Should you carb load or carb cycle for muscle gains? Should you carb load or carb cycle for muscle gains?
Centr Team
25 Sep 2019
Everyone’s got opinions on carbs and how you should use them or lose them. One minute they’re the bad guy, then they’re an athlete’s best friend. Chances are you’ve heard the phrases ‘carb loading’ and ‘carb cycling’ before. But what do they actually mean? And do they work?
Prepare to load up on knowledge, because Accredited Sports Dietitian Lisa Middleton is here to talk all things carbs.
Carb cycling: energy, only when you need it
Carbs are our primary workout-fuel. Carb cycling is the process of adjusting carb intake based on your workout regimen. You make sure you’ve got enough for your body to burn on the days you’re going hard. Then, on the days you’re not pushing yourself (or not training at all), you cut right back so your body doesn't store carbs and turn them into fat.
This basic carb cycling is currently touted as a weight-loss tool to limit carb and calorie intake without depriving you of the energy you need to smash your tough workouts.
Athletes might also carb cycle on a weekly or monthly basis, using high-carb days to support performance in specific events. They might also reduce carbs around training to help ‘upregulate’ their fat-burning ability for a competition, under the guidance of a sports dietitian.
But will it build muscle?
If you’re trying to build muscle, carb cycling can actually hinder you.
“Building muscle is about gaining lean mass, and reducing carbohydrate isn’t a good strategy for that,” Lisa explains. “A consistently low-carb diet could negatively affect your exercise performance and muscle recovery, especially over a longer period, when your goal is to enhance muscle growth”
Standard carb cycling approaches are all about making sure the carbs you take in are burned off instead of being stored. If you’re working hard to build muscle, you might even burn too much.
“If your carb intake is too low for your high-intensity workout sessions, you may not have enough fuel and can break down muscle,” Lisa says.
On top of that, carb cycling is more complicated than it sounds.
“The amount of carbs you will need to make this work varies from person to person,” Lisa says. “There’s no one-size-fits-all way to do it.”
Is carb loading just eating a ton before a hard gym sesh?
When you picture carb loading, you probably envision gulping down two massive bowls of pasta before a race or training session. But true carb loading is more precise than that.
“Carb loading is a specific sports nutrition strategy to load the body with fuel to be able to complete a long-duration endurance event,” says Lisa. “A dietitian would factor in sex, food preferences, muscle mass, gut function and more.”
Carb loading takes a lot of planning. Endurance athletes start loading in the days before the event or training. They taper off exercise activity on those loading days, so their body stores the carbs for the endurance challenge itself.
Is eating more carbs going to help you max gains?
Carb loading is only really necessary for strenuous activity that goes for more than 1.5 hours, such as a marathon. You don’t need this kind of intensive prep to take on a Centr workout.
“For the average workout, it wouldn’t be useful at all,” Lisa says. “Carb loading is not necessary for standard weight training or gradual muscle-building.”
Plus, like carb cycling, carb loading can be a very individual process that takes effort.
“If you’re not taking it easy enough on loading days, your body might not store all the glycogen you’re aiming for, and you won’t have the energy you need for the duration of your endurance challenge,” Lisa says.
Be strategic with your carb intake for best results
For your day-to-day training with Centr, carb cycling or loading is not required. Meal plans on the app offer a balance of carbs, protein and fats to support your everyday fitness activities and health.
But there is value in keeping carbs in mind when it comes to workout fuel. By snacking strategically, you can reap the benefits of a carbohydrate energy burst.
“Choose snacks with carbs before you exercise to help fuel your workout,” Lisa says. “You could also time your workouts after a meal rich in carbsto make the most of the energy you’ll have available. If you undertake a lot of endurance training in addition to Centr workouts, you may need to add more carbs into snacks or meals to meet those needs.”
