The Truth About Carb Loading: 5 Myths Busted!
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- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2024
- Carbo loading tips for you
Is carbo loading effective? Is carb loading worth doing? Should you carbo load before a marathon?
Yes, to all of them! Carb loading is an invaluable tool for endurance athletes because of the impact it can have on performance. Through it, you have a chance to improve your performance somewhere in the realms of 2-3%. That might not sound like much, but that's the equivalent to 8 minutes over a 4 hour race.
So if you're wondering how long to carb load for, whether carb loading can help you run faster or any other carbo load guide questions, by the end of this video you should know the truth!
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00:00 Introduction
00:45 Myth #1 - Carb loading doesn't help performance
01:40 Myth #2 - You have to follow a low carb diet first
02:35 Myth #3 - You have to carb load for a full week
03:28 Myth #4 - Don't carb load for long distance
04:33 My carb load strategy for a 70.3 triathlon
05:19 Myth #5 - Any carb is fine
06:43 Using a carb loading plan
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Hi! I'm James. I'm a Sport and Exercise Nutritionist and I make videos on nutrition to give people simple, clear and easy to use information on a range of subjects. I focus on triathlon and how triathletes can use nutrition to help properly fuel their training and racing.
In my day job I work as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in General Practice, or Family Medicine for those of you not in the UK, and work in a busy NHS GP practice. I'm a Specialist Paramedic by background and have full independent medicine prescribing rights.
Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Family Medicine, BSc, PGCert
Registered Sport and Exercise Nutritionist (SENr)
MSc Sport and Exercise Nutrition
Nutrition Consultant for Hurry The Food Up
Great Britain Age Group Triathlete
Qualified L2 British Triathlon Coach
I am not affiliated or sponsored by any brands, companies or products that I mentioned or show in my videos. My aim is to make these videos free from any sort of bias!
These videos shouldn't be taken as direct, personal advice on medicine or nutrition but more for information purposes based on the latest research and evidence. Unless otherwise clearly stated, this information is more suited to adults as under 18s have different requirements and considerations. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have as an individual though!
Contact: James@nutritiontriathlon.com
Website:
nutritiontriathlon.com 
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The carb loading guide can be found here:
www.nutritiontriathlon.com/carb-loading-plan
Let me know what you think!
Thanks James. Your presentation style is great and really easy to listen to. I’ll be using some of your tips for my forthcoming HM.
My pleasure! Glad to hear that 🙂 good luck with your HM!
Thanks man! Great video! Definitely doing carb loading for Chicago!
Awesome, good luck with it!
Thanks James. Used your plan for my second marathon and it was great (the plan. Not the race 😂). Gonna be using it again this weekend ready for the Yorkshire marathon on Sunday
Awesome! Glad to hear the plan was good, even if the race wasn't 😅 hopefully the next will be better 😀
I think I consume plenty of carbs, but I still need to fine tune my "loading" days.
It's a fun process 😉
Thanks great info & I'll be trying your plan this weekend fir my half marathon 🤞
Have recently been learning more about carbs for sport after following a lower carb diet (not strict, but more low gi & fats & protein based)
I realised I was eating a lot less (maybe half) of requirements on a daily basis for moderate training
So even getting to baseline has been a challenge!
Carb load on all those white carbs seems intimidating!
Hey! You're welcome 🙂 great to hear you've been learning about nutrition and understanding your own issues!
Yeah, the carb loading can be daunting and ideally practice it before a long training run so that you get used to it and feel comfortable. You can also make any tweaks if needed. But it can make such a big difference!
Just completed my first Standard Tri (Dorney) and followed your 36 hour carb load plan. With regular carb and electrolytes (bottle of each) on the bike I felt great for the run. I'm sure it would've been quite a different experience had I not carb loaded. Thanks for the great advice and I'm now seeing its possible to train for a half IM next year!
Fantastic Allan! That's brilliant to hear. Sounds like you nailed it 😃 you're welcome, it's my pleasure!
P. S. The half IM is definitely possible 😉
@@NutritionTriathlon Thanks! I'll be in touch next year!
Another great video James! What are your thoughts on creatine. Should we use it for training and come off a few days/weeks before race to reduce water weight? Or is this course dependent?
Thank you! 🙂 good question. Partly course dependent, more just an individual choice and a consideration of what your training looks like.
Main benefit of creatine comes from exercise lasting less than 30s, so depending on what you're doing this could be useful. Potentially useful in a race with lots of short higher power efforts. Also helpful for strength training. Might have some benefit in hotter climates with thermoregulation.
Planning to do a full video on this!
Hey - random off topic question. I'm currently experimenting with lower GI fuels like MCT and isomaltulose to see if I can turn on my internal fat oxidation more for when I'm just training around LT1. My idea and goal is to get away with taking on less cals in training to shed some weight while not suffering the consequences of training on a calorie deficit as badly by enabling myself to better use my internal fat storages for energy. As an example I did a 30k 8x10min easy interval run session, fasted start and had 1L water / 30g mct / 50g isomaltulose / 1500mg sodium / 300mg caffeine (5h window) and had suffiencent energy throughout, altough I recon I would've felt fresher towards the end on a maxed fast carb protocol. I'm not currently doing any high intensity training and recovery seems normal - being able to maintain my normal volume at about 10-15h / week at a ~250-750cal deficit/day. What's your experience and thoughts on targeting fat oxidation during LT1 training to enable weight loss like this?
Great question and approach to the topic.
