This study looked at the
rate of muscle glycogen synthesis during 2 and 4 hours of recovery after depletion by exercise using two energy equivalent carbohydrate drinks.
It's been a long night of networking and meeting with important people and you've probably used up a
lot of your muscle glycogen by simple standing around and moving.
Additionally, fewer carbohydrates in your diet means lower
levels of muscle glycogen, which is one of the primary sources of energy during exercise.
It found that 0.7 g / kg body weight of glucose given every 2 hours would maximize the
rate of muscle glycogen synthesis.
From your article, I understand that I should probably reduce the intensity of my cardio in order to bring down my heart rate, hence burning more fat
instead of muscle glycogen.
Bodybuilders and other strength athletes should aim for rapid replenishment
of muscle glycogen stores straight after exercise.
The study, «High rates
of muscle glycogen resynthesis after exhaustive exercise when carbohydrate is co-ingested with caffeine,» is by David J. Pedersen, Sarah J. Lessard, Vernon G. Coffey, Emmanuel G. Churchley, Andrew M. Wootton, They Ng, Matthew J. Watt and John A. Hawley.
If you already have enough carbohydrate stored in your body in the
form of muscle glycogen, the carbohydrate you eat in the hour or so before exercise might not make much difference to performance, unless it is first thing in the morning.
Zehnder, M., Rico - Sanz, J. and Kuhne, G. (2001) Resynthesis
of muscle glycogen after soccer specific performance examined by 13 Cmagnetic resonance spectroscopy in elite players.
Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, Volume 15, Issue 2, pages 69 — 78, April 2005 • D. Essig, D. L. Costill and P. J. Van Handel (1980) «Effects of Caffeine Ingestion on
Utilization of Muscle Glycogen and Lipid During Leg Ergometer Cycling.»
The HMW carbohydrate group had a greater work output during the 15 minute time trial, suggesting that HMW carbohydrates such as waxy maize can help optimize performance by «facilitating rapid
re-synthesis of the muscle glycogen store during recovery».
Fatigue is usually nothing more than the body announcing that it's running
out of muscle glycogen — the blood - born fuel that fires the muscles — which is precisely what you want to happen.
A moderate volume workout of around 6 - 9 sets per muscle group only depletes about 36 - 39 %
of your muscle glycogen.7, 8 If you do more than that in two workouts within eight hours, eating carbs soon after your first workout is a good idea.
Symptoms of insulin resistance include decreased
stimulation of muscle glycogen synthesis as well as defects in glycogen synthase activity and glucose uptake (18).
Hyperthermia also reduces time to exhaustion, increases
depletion of muscle glycogen and high energy phosphate, and increases muscle lactate during endurance exercise (Kozlowski et al. 1985).
As muscle damaging exercise has previously been reported to decrease GLUT4 translocation and subsequent rates
of muscle glycogen resynthesis [49], the possibility that it also may impart a negative effect on protein transporters and rates of protein synthesis can not be discounted.
Swimming uses a
lot of muscle glycogen, and if you are just starting it again after a long layoff, it's very possible that you've increased your muscle glycogen stores and the intracellular water that goes along with it.
The third paper, «Effect of different post-exercise sugar diets on the rate
of muscle glycogen synthesis» [3], isn't available to me electronically, so we'll have to work from the abstract.
It's your anaerobic system that uses stores
of muscle glycogen to create ATP.
Low levels
of muscle glycogen (the storage form of glucose) have been shown to inhibit athletic performance (6).
Effect of different post-exercise sugar diets on the rate
of muscle glycogen synthesis.