One of the paramount principles of a good workout is to provide your body with enough energy to endure the training session. Our body relies on carbohydrates as the main fuel source, so many athletes are practicing the decades-old strategy of carbohydrate loading.
This method is most effective in endurance athletes, like runners, cyclists, swimmers, and generally athletes who engage in lengthy high-intensity physical activities. Research suggests that practicing this technique visibly improves athletic performance.
If you’re into cardio and endurance training, you should also consider loading carbohydrates to boost your performance. We’ve prepared a guide explaining this strategy and how to practice it, so dive right in!
What Is Carb Loading?
Even if you prefer low-carb diets, carbohydrates are an essential energy source, and our body burns them during intense physical exertion. We intake carbs through nutrition and store them in our tissue as glycogen.
How does it work?
Carbohydrates are divided into simple and complex ones. Simple carbs are found in dairy products, fruits, and sweets, while complex ones are present in grains, starchy vegetables such as potatoes and corn, and legumes — peas, beans, chickpeas, and lentils.
Carbo–loading starts when your body breaks these carbs down into sugars, releases them into the bloodstream, and stores them in your muscles and liver as glycogen. If you’re running low on glycogen, you start burning fat to overcome fatigue.
Your body stores a small amount of glycogen for light, short-lasting physical activities, but this is not enough for activities lasting longer than 90 minutes. Stocking up on carbs pumps up additional energy and helps you endure these lengthy sessions.
Who can benefit from it?
Athletes apply this strategy to boost performance at competitions, but it’s not suitable for any kind of exercise. Athletes who would benefit the most are cyclists or runners preparing for long-distance marathons requiring excessive glycogen burning.
Disadvantages of Carb Loading
High carb intake has its benefits and pitfalls. While this strategy works well for athletes in high-endurance and long-distance sports, it won’t work well for regular gym enthusiasts and those into intense sports requiring short bursts of activity.
Loading your body with carbohydrates may hinder your performance and cause digestive issues like bloating, constipation, or diarrhea, especially if your high-carb diet contains high-fiber foods. In addition, you might gain weight or notice your body is retaining water.
How to Carb Load
To achieve the right effect with this technique, you should consider certain factors that will ensure your success. In addition, there are several ways to load your body with carbs. We’ve prepared some helpful tips and tricks to get you started.
Useful tips
- Right timing: Decide when is the right time to start the process. Athletes typically start loading 3-6 days before a big event. In addition, you’ll need to fuel up mid-exercise to maintain your blood sugar level, so remember to bring sports bars, fruit, or sweets for a quick fix.
- Right amount: The right amount of carbs depends on your age, weight, activity, and metabolism. You can use a carb loading calculator or apply the rule of 2.5-4 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day.
- Consulting an expert: It’s always a good idea to consult a doctor or a dietitian who can help you with a suitable meal plan.
- Reducing exertion: It’s recommended to cut down on training a few days before the event to preserve your glycogen reserves. In addition, you don’t want to overexert yourself and experience overtraining symptoms that will hinder your performance.
- Choose the right carbs: Packing your body with food high in carbs and fat increases water retention, so the best foods for carb loading are those high in carbs but low in fat, like grains and sweet potatoes. Sticking to a balanced diet will also prevent digestive issues and stabilize your blood sugar levels.
Types of programs
Over the years, experts have designed several programs with the same underlying principle — increase your carbs and decrease physical activity. The programs span one to six days, depending on how much preparation you need before the athletic event.
Classic 6-day
This program involves gradually increasing the carb intake while reducing exercise for a period of six days.
The first three days focus on exercising and eating low-carb foods that take up only 15% of your total calories. You’ll decrease the body’s glycogen levels and prepare it for the carb load.
During the final three days, you should increase the carbs to get around 70% calories from them and reduce exercise, going easy on day four and skipping it altogether on days five and six.
Modified 6-day
This program is similar to the classic one, with the difference that the first half of the program involves a moderate carb intake that provides 50% of total calories. The second half is reserved for carb–loading foods, meaning that 70% of total calories should come from carbs.
Another difference is that you don’t have to skip training, but your sessions from day four to day six should last 0-20 minutes.
Classic 3-day
If you’re up for a simpler option, you can try this 3-day protocol where you do one training session that completely exhausts your body on the first day, and then the next two days, you don’t exercise and maintain a high-carb diet.
Modified 3-day
In contrast to the classic 3-day protocol, the modification is that you wouldn’t be exercising at all but only increase your carb intake.
1-day
The final carbo–loading option comes down to one day of eating high-carb foods and not exercising.
Typical Don’ts
Lastly, we’d like to point out some mistakes you should avoid if you want a successful outcome:
- Don’t load on carbs when it’s not necessary. You shouldn’t practice this strategy for training sessions shorter than 90 minutes. In addition, research has found no benefits of carb loading for bodybuilding and other types of weight training requiring short and intense activity.
- Don’t overeat fiber. Even though fiber is a significant element of a balanced diet, eating too much can cause stomach issues. Make sure you stick to high-carb and low-fiber foods during your preparation.
- Don’t overeat fat. Fat is one of the three macronutrients responsible for providing our body with energy, but too much of it can have a countereffect. To balance your calorific intake, choose high-carb and low food, or you might notice adverse side effects, such as gaining weight and feeling lethargic.
- Don’t forget to track your carb intake. Carbohydrate loading won’t work if you consume too much or too few carbs. One way to check if you’re eating the right amount.
- Don’t overexercise. Reducing the amount of exercise helps maintain high glycogen levels necessary to energize the body.
- Don’t try out new food. Avoid eating food you’ve never tried before if you’re unsure how it will affect your stomach. Stick to the high-carb, low-fat, and low-fiber diet plan.
Bottom Line
Carb loading is a great way to supply and store additional energy, but only if it’s appropriately done and timed well. It’s a good idea to create a well-balanced, carb-oriented diet plan and stick to it the week before the competition.
However, this method won’t be effective for regular training sessions lasting shorter than 90 minutes. If you’re into marathons, triathlons, and other long-duration competitions, loading your body with carbs will do a great job of energizing you and boosting your performance.
FAQ
Is carb loading good for weight loss?
If you pick high-fat and high-fiber carbs, you might experience short-term weight gain from the excess glycogen and water accumulating in your tissue.
This is usually a sign you’re making positive progress, and once you return to your regular diet and exercise routine, these excess pounds will disappear.
What foods are good for carb loading?
A high-carb diet before an athletic event should include foods rich in carbs but low in fiber and fat. Here’s a list of recommended foods:
- Low-fiber cereal
- White rice
- Fruit in general, fruit juices, jelly, and smoothies
- Applesauce
- Sports drinks
- Low-fat energy bars
- Skinned white potatoes
- Pretzels
- White flour and products made of white flour
- Sherbet or popsicles
Don’t forget to consume enough proteins, such as fish, lean meat, and no-fat dairy products.
During this time, you should avoid pastries, cookies, ice cream, French fries, pizza, donuts, and other high-fat fast foods.
In addition, limit high-fiber foods such as beans, lentils, oatmeal, raspberries, or chickpeas.
How does carb loading benefit athletes?
As we’ve mentioned, only certain athletes can benefit from this nutrition practice. Research has shown that elite athletes competing in long-duration events experienced a performance boost due to extra glycogen stores that prevent fatigue and provide additional energy.
