No Carbs PWO

[Grissim Connery]

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[Steven Low]

Try it.

Carbs blunt GH release PWO... although promote insulin. Both are anabolic... Fat metabolism is higher without PWO carbs.

Works for some people, doens't work for some people.

[Allen Yeh]

What Steven said.

It's probably more in my head than anywhere else but I just feel/look/perform better when I'm doing carbs PWO. I know Robb has said on many occasions that for him PWO shakes just make him fat.

[Greg Davis]

I play it by ear but don't worry too much about PWO carbs unless youre training like crazy (which I avoid). Just lots of veggies most of the time. But if a workout is super intense for more than 10-15 mins and you plan on training again in the next day or so I would include a root starch with PWO meal.. or if you notice that your recovery is unduly slow its a sign you might need some PWO starches (or to tone down the training volume/intensity).

[Mike ODonnell]

Probably depends on your workout and how low your glycogen really is....as longer lower intensity sessions or brief heavier lifting (like reps 1-5) may not deplete glycogen as much as you think.

[Tony Ferous]

For fat loss, id think that no PWO carbs are a no brainer.

For mass gain, which im after, im not seeing great gains using no carbs PWO, which ive been doing for ages, that may be a factor of overall calories though(i am ripped though!). I totally agree that for short workouts that carbs may not be necessary to restore glycogen, but thats not the whole story surely? Even if you havnt depleted your stores to any degree, carbs still have anabolic, insulin stimulating properties which can lead to muscle gain, right??

[Steven Low]

Originally Posted by Tony Ferous

For fat loss, id think that no PWO carbs are a no brainer.

For mass gain, which im after, im not seeing great gains using no carbs PWO, which ive been doing for ages, that may be a factor of overall calories though(i am ripped though!). I totally agree that for short workouts that carbs may not be necessary to restore glycogen, but thats not the whole story surely? Even if you havnt depleted your stores to any degree, carbs still have anabolic, insulin stimulating properties which can lead to muscle gain, right??

Carbs WITH protein. You can't build the muscles without protein.

But yeah, muscles are more sensitive to insulin after working out. But some nutrients still go into adipose tissue. If there's been enough stress to the muscles to cause it to adapt, it will absorb what it needs to to repair itself.

The great thing about GH and test is that they are lipolytic AND anabolic for the muscles. You get the best of both worlds. Obviously, high intensity exercise (whether heavy weights or power via metcon/HIIT/tabata/etc.) is the way to do this.

[Craig Loizides]

I usually stick to meat and veggies although once or twice a week I might add in some sweet potato or banana or something.

From what I've read, insulin levels only need to be elevated slightly and increasing them further adds no additional benefit. Carbs aren't even needed to achieve these levels. Here's one study showing that adding carbs produces no benefit if protein levels are high enough.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...rch=1 7609259

I came across a few other interesting studies on PWO nutrition recently.

Adding fat PWO doesn't decrease glycogen storage:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...t=AbstractPlus

Whole milk is better than skim milk for net protein synthesis:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...rch=1 6679981

Low GI carbs are as good or better than high GI carbs for next day performance:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...rch=1 7136941
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...rch=1 6286667