Carb's role in Bodybuilding?!
Question: When do you eat carbs? What are their role? I don't really get carbs. Do you eat them before lifting? In the morning? Not at night?
This is for my son who enjoys bodybuilding. He is 6'3 and weighs about 235 or so. When does he need carbs and when? We know about complex and simple carbs, but we don't understand their importance.
Thank you.
Answers: When do you eat carbs? What are their role? I don't really get carbs. Do you eat them before lifting? In the morning? Not at night?
This is for my son who enjoys bodybuilding. He is 6'3 and weighs about 235 or so. When does he need carbs and when? We know about complex and simple carbs, but we don't understand their importance.
Thank you.
For a bodybuilder, you want to have a diet that's 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat. Yes, that's right, you need the same amount of carbs as protein!
Basically, simple carbs should only be consumed at one point in the day, and that is post-workout.
30 minutes after workout have 40g simple carbs (juice works well. try to get some nutrition instead of just empty calories.) and 40g whey protein. 30 minutes after that you want a full meal of 40g lean meat and 40g complex carbs. After that, you want to be sure to eat every 3-4 hours with protein in each meal.
Pre-workout nutrition varies based on when you are working out. I lift first thing in the morning, so I just take 40g whey protein before and no carbs. If you are working out in the afternoon, it's good to have whey protein before also, as long as you didn't eat too recently. Carbs are needed for energy, but I don't feel it's necessary to take them pre-workout unless you are running out of steam during the workout. (If that is the case, you can have complex carbs an hour before working out, or take a supplement like Cytomax during workout.)
In general, if you are bulking then complex carbs can come from potatoes, legumes, veggies, rice, or grain. If you are cutting, then it's best to remove all potatoes, wheat, rice, and grain and only have healthy veggie carbs. Be careful of consuming too many sugary veggies like carrots. But, you can pretty much eat all the green veggies you want.
The 20% fat comes easy, and you need it to be healthy fat, so don't think this is room to splurge.
You do not want carbs, complex or otherwise, at night. Before bed, you want to have a slow protein in your body. Casein supplements, cottage cheese, and very lean beef all work well here. The point is to give your body a steady stream of aminos to keep your body anabolic while you sleep.
we usually a lot of bread and real fruit juice before exercising and then after we eat very lean lean meat.. so i guess carbs before and protein after..