I’m wondering, what is an adequate amount of intra-workout carbs for a natural lifter?
For those of us on a budget, is Waxy Maize acceptable and is Maltodextrin an inferior choice? It seems as if maltodextrin elevate blood glucose levels for longer (and subsequently insulin would then be elevated) and so it would take longer for the body to return to fat burning mode.
(maltodextrin is absorbed, takes up to 30 minutes to spike your insulin, and then another 150 (minute 180) before baseline levels are reached)
On a related note, if an adequate amount of pre- and intra-workout carbs are consumed then what reason is there to consume post-workout carbs? To date I’ve done
Pre-workout:
16g whey
1 nectarine/2 plums
Coffee
Intra-workout:
20-40g BCAA (the latter if dieting)
50g maltodextrin (going for 25-35 currently as an experiment, will switch to waxy maize shortly)
It does have a more pronounced peak, but I’m trying to understand whether or not this is preferable. Waxy maize has a lower peak, and it takes longer for the blood glucose levels to return to baseline levels, true, but it also prompts a smaller insulin response:
I think the goal at this time is the insulin peak.
This isn’t an area of expertise for me, so I won’t advise a specific, but I believe the point is to spike your insulin early, quickly and high for your workout so you can both limit your cortisol response and shuttle nutrients to the working muscles. A quick return to baseline is not bad, because you don’t want to be in storage mode all day after your workout.
You don’t need the insulin peak to blunt cortisol. It’s the availability of glucose in the blood stream that wll be the main cortisol inhibitor. Look at highly branched cyclic dextrin (PLAZMA). It is a weird carb because it is VERY quickly absorbed BUT has a very low insulin response, which is ideal. A large insulin response could lead to hypoglyceamia during the session which you obviously don’t want.
And when training you don’t need the insulin to send nutrients into the muscles, the muscle contraction itself pulls nutrients in (non-insulin mediated nutrients transport).
Of course. My layperson understanding is just that you’d not want to have a larger insulin response than you need, as insulin resistance and diabetes lies down that road.
Fantastic, this is an important takeaway for me.
Is the muscular contraction alone sufficient to perform this shuttling even when doing low-rep work such as Look Like a Bodybuilder, Perform Like an Athlete?
Probably not as efficient at bodybuilding work, but it will still work. And even with highly branched cyclic dextrin you still get SOME insulin release, just not a huge peak.
Thanks for the clarification - I missed on both points.
Is the benefit to workout drinks such as PLAZMA - vs. a whole-food meal, which would still provide glucose and the muscle is going to contract during training either way - more that they are easier to time then?
Yes, it’s because inflamation is part of the growth stimulus. if you inhibit the local inflamation from the workout you greatly reduce protein synthesis signaling. Which is why, for example, anti-inflamatory drugs decrease muscle growth from a workout.
In large part yes. But also because the absorption/digestion is easier. If you are still digesting food when training, more blood is shuttled to the digestive system, reducing blood flow to the working muscles.
OR the body decided to send the blood flow to the muscles, then less blood is sent to the digestive system and you get nauseated.
Plus. PLAZMA also have the optimal electrolytes ration to favor nutrients transport, muscle contraction and hydration.
Got it! Thank you, as always, for the detailed response.
I saw your article about busy man conjugate a couple weeks back, so I know you’re a proud papa. I’d ask how it’s going, but I know you’re still on the sleep deprivation phase. Hope you’re getting some chance to enjoy it!
For the first 10 years of my training (courtsey of bodybuilding.com & actually tnation as well) I would slam sugar/honey/milk & white bread. Sometimes table sugar into chocolate milk.
Because you know that INSULIN SPIKE was crucial. And we had like a 1 hour window max otherwise gains would be lost.
Remember so many unproductive days & stress making sure I had pure sugar to “spike” my insulin.
Picking veggies out of my postworkout meal (rice & meat) because thought the insulin would be hampered by fiber.
I also was really fat back then…those shakes & white bread didn’t do much…
Yip, most of us were taken in by that one. Even if you were a fat dude you still had to slam down that 50g of dextrose the second your chubby arms put down the barbell!
