Head. Heart. Legs.

21. Male. Personal Trainer. Fitness enthusiast. Weight lifter. Achieving my goals by strengthening and maintaining my three greatest assets: Head, Heart, and Legs

So What’s The Deal With Carbohydrates?

Anyone who has taken an interest in their nutrition has heard some form of argument against or in favor of carbohydrate intake.

But, what is the significance of carbs for those of us that aren’t worried about our weight, but are more interested in the performance ramifications of our intake?

When it comes down to it, carbohydrates are a person’s main source of energy. Yes, we burn some fat and a little protein for energy, but the majority of our actions are fueled through carb burning.

What does it really mean to say that you are burning carbs though, what are carbs? The simple answer is sugar. Carbohydrates are foods that can be broken down into sugars for immediate use by the muscles.

So what’s the whole deal with the complex carb vs. simple carbs debate, and how should a performance athlete think about their carb intake?

It all depends on what you’re goals:

If you’re a strength/explosive based athlete who exercises/competes in short events lasting no more than an hour:

Carb intake before exercise should be your focus. Since you will be participating in events that require your body to produce energy quickly and efficiently, your body will most likely be burning more carbs (%) than a marathon runner. In these situations carb loading during the week leading up to your event should focus on a diverse mixture of complex and simple carbohydrates that will enable your body to store the energy it needs for your event. As you near the event itself (Night before, Day of), you will want to switch to simple carbohydrates so your body can quickly absorb the nutrients it needs for performance. Since you will not be competing for more than an hour to an hour and a half, you shouldn’t worry about your nutrition during physical activity, other than to keep hydrated and maintain your electrolyte intake.

For Endurance athletes competing/exercising for two hours or more:

to understand your carb intake as an endurance athlete you need to understand what types of sugars you’re ingesting. Our body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose, which can be directly transported to muscles for use, however many of the nutrition options out there provide you with other types of sugars which require longer digestion periods than glucose.

As an endurance athlete your carb-loading phase should follow a similar routine as the one listed above. Once you are properly fueled up, your focus should shift to your nutrition strategy during physical activity.

Have you ever tried eating during intense physical exercise? Running along, stuffing a Whole-Wheat Peanut-Butter sandwich down your throat as your trying to maintain an 8 minute mile pace for 2-3 hours. If you have, then you’ve probably experienced the resulting, nausea, bloating and discomfort as your body tries to digest the fuel you’ve just put in the tank. The problem is, your stomach needs blood to do its job, and that blood is being shuttled away to your muscles during exercise to keep them well oxygenated and fueled. So how are you supposed to keep yourself fueled and avoid hitting the wall during workout/race?

1) Our stomachs are not like cars, you can’t wait until the tank is on empty and then fill her back up all the way to full in one go. As an endurance athlete you need to be constantly supplying your body with fuel from the start to the end of your work out in order to keep your muscles properly fueled.

2) Think about the types of carbs/sugars you’re ingesting. When you first start your race your heat rate is going to be much lower than it will be later on, there will still be blood in your stomach and digestion will still be functioning at an acceptable level. At this point, feel free to provide your body with more complex sugars such as the Malodextrin based gels/drinks (Cliffshot, Ensure). You may not feel great after consuming these heavier substances but your stomach should be able to digest them earlier on without much problem.

As you move on during your psychical activity however, you should start thinking about the fact that you want to make your stomach’s job as easy as possible. As blood drains out of your stomach, digestion of the more complex sugars will become difficult, so as you go on, you should steadily simplify your sugar intake until you hit the simplest sugars possible (think, Coca-Cola and Red Bull). Yes, soda may seem counter-intuitive at first, but after prolonged physical activity your body needs fuel, and it needs it now, and the sugars you find in Cola are so refined that they can be absorbed quickly and transported to your muscles for fueling.

A Few Pointers:


Listen to your body: what happens if you’re half way through a marathon or Half-Ironman distance triathlon and you’ve been consuming malodextrin base gels when suddenly your stomach starts angrily protesting? You were planning on waiting until mile marker 20 in your marathon to switch to the simple sugars, what should you do? Listen to your body! If your stomach is telling you “too much, I can’t do it!” give it a couple of minutes and switch to coke and water, you may start to feel better quite quickly in which case you can return to your nutrition strategy.

Be flexible with your nutrition: This really is included in the previous point, but just to emphasize, if you have a nutrition plan, its fine to try to stick to it. But, if you start blowing up half way through your activity, throw the plan out the window and consume what makes you feel good, your body is really a great machine, it will tell you what it needs.

Caffeine is your friend: Yes, at the begging of an event a small dose of caffeine can give you the bump you need to get a great start in and as you fatigue caffeine will help you break through the mental haze that begins to accumulate during your hard effort. Think about picking up some caffeine based gels, Coke, or Red Bull, for when you need that extra bump.

Sources:

McCormack, Chris (2011). I’m Here to Win. Chapter 8. P. 170-175.

http://www.powerbar.com/articles/165/how-sweet-it-is-the-truth-about-sugar—sweeteners.aspx

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/organic/sugar.html

http://www.fao.org/docrep/W8079E/w8079e0k.htm

Breakfast: Chocolate-Protein Banana Pancakes with Maple Syrup Side of raspberries + strawberries Drink: Iced Green Tea (decaffeinated) Ok…so maybe I threw in the fruit because I was trying to justify having pancakes this morning. What can I say, I had some batter left over from this weekend, and hey I’m getting my post work out protein and potassium as well as some good anti-oxidants, so not bad really.

Breakfast:

Chocolate-Protein Banana Pancakes with Maple Syrup

Side of raspberries + strawberries

Drink: Iced Green Tea (decaffeinated)

Ok…so maybe I threw in the fruit because I was trying to justify having pancakes this morning. What can I say, I had some batter left over from this weekend, and hey I’m getting my post work out protein and potassium as well as some good anti-oxidants, so not bad really.