Of all the different macronutrients, carbohydrates have created the most confusion. You see, because of their effect on insulin it’s easy to single them out.
The bad news here is that if your carbohydrate intake isn’t optimized your training and life will go downhill.
So here is how to optimize your carbohydrate intake:
1. Don’t take supplements during exercise: This technique only applies to endurance athletes that train for hours on end. If you are training for one hour or less, carbs during exercise will do more harm than good. So don’t buy into the seductive marketing claims.
2. Combine carbs with vegetables: This is the most simple, yet most effective thing you can do to enhance carbohydrate absorption. You see, vegetables mechanically slow down the digestion of your carbohydrates. And slower digesting carbohydrates translate into better absorption.
3. Have a big amount of carbs right after your resistance training: This will flood your active tissues with carbs and this is exactly what you want. You see, right after your resistance training your active tissues are extremely receptive towards absorbing carbs.
4. Have carbs before exercise: This is a very powerful way to increase your work capacity. Just make sure you have a slow digesting carb that is easy on your stomach. And don’t have too many calories here as you don’t want a sugar crash right before exercise.
5. Keep your carb intake steady: If you let your intake drop below forty percent of total caloric intake, you will suffer. Not only will your mental performance go down, but your body will begin to breakdown calorie-burning muscle mass.
6. Don’t focus on whole grains: Whole grains are better than sugars, but legumes and beans are better than whole grains. So make sure you make legumes and grains your primary source of carbohydrates. Only have whole grains around periods of high physical activity.
Carbs aren’t bad, don’t buy into this faulty assumption. How you manage your intake is what makes the difference. So act on this information now, don’t wait for all the stars to be aligned!
Author Katherine Crawford, a fitness physiologist and former flabby arms sufferer, instructs on how to do upper arm exercises. Figure out how to get sexy arms by visiting her blog with shake weight reviews now!