Do simple carbs actually help power you during long workouts?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I remember in high school people would often tell you to eat a lot of spaghetti or something the night before a long distance run or some-such. All those carbs will help keep you fueled during the run.

But now I read that simple carbs break down incredibly fast and basically turn into a load sugar in a short amount of time. And if this sugar isn't used up immediately, it gets stored as fat. And this is also why after eating a large meal with a lot of simple carbs people get a food coma due to the insulin response that makes them crash. On the flip side, because complex carbs digest slowly, the conversion of the carbs into sugar is more gradual, more controlled, and better for consistently powering long workouts.

So in light of this, should the old adage be to eat a lot of *complex* carbs the night before a long workout to keep you consistently energized throughout the workout, and to, well, never eat simple carbs since the energy release is too sudden and unless you're doing some explosive short term workout it'll just get stored into fat?

 

[Koing]

When you say a long work out what do you mean? Do you mean lifting weights for 2-3-4hrs? Eat something 60mins before training. I'll eat a wholemeal pita bread, with light cheese and 2 bits of ham pre training. I'll have an apple as well. I'll have a protein shake for breakfast as well.

As long as you don't eat a huge meal pre training and you are having a food crash you are good to go. Have something a bit lighter like what I said above. I'll take my bcaa powders to drink during training and a protein shake as well. I train for 3-4hrs on my Oly and BB sessions. I'm also coaching.

Koing

 

[mple]

Please read: http://www.jissn.com/content/10/1/5

Really though, nutrient timing should be tailored to the individual.

 

[Megatomic]

I used to think so, but I'm not so convinced anymore as long as it doesn't give you GI distress. What you eat afterwards counts way more.

 

[mple]

I used to think so, but I'm not so convinced anymore as long as it doesn't give you GI distress. What you eat afterwards counts way more.

If you don't have time for food after a workout or you're simply not hungry, then there's really no need to force feed yourself. Just eat when its convenient and focus on consuming the targeted macro/micronutrients within a 24-36 hour window.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

If you don't have time for food after a workout or you're simply not hungry, then there's really no need to force feed yourself. Just eat when its convenient and focus on consuming the targeted macro/micronutrients within a 24-36 hour window.

Actually, what Megatomic says has a lot of merit. If you don't eat fairly soon after a hard workout, your body will not produce as much liver glycogen as it could. OP, I too heard people and coaches talk about "carb-loading" the night before an endurance event. However, there's a lot of research out there saying that you need quite a bit longer than one night to load up on carbohydrates to increase performance.

Most studies that look into the carb-loading of just eating high carb diets before races showed that you needed to eat something like 60% of your calories from carbs for about a week before. Other more recent studies have shown that eating a lot of simple carbohydrate after depleting your glycogen (a hard workout, ideally endurance until you're tired and then some interval training) can almost double your liver glycogen in a few weeks.

Also, the day of an event (at least 3-4h before racing) you are supposed to take in quite a bit of carbohydrate to boost the amount in your blood throughout the race.

So yes, there is merit to the carb-loading concept of taking in a lot of simple carbohydrate, but it has to be done for a longer period of time than just one day and it, ideally, should be done after workouts to immediately replenish and exceed normal synthesis of liver glycogen.