So here's my thoughts:
To lose weight the most important thing is to be in a calorie deficit. This needs to be sustainable, and generally speaking a 500 kcal deficit is appropriate. So that sounds like you're doing that well.
With that said, there's no significant difference to the type of diet you follow (eg. High carb Vs low carb) on fat loss. They will have pretty much the same outcome on fat loss as long as protein is equal and calorie deficit is the same.
Also worth mentioning that the fat you burn through exercise does not equate to the fat you lose through being in a calorie deficit. This is why there's no real difference for fat loss with which diet you follow (the above point).
So with that in mind, if your approach works for you then that's great and it's fine to continue.
However, I don't believe that there is a significant benefit to endurance training to follow such a strict approach. Being smart about carbohydrate consumption (consume enough for your exercise) and consistently training are the most beneficial, in my opinion. My worry would be that you're not following enough to get any ketogenic benefits (which by the sounds of it isn't your goal) but wouldn't be consuming sufficient carbs for your total body needs when exercise is accounted for. And there are potential health risks by following that approach. Added to this is that most people don't know how many carbs they actually burning at their "easy", increasing the risk of the above.
Personally, I would prefer an athlete just follow a more balanced approach to their carb consumption, ensure sufficient stores for health and training and then just train consistently. FWIW, this doesn't mean you can't improve your fat oxidation - you definitely can. Volume, smart carb consumption and consistent easy training will do that!
There are lots of nuances to this and other factors, but I hope this gives an answer to your questions!
@@NutritionTriathlon many thanks for the in depth response, I genuinely appreciate you taking the time - I'm learning a lot.
I see your points and I hadn't considered the possible health risks of under fuelling in terms of carbs. I went down this route based on stuff I'd picked up about high GI carbs "blocking" the body's ability for fat oxidation - I reasoned that if I can enable my body to better use internal fat storages during LT1 training, my need for external carbs would be reduced and my body also wouldn't exhibit any strong symptoms (such as head aches and low mood/energy) to being on a calorie deficit as per my hypothesis, the deficit would naturally be covered by internal fat oxidation. But maybe this is a misunderstanding on my part?
In case you'd be willing to comment further - referring to the day of the long run described above, my macros for the day was approximately 5.4g/kg carbs, 2.1g/kg fats, 1,8g/kg protein. I would normally aim to take on around 65g carbs/h for a run like this and probably sit closer to 7g/kg carbs for the day.
The issue I'm battling is that if I fuel my training as per normal, I have to eat less "real" food the rest of the day in order to achieve the calorie deficit, which seems possibly unhealthy too? Like, given that I know what I'm doing, isn't it a good idea to try to maximize internal fat oxidation in training in order to reduce the amount of external calories needed to maintain good energy in training?
All really good questions again.
So you're right that better fat oxidation during LT1 would be beneficial, and also that high GI carbs can somewhat block the body's ability for fat oxidation. Important things to highlight though:
1) Whilst it might reduce the ability a little bit, it doesn't negate it
2) The perfect time for working on fat oxidation is during low intensity, easy long training - not during intervals. This is totally counterintuitive. Fat burning will by nature be low during mod-high intensity and this is the wrong time to optimise for it.
3) You can still consume high GI carbohydrates during long easy sessions and still oxidise fat - the most important thing is the right intensity zone
4) We have to zoom out and see the bigger picture. Whilst fat oxidation is important and we want to improve it, we don't want to harm the rest of our training and/or our health by restricting carbohydrates.
You're also right in the misunderstanding. You can't cover a calorie deficit with fat oxidation. It's still a balance of what you consume vs what you expend. Regardless of your internal ability to burn fat, too significant a deficit = bad. Headaches, low mood and energy sound like something isn't right - whether that's actually dropping too low in carbs, too significant a calorie deficit, not enough energy etc.
How long was that run? Sounds like it would be more important to optimise overall for the day. I suspect not going into it fasted would be beneficial (i.e. a proper breakfast in a reasonable timeframe before) would then mean you could safely do that session at something like 30-50g carbs/hour during it, and then just eat normal meals after too. In those meals could then just consume low GI, healthy foods. Realistically, your need for "sports" food should be pretty low.
Personally, it sounds like you would be better off optimising for your goals. Fuel the hard/longer sessions appropriately and eat well in the day, and if you want to work on your fat oxidation specifically pick easy (we're talking 65% max HR sort of pace) sessions which don't include intervals.
Hope that makes sense!
@@NutritionTriathlon many thanks once more, you're making this picture a lot clearer for me. It seems like there less to gain than I thought by avoiding "sports carbs" during training.
Just to clarify my own words - when I was talking about easy intervals, it was implied that it was intervals targeted at or below LT1 (not 2mmol but below the point where lactate first starts to rise and presumably exceeds mitochondrial capacity and starts engaging the glycolytic system). Granted I'm currently estimating this mainly based on VT1 and feel and could be going slightly too hard, but I have a lactate meter on order and will correct this soon if so, so that I will definitely do my easy training below glycolytic intensity.
Many thanks again for engaging in this discussion. It's an interesting topic and I feel you've debunked some misunderstandings and confusions for me! I'm looking forward to taking these new perspectives to practice 🙏🙌
You're very welcome! Sounds great that you're getting a lactate meter. It's really helpful to tie together subjective ideas about training and see how they stack up to the objective facts!
Good luck with all your training, glad I could help. Thanks for the great questions!
Bro…try ketones. No crash. No loss of strength. Best fuel for the human body.
Each to their own, but I've covered this in other videos and for most people a carbohydrate rich diet is the best diet to follow
Carb coma
Gotta be done 😉