![]() It’s also important to our bodies in many other ways, like making sure our organs are working at full capacity.īack to the electric car analogy: if carbohydrates are our gasoline, then fat is our electricity. If you want to build muscle, you have to eat enough protein. Protein is what our muscles are made out of. Just about everyone knows protein is important. Thus, eating carbs at least a half an hour before exercise and directly after exercise ensures your body is taken care of and ready to train at a high level. ![]() There are no absolute guidelines on how many carbohydrates to eat, but before and after exercise are the times to eat a lot of them.Īgain, you want to exercise on a full gas tank-not necessarily a full tummy, but at least a full gas tank-and after exercise, when your tank is near empty, you want to refill it. Because I don’t want my gas tank half empty going into a workout! When should I eat carbs?Įat at least half an hour before exercise. A bowl of berries and a banana is a more nutritious option than a Snicker’s bar, even if they have the same amount of carbohydrates, because the fruit has more vitamins and minerals.īut if it came down to eating nothing or having a Snicker’s before the workout, I wouldn’t think twice about eating the candy.Īnd not just because I like Snicker’s bars. Obviously, there is a spectrum of healthy choices to be considered. Most of the foods that get labeled “bad” are packed with carbohydrates also-candy, soda, fruit juice, ice cream, cake, pie, etc. Fruits are packed with carbs, and so are grains like breads, tortillas, and pitas. Just about any food that isn’t meat has carbohydrates in it. What is helpful is knowing what foods have carbohydrates so you know what to eat before and after workouts to make sure your body’s gas tank is full. To calculate that range, take your body weight and multiply it by 2.3 and then by 2.7.įor endurance athletes, like those in cross country the distance events in track and field, 3.6 – 4.5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight is the NSCA’s recommendation.īut unless you’re counting your calories, or have a chef doing it for you like the pro’s do, those numbers aren’t super helpful. The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) recommends 2.3 – 2.7 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight for non-endurance athletes like football players, basketball players, baseball players, and athletes weight lifting in the off-season. How many carbs do I need, and what types of foods have them? You need to call in the big dog: carbohydrates.Ĭarbs have gotten a bad wrap these last few years.Ĭarbs are your body’s jet fuel, so if you don’t have enough in your system you’ll feel sluggish and you’ll be slower and weaker than you would with carbs. You’re flooring it, and just like in the Prius, electricity isn’t going to cut it. Doing explosive activity like sprinting, jumping, and weight lifting is like putting the petal to the metal. Just like an electric car has two energy sources-electricity and gas-so do we. Our bodies are surprisingly similar to engines. Electricity doesn’t provide enough juice to accelerate the car fast enough, so the engine has to call in the big dog: gas. I’m no electric car expert, but I do know the electric engine is relatively weak.Įlectricity does the trick if you’re just put-putting around town, but when you need to punch it the engine uses gasoline because it provides more energy. What the heck is a carb, and why should I care? These athletes were the same way when they walked in that day.īut they weren’t that way when they walked out. If I had eaten better, I would’ve been bigger, faster, and stronger. I had no idea what a protein or a carb was, and I definitely didn’t eat well enough to support the training I was doing. We NEVER talked about nutrition (at least that I remember). Then I remembered what I was like in high school. How could these athletes come in to workout without eating anything beforehand to fuel themselves? It was about 11AM and I asked the group of high school athletes I was training what they had eaten.
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