How much carbon water do we need for strength training

For the fitness crowd, according to their attitude towards carbohydrates, they can basically be divided into two categories. One is the carbon water craze, who eats all kinds of rice, flour, Mantou, buns and bread every day, because their view is that carbon water is the basis and source of energy, and carbon water must be replenished at all times. And another type sees carbohydrates as a flood beast, thinking that even a small amount of carbohydrates will immediately cause insulin resistance, and then brainpower oneself to gain weight and ugliness, ultimately accompanied by disaccharides for the rest of life.

The above viewpoint represents two extreme attitudes. In fact, carbon water is just an energy substance for athletes, which is a fuel needed by the body to maintain training. The strength training we are going to discuss today, like other professional sports training such as athletics, swimming, basketball, etc., requires the support of the human body's energy system to proceed. So to what extent do pure strength trainers rely on carbon and water as energy substances?

Before discussing this issue, it is necessary for us to review the three-level system of energy again. We divide ATP into ATP-CP, glycolysis, and oxidative systems (sugar oxidation, fat oxidation) based on the speed of ATP generation. Phosphate creatine has a low storage capacity, so although the energy supply speed is fast, the rate of depletion is also fast. Although fat oxidation can generate a large amount of ATP, it requires a large amount of oxygen and takes a long time, which cannot meet the energy requirements for short-term high-power output. At this point, the glycolytic system becomes the main force providing energy.

Due to the fact that carbohydrates can provide energy for up to 30 minutes, many people consider carbohydrates or sugar as fast energy substances, and thus "draw the conclusion that eating more carbohydrates and water can lead to good exercise."

But there is a logical question here: the fast supply of carbon and water does not mean that eating more carbon and water is better, but rather whether the utilization efficiency of carbohydrates as metabolic substrates in the body is high enough. In the process of strength training, the body mainly relies on muscle glycogen stored in muscles rather than blood sugar as the energy base. In addition, the tricarboxylic acid cycle connects sugar and fat supply, allowing for mutual conversion. Therefore, we can say that endogenous carbohydrates are not a limiting factor in training.

The average amount of glycogen stored in an ordinary person's body is about 600g, which varies from person to person. The average value of muscle glycogen is about 500g, while the rest is mostly liver glycogen. Blood sugar is the lowest, only about 5g. For liver sugar, its main function was to maintain the stability of blood sugar. The principle of myose is a source of energy that supports training.

So how much muscle glycogen can be consumed in one training session? Let's take a look at two empirical studies

Study 1: Bodybuilders underwent quadriceps training, with a total of 20 groups. Among them, 15 groups performed composite movements, while the other 5 groups performed isolated movements, and each group was trained to exhaustion. The muscle glycogen content was measured before and after training, and it was found that the muscle glycogen loss after training was only 26%.

Study 2: Bodybuilders undergo 30 minutes of continuous leg flexion and extension training, with a practice of doing it continuously for 30 seconds and then taking a 1-minute interval until the full 30 minutes. The muscle glycogen content was measured before and after training, and it was found that the muscle glycogen loss after training was 28%.

In fact, regardless of whether carbon water is immediately replenished after training or not, a moderate amount of muscle glycogen loss can be restored within 24 hours after training, based on the theoretical basis of the Cori cycle's recovery of serum lactate [3]. (The moderate loss here can be considered as 40% muscle glycogen consumption, which is almost non-existent under controlled experimental conditions.)

The energy demand for strength training conducted in the gym is far less than that of endurance athletes. Strength trainers feel leg soreness and fatigue after hitting the hard pull limit or squatting 5x5, but this feeling does not represent glycogen depletion (which is actually far from exhaustion). What project can truly consume muscle glycogen severely? For example, long-distance or physically demanding events, such as long-distance cyclists and American rugby players, have a high intensity and require the body to continuously output to the outside world. Typically, the competition lasts for more than an hour.

Of course, this does not mean that consuming carbon water is not good or useless. Carbon water has many important functions. But for athletes, eating enough to meet their daily nutritional needs is the most important. Eat as you please, but do not eat indiscriminately for reasons without scientific basis.

Reference materials

1、Muscle metabolism during intense, heavy-resistance exercise， by P A Tesch, E B Colliander, P Kaiser

2、Glycogen and triglyceride utilization in relation to muscle metabolic characteristics in men performing heavy-resistance exercise，by B Essén-Gustavsson 1, P A Tesch

3、Muscle glycogen resynthesis after short term, high intensity exercise and resistance exercise，by D D Pascoe 1, L B Gladden

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