And even morrrrre Fitness Facts, this one you are going to want to read the whole thing...you may actually learn something like I did :) CARBOHYDRATES Carbohydrates (or carbs for short) are broken down into sugars within the body to produce glucose. Glucose is a primary energy source that fuels the brain, muscle tissue, and organs. Glucose is converted into glycogen and stored within muscle tissue where it is held until it is ready to be used, such as during training. Carbohydrates are extremely important to training since they are the primary fuel source for working muscles. During weight training the body uses ATP for energy. ATP is replenished through something called the glycolytic pathway. This pathway converts glucose into ATP. Glucose (carbohydrate) is obtained from the bloodstream or from carbs stored in the muscle tissue as glycogen. In the absence of sufficient carbs, your body will have to convert amino acids to glucose for energy. These amino acids may normally be stored as proteins, so you could say that carbs are anti-catabolic because they are “protein sparing”. Carbohydrates are essential to keeping a fast metabolism. Leptin and other fat burning hormones are directly related to carbohydrate intake and body fat levels. Leptin is a fat burning hormone that serves many functions. One of the most important functions is the control of energy expenditure. When food intake, and most notably carb intake is high, leptin levels will be high. This sends signals to you body that it is in a fed state and this can cause your metabolism to remain high. When food intake and carbs are low, leptin levels will lower. This will send signals to the body that energy intake is low and the metabolism must be lowered to compensate for the lack of incoming energy. When carbs are kept in the diet it will help keep elevated levels of leptin and other fat burning hormones even when total calorie intake is low. Carbohydrates also regulate muscle cell volume. You will notice that when carb intake is low your muscles will appear flat and smaller, because cell volume is diminished when carbs are restricted. This is because carbs are stored in muscle tissue as glycogen. Every gram of glycogen is stored with 2.7 grams of water. This can drastically effect the size of muscle cells.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 01:44:00 +0000
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