Working Out and Eating Carbs

Working out and eating carbs have many amazing benefits, especially if your goal is to build muscle.  Carbs are the fuel for your brain and working muscles.  Eating carbs can improve your lifts and overall strength.  However, many bodybuilders make the costly mistake of limiting or cutting their carbs and hinder potential muscle gains.

The Amazing Ability of Carbs

The great thing about carbs is that they are protein-sparing. They are absolutely essential when you are building muscle because they increase your glycogen stores which are necessary for protein synthesis and anabolism.  If you think you are going to gain muscle on a low-carb diet, you may as well be driving your car on empty, as neither are effective.

Benefits of carbs:

Spares protein
Curbs cravings
Provides energy
Balances out meals
Provides muscle glycogen
Aids in digestion of fats

In addition, carbs provide energy for the hard-working lifters working to gain muscle mass, size, and strength.  Carbs are not the enemy as they are made out to be.  They can benefit a muscle-building program.

Types of Carbs

While you do need carbs, you have to eat carbs that your body can use.  Avoid processed carbs.  They don’t do anything for the body.  Choose natural and even organic carbs.

Good carb choices are oatmeal, grits, fruit, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. These types of carbs will NOT make you fat… Unless you totally overeat them. Just as too much protein can be stored as fat, so can too many carbs.

Carbs to Avoid

Be sure to limit or avoid junk foods, fruit juices, ice cream, cookies, donuts, etc. These junk carbs can mess up your insulin function, make you crave more carbs and sugar, and store as body fat.  Refined carbs don’t provide long-term energy for training.  They have short-term insulin spikes. Healthline.com tells us, “Refined carbs have been stripped of almost all fiber, vitamins and minerals. For this reason, they can be considered as “empty” calories.”  Keep it simple by keeping it natural.

Secret Tip…

Now, if you want the insider information on how the best-of-the-best builds muscle, check out my tips below.