A question was posed to me yesterday:
"I’ve been researching this topic and one site said for a 175lbs man(me) to have 32 grams of protein and 64 grams of carbs before and after a workout. I’m very skeptical that it is truly necessary or healthy to have that many carbs in one sitting twice a day to build muscle. On inactive days I feel best(and can lose weight if I need to) eating perhaps 60-80gs of carbs but I can handle more on lifting days, but this seems too much. Any thoughts?"
It is absolutely NOT necessary to have so many (64 grams) of carbs before, after or during a workout.
It’s total rubbish.
Truth be told, it may not hinder progress either – but bear in mind that if carbs are not used, they are converted to fat and are stored as fat fairly quickly.
This is NOT the case with fat and protein – not in the same way. And it is perhaps why so many bodybuilders swear by ‘cardio.’ Some do as much as 2, hour long bouts per day. This thwarts muscle building as well as jolting their appetite.
The macro-nutrients fat and protein have lots of jobs to do and if you give them some extra jobs (building extra muscle) they will comply.
The goal is to stimulate as much muscle ‘breakdown’ as possible via strength training and allow for the needed recovery all the while eating enough fat and protein to give you the added muscle and bone mass.
Carbs are of little consequence. They are only needed for their alkaline effect and for the various micro nutrients you can’t get from your fats and proteins. Very little is needed for this to occur. Most people require between 50-150 grams per day. That’s all folks.
Again, unless you burn the carbs off, excess carbs get stored as fat as they have no where else to go and nothing else to do.
Excess protein and fat will also get stored as fat BUT protein has a higher caloric rate of conversion TO fat and again aids in the bodybuilding process.
Get your carbs from veggies and seasonal fruits ONLY. Get your fats and proteins from grass-fed sources and fresh un-farm raised fish.
Strength train 2X per week tops (rest 2-3 days in-between sessions) and make each session as intense as you can tolerate safely.
If you do this leanness will come!
