I know that Berardi works with the Canadian ski team and that he’s put endurance athletes on his usual high protein diets with good body comp. results.
I’ve seen a few rowers post on T-Nation before and was wondering if they’ve had success in implementing his dietary protocols. I tried it last fall season and felt flat for most of my workouts and subsequently had to add back in the carbs.
Any experience with this?
Hi There,
I was just lurking tonite and saw your question.
In reading through your post, I wonder what exactly you did.
For most athletes (esp endurance) it is important to still eat alot of dietary carbohydrate when measured in grams. However, those carbs are loaded during specific periods of the day when carbohydrate sensitivity is greatest (during and within the 3 hours after training).
Then, based on the athlete’s ideal body composition (for their sport), we tweak the rest of the day.
You can get just as much glycogen back by loading carbs during/after training and you also prevent low blood sugar during training this way.
However, by eating lower carbs the rest of the day (depending on body comp requirements), you can cause a powerful carb sparing effect, shifting the body to a predominantly fat burning mode during much of the day (and even increasing fat oxidation during exercise).
Be sure that you don’t take any of my suggestions in isolation. It’s important to use the entire “system”.
Best,
JB