is help your body quickly restore glycogen stores.
Find out when to do a carb load in this video:
