Exercise Scientist Reveals If You Need Carbs During a Workout   – Fitness Volt (2024)

Exercise scientist and physiologist Dr. Mike Israetel boasts a deep understanding of fitness and nutrition. In a recent YouTube video, Israetel discusses if and how many carbohydrates are needed during a workout, citing volume and intensity as determining factors.

In addition to critiquing high-profile actors’ and bodybuilders’ training techniques, Dr. Israetel breaks down the nutrition behind building a better body. We all know the intense demands of training, and oftentimes, extra carbs might give us the boost needed to complete that extra rep or set.

Pre-workout and post-workout nutrition are most commonly talked about in fitness, but what about during a workout? To shed some light, Mike Israetel is answering not only how many carbs are needed during training, but if they are needed at all.

Exercise Scientist Determines Whether Or Not You Need Carbs During a Workout

According to Israetel, the serving size of carbohydrates during a workout depends on the volume and intensity. He adds that on deload weeks, lifters might not require any during a training session.

“The serving size you’re going to use is going to be determined by your workout volume, like if it’s legs, you are going to be consuming more carbs. If it’s just like biceps, you probably don’t need carbs at all.

The intensity of the workout if it’s like peak week super hard, you might need more carbs. If it’s an easy kind of deload of a workout, maybe not need any and anything in between.”

He specifies that rapidly digesting carbohydrates might not be suitable for those who are navigating a stricter diet.

“And of course, your overall diet. If you’re cutting carbs like crazy and you’re starving to death, it’s probably a good idea not to have these very rapidly digesting very not-hunger-squashing carbohydrates, remove that and keep the carbs in the rest of your diet.”

For most people, Israetel contends that one to two Gatorade or Powerade drinks (39.2g net carbs) would be sufficient for carbs needed during a workout.

“So there’s a lot of context here about how much you should be having but usually for practical recommendation one bottle of Gatorade or Powerade for most people in the workout along with a protein shake.

That’s roughly some fraction of your daily intake, a typical meal size and maybe two bottles if you’re you know training legs or you’re quite large over 200 pounds and muscular. And that should be good for most people. So, no real crazy rocket science there,” said exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel.

Fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders alike understand the importance of daily carbohydrate intake, especially for fueling intense workout endeavors. Expert bodybuilding coach Chris Aceto has talked about specific carb amounts he provided to credentialed IFBB Pros such as four-time Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler.

“At one point, between after 2000, he had a run from like running into the Olympia into 2002, 2003, where he was just monstrous big, where you know he’d prep on a 1,000 carbs.”

Bodybuilding veteran and fitness expert Lee Labrada has also broken down carbohydrate intake and its effects on insulin management. He underscored that the body will use muscle to get glucose during a workout if the diet is insufficient in carbohydrates.

“If your muscles don’t have enough carbohydrates, then your body is going to go to sources of protein in order to get that glucose, that blood sugar that it needs to run on. Guess what? Guess where the easiest place for that glucose to come from as far as a protein store, it’s your muscles.”

Dr. Israetel continues to offer fans nutritional wisdom based on years of academic research. While determining the right amount of carbohydrates during a workout might be challenging, Israetel maintains that one or two Gatorades in the middle of training will suffice for most.

Watch the full video from the Renaissance Periodization YouTube channel below:

If you have any questions about this news, please feel free to contact Doug by leaving a comment below.