Carb Loading

Charlottee

Member
Messages
15
hello!

is it necessary to eat carbs pre/post workout for bodybuilding? maximum muscle gain?
also if you do strict low carb and you eat in a day 40-50g carbs, will you get out of ketosis? and have to start again?

thanks!
 

qe5rt

Well-Known Member
Messages
251
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Since most bodybuilding sessions are under an hour with rest in between sets you'll probably don't need carbs pre workout. Post workout you can have some to replenish the reserves. If you're too low on carbs you'll notice muscle fatigue setting in way faster if you're too high you'll notice with your BG levels. There are some athletes that are LCHF but not many research has been done on the subject, most of them seem to do fine though. If you have a use for the carbs they're not that bad if you're overdoing them they'll start messing up your BG, when not diabetic it's not that harmful but when you are you need to pay attention obviously. It's a bit more tricky but not impossible to find the right balance, and there's something to say about higher fat too. Whichever way you go checking your BG before and after workouts is a good thing to do, couple of hours after too. I find that hypertrophy based workouts have a greater effect on my BG than strength based workouts (because of the rep ranges most likely).
 

tim2000s

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
8,934
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
No. For bodybuilding you don't need carbs if you have no IOB. It's anaerobic so more likely to push bg up.
 

Charlottee

Member
Messages
15
Since most bodybuilding sessions are under an hour with rest in between sets you'll probably don't need carbs pre workout. Post workout you can have some to replenish the reserves. If you're too low on carbs you'll notice muscle fatigue setting in way faster if you're too high you'll notice with your BG levels. There are some athletes that are LCHF but not many research has been done on the subject, most of them seem to do fine though. If you have a use for the carbs they're not that bad if you're overdoing them they'll start messing up your BG, when not diabetic it's not that harmful but when you are you need to pay attention obviously. It's a bit more tricky but not impossible to find the right balance, and there's something to say about higher fat too. Whichever way you go checking your BG before and after workouts is a good thing to do, couple of hours after too. I find that hypertrophy based workouts have a greater effect on my BG than strength based workouts (because of the rep ranges most likely).

how do you mean hypertrophy based workouts? heavy weights and low reps? anything else?

No. For bodybuilding you don't need carbs if you have no IOB. It's anaerobic so more likely to push bg up.
what is IOB?
 

Indy51

Expert
Messages
5,540
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
If you think bodybuilding requires carbs, take a look at this guy who has been on a ketogenic diet for many years:

b88oeh.jpg


You might also find this talk about research on ketogenic diets and bodybuilding:

 

qe5rt

Well-Known Member
Messages
251
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
how do you mean hypertrophy based workouts? heavy weights and low reps? anything else?

Hypertrophy is a bodybuilding style workout and higher reps while strength is lower and higher intensity (% of 1RM in compound lifts).