Carbs are important for muscle building because they're protein sparing, which means the body looks to glycogen for energy instead of breaking down muscle tissue for energy. Consuming carbs post-workout can prevent muscle loss and help repair muscles.
And your muscles don't actually need carbs to grow. Lifting weights triggers an increase in muscle protein synthesis, which is the key driving force behind muscle growth. But you don't need carbs for it to happen.
Carbohydrates and Muscle Building
Carbohydrates are another important group of foods for fueling your muscles. That's because carbs are partially converted to glycogen, which is a form of energy stored in muscles. This energy helps to power your workouts.
If you don't eat carbs, your body will break down muscle
If body recomposition is your goal (losing fat while holding on to — or even building — muscle), you definitely don't want to be cutting carbs, because if you don't eat them, your body will make glucose by breaking down your muscle.
According to The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, you should have both carbs and protein pre-workout to build muscle, and you should ideally eat one to three hours before exercising. Carbs fuel your body while protein builds and repairs it.
How might more protein and fewer carbs in the diet make a difference for weight loss or weight control? “Protein takes more energy for you to digest than refined carbohydrates, and also gives your body a feeling of satiety,” says Dr. Hauser. Low-carb diets have been shown to help some people lose weight.
Recommended Carbohydrate Intake:
Research suggests that bodybuilders who are trying to gain substantial muscle growth or increased body mass should consume about 5-6 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight per day (Slater, 2011).
The National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends that strength athletes consume between 55 and 60 percent of their calories from carbs, as bodybuilding workouts deplete levels of carbohydrate within the muscle cells and this needs to be replaced.
When you exercise, carbs provide fuel for your workouts. If you exercise without eating carbs first — and you tend not to have enough of these macronutrients in your diet to have a substantial reserve of glycogen in your muscles —your body breaks down protein in your muscles for fuel instead.
Lifting and doing strength training without adequate nutrition, especially without enough protein, can actually lead to loss of muscle tissue. Furthermore, if you aren't eating right you won't have the energy to do the workouts that lead to muscle gain.
Protein and carbohydrates work together to keep your body healthy and functioning. The carbs you eat give you energy, while the protein builds muscles, skin, and hair. Both are needed in order to stabilize blood sugar and are best when eaten together. Simply put, without carbs, your body would not be able to function.
Carb It Up
One of the most effective and easiest ways to look bigger is to eat lots of carbohydrates. The glycogen in carbs pulls lots of water into your muscles and can offer an inflated look.
To gain mass, you should eat between 150-500 extra kcal than you would for weight maintenance. But you can always adapt this to your own needs. These extra calories should come from healthy fats and proteins. They don't have to come from carbs.
You can drop pounds without positively changing your body composition, though. The advantage of low-carb diets may be in their ability to encourage fat loss as well as overall weight loss, creating a leaner-looking body.
Glucose can be made from protein, however, this requires the breakdown of body protein, yes, from muscle. That's right, if you're not eating enough carbohydrates, your body will start breaking down precious muscle tissue for glucose. Unfortunately, your body cannot use fats for glucose.
You would usually have a high-carb day when you plan on exercising hard. On those days, your body needs more fuel, so you might eat 2 to 2.5 grams of carbs for every pound of your body weight. You eat fewer carbs on days when you're less active.
Athletes need to eat around 3 – 5 grams of carbs per kilo they weigh each day to replenish what is used during weight training and cardio sessions. The specific amount depends on how intense your gym session was. The higher the intensity, the more carbs you need.
According to CompleteHumanPerformance.com, most bodybuilders aim for two to six grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight (one to three grams per pound). Endurance athletes need a little more to keep them fueled – about five to seven grams per kilogram if they're training at a moderate pace.
Your body doesn't need carbs to process protein. In fact, your body doesn't need carbs for anything. Of course, there are some scenarios where carbs can be of use, such as carb-loading (e.g. pre-contest/water manipulation). During a regular bulk though, carbs add nothing to protein.
High protein, low carb diets may promote weight loss, preserve muscle mass, improve blood sugar control, lower your risk of heart disease, and enhance bone health.
Carbs pre-workout will fill your muscles with glycogen so they're ready to push 110%. This will help you trigger muscle growth via multiple pathways. It increases your pump during your workout. This cell swelling pump can be seen as a threat by the body, triggering muscle growth.
If you're not well hydrated, your muscles will likely look flat and it will appear as though you've lost size when all you're really short on is liquids, not muscle.
After a meal, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, an immediate source of energy. Excess glucose gets stored in the liver as glycogen or, with the help of insulin, converted into fatty acids, circulated to other parts of the body and stored as fat in adipose tissue.