Why is carbohydrate intake important for building muscle? Varying exercise intensity is a key strategy to optimally building muscle. The current theory on the effectiveness of periodization programs is that very intense workouts will stress different muscle fibers than less intense workouts.

This means that during an intense workout, certain muscle fibers will be activated while other fibers rest. Stored carbohydrate glycogen is the predominant fuel source for moderate to high intensity activities. High intensity exercise takes a particular toll on glycogen stores because the availability of fat for fuel becomes limited at higher exercise intensities.

When muscle glycogen stores are diminished, fatigue is eminent. The replenishment of depleted muscle glycogen stores is of utmost importance to athletes and other very active people.

When building muscle, especially through a periodization program, this is an important consideration because inadequate glycogen stores will decrease the exercisers ability to maintain appropriate exercise intensities.

Resistance exercise may be particularly affected by decreased glycogen stores. How much carbohydrate should be consumed to build muscle?

This recommendation targets endurance exercise, but translates to prolonged, high intensity resistance workouts as well. The problem with this practice is a long-term high-carbohydrate diet may elevate serum triglyceride and interfere with muscle building by decreasing fat and protein intake.

Coyle proposes that a carbohydrate periodization approach bests resolves the long-term consequences of a diet too high in carbohydrates, yet meets the demands of the serious exerciser.

The idea is that not every day of training requires a high intake of carbohydrate since not all days of exercise are intense or prolonged. Coyle writes, “Unfortunately, there has been little investigation of how best to vary carbohydrate intake on a day-to-day basis to match the typical alteration of hard, easy, and moderate days of training performed during a week by well-coached competitive athletes.

Serious exercise enthusiasts often perform 'hard' training sessions per week. This nutrient periodization technique optimally accommodates macronutrient needs to the intensity fluctuations of periodized exercise programs.

A carbohydrate periodization plan for building muscle and increasing muscular strength? Consider the following application from the research. Further, after the carbohydrate stores have been replenished, high carbohydrate intake is no longer necessary focus and the exercisers can focus on the other macronutrients.

Is fat intake important for building muscle? Fat is an essential nutrient in the human diet. In addition to providing energy, it is responsible for the transport of vitamins A, D, and E.

Fat is also contained in every cell in the human body as a component of the cell membrane. If fat intake is too low, blood lipid profiles are affected, and various negative health and performance consequences may occur Dreon et al.

This makes the macronutrient a prime choice of foodstuff for recreational athletes building muscle. Healthful fat is an essential macronutrient for individuals attempting to maintain the high kilocalorie dietary needs of vigorous exercise for building muscle.

Some of the most exciting research on fat intake has examined its suspected contribution to minimizing the effects of overtraining. Overtraining is a major concern in exercise, as it severely diminishes the success of a fitness program.

The use of Omega 3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids has been recently advocated as being a possibly effective way of reducing overtraining symptoms Venkatraman and Pendergast, How much fat is needed to build muscle increase muscular strength? This should be divided fairly evenly among saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fatty acids.

With the nutrient periodization approach to training, the suggestion is to allow fat intake to fill in the kilocalories after protein and carbohydrate levels have been established.

When nutrient periodizing, carbohydrate levels after intense workouts will be high, so fat intake will be correspondingly low. When carbohydrate intake is low prior to moderate or low intensity workouts , fat intake will be much higher, compensating for the low-fat intake days.

In effect, this technique will moderate fat intake while allowing optimal fluctuations of carbohydrate. Putting it together: A sample nutrient periodization approach to undulating periodization Figure 1 depicts a sample nutrient periodization program for a kg pound individual seeking to optimize muscle mass, while following the undulating periodization program initially shown in Figure 1.

Relative macronutrient percentages fluctuate with exercise intensity to adequately facilitate recovery. Protein intake is maintained at 1. Note that although on a day-to-day basis, macronutrient percentages fall outside the AMDR recommendations, over the course of the week the macronutrients are moderated.

In effect, the recommendations for carbohydrate replenishment from intense workouts are met, while also meeting the nutritional values from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans This presents a sensible, balanced approach for nutrition and periodization for building muscle.

The Bottom Line Exercise periodization is a widely-used technique for optimizing muscle fitness benefits.

Using an integrated approach of periodization-supportive nutrition is an evidence-based approach to maximizing these benefits.

Carbohydrate consumption is important to any activity, but it is particularly critical for intense workouts. Since periodization programs allow individuals to maximize intense workouts by designating the appropriate activity-to-rest fluctuation to allow optimal growth and recovery of muscle tissue, carbohydrate periodization is an attractive macronutrient approach to compliment the periodization program.

The available protein research demonstrates the potential significance of elevated protein intake for building muscle. Current recommendations suggest that high protein intake may optimize muscle growth, so individuals seeking muscle growth and strength gains should consider maintaining protein intakes at toward the upper-end of the protein intake recommendations 1.

Lastly, fat intake should be periodized in relationship to carbohydrate and protein intake to achieve the best results for building muscle and increasing strength on a periodized exercise program. Of course, choosing healthful fats is always recommended for long-term health benefits.

The literature indicates that appropriate nutrition aids muscle growth, recovery, and development. Periodization-supportive nutrition, or nutrient periodization, makes intuitive and research-backed sense and is a very creative and innovative approach to training.

Bios: Phil Block, MS, is a doctoral student in the exercise science program at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque UNMA. He earned his master’s degree in nutrition and dietetics in and has research interests in the field of applied sports nutrition.

He currently works as a personal trainer and health educator at Sandia National Laboratories, and as a university lecturer in nutrition.

Len Kravitz, PhD, is the coordinator of exercise science and a researcher at UNMA, where he won the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award.

References: American College of Sports Medicine, American Dietetic Association, and Dietitians of Canada Joint Position Statement: Nutrition and athletic performance.

Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Burke, L. Carbohydrates and fat for training and recovery. Journal of Sports Science. Coyle, E. The highs and lows of carbohydrate diets. Sports Science Exchange. A very low-fat diet is not associated with improved lipoprotein profiles in men with a predominance of large low-density lipoproteins.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Fleck, S. Periodized strength training: A critical review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Gibala, M. The role of protein in promoting recovery from exercise.

Gatorade Sports Science Institute Sports Science News. Hawley J. Nutritional practices of athletes: are they suboptimal? Journal of Sport Sciences. Lambert C. Macronutrient considerations for the sport of bodybuilding. Sports Medicine. Marx, J. Then, as specific training proceeded, she would gradually alter her diet to produce very subtle weight loss, then arrive at her target race weight shortly before the most important competitions of the year.

There are also other possible ways of periodizing your nutrition, such as doing some carbohydrate-restricted training during the general preparation period to boost fitness adaptations—the nutritional equivalent of wearing a weighted vest, essentially. In the general preparation period, you might focus of goal-setting, motivation, relaxation, and other big-picture challenges.

Once you start tapering, the emphasis changes again to work on focus, optimal arousal, and competition routines. Finally, in the off-season, you shift to self-care, self-evaluation, and new goal setting. For skill-based sports, the big theme in the periodization paper is a move from high volume and variability to lower volume and more predictable practice conditions.

How you might put all these puzzle pieces together will depend a lot on your specific goals, sport, and circumstances. My new book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance , with a foreword by Malcolm Gladwell, is now available.

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We do not accept money for editorial gear reviews. Read more about our policy. Search Search. Alex Hutchinson Originally Published Jul 25, Updated May 12, btn, a.