know how to build muscle with carbohydrates
Over the past few years, carbohydrates have become the enemy for anyone who wants to lose weight or build lean muscle mass, but is it really that bad?
Actually, it depends on your goal.
If your goal is to lose weight, you should lower your carbs intake to create a caloric deficit.
But, how does it fit-in to the nutritional strategy of someone looking to gain weight and build muscle?
In short, it is very difficult to build large amounts of muscle without eating carbohydrates. Let’s look at some of the reasons why carbs are so important if you are trying to gain weight and build muscle.
Role of Carbohydrates in building muscle and strength
1-it’s the main source of energy
During intense strength training exercise the primary fuel source for your body is muscle glycogen, which is stored carbohydrate.
So, more carbs means more energy which will lead to more strength and build muscle eventually.
2-stimulate the release of insulin
Simple carbohydrates (sugars) cause a huge release of the hormone insulin, which stops muscle breakdown and shuttles nutrients to damaged muscles.
3-cause water retention within muscle cells
Carbohydrates draw water into muscle cells, a process called cell volumization, which causes weight gain and makes your muscles appear larger.
As you can see, carbohydrates have some great benefits for those of us who want to build muscle. However, excess carbohydrates can cause fat gain. While we do want to gain weight, we want this weight to be muscle, not fat.
How can you optimize muscle gain and limit fat gain?
You need to pay attention to what type of carbohydrates you are eating and when you are eating them.
There are 2 types of carbohydrates:
1-Complex carbs
They are a slow digesting type of carbs found in whole grain foods like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and rice.
Most of your carbohydrates should come from complex carbs because These carb sources will refill muscle glycogen and enhance cell volumization without causing a huge release of the hormone insulin, which can cause fat gain.
These carbohydrates should primarily be consumed in the first half of the day. As it gets later in the day our bodies process carbohydrates less efficiently, and this can lead to fat gain.
For this reason we want to focus on getting a good amount of complex carbs at breakfast and lunch, and then limit our carbs at dinner.
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2-Simple carbs (sugars)
They are faster digesting than complex carbs, which means a big release of insulin and cause fat gain.
As mentioned before, we want to select complex carbs because they don’t cause as big of a release of insulin as simple carbs (sugars) do. However, there is actually one time of day when we want to consume simple carbohydrates.
This time is immediately following a workout. The huge release of insulin that we get during this time is actually a good thing because it stops muscle breakdown and shuttles nutrients to our starving muscles.
This is the only time of day that you should consume simple carbs (fruit juice, carb powders, Gatorade, white bread, cereals, etc.).
What you need to know…
If you are trying to gain weight fast, remember that carbs aren’t the enemy , they are actually your friend. If you eat the right types of carbs at the right times you can build muscle and limit fat gain.
