The point of workouts is simple; push your body so that it needs to recover. Then it comes back stronger, and you repeat the process.
This is the key to the building of muscle, burning of fat, and improving performance. Whether you’re exercising for fitness, aesthetics, or sports, there’s value to focusing on the basics – exercise and recovery.
Today we’re going to talk about the role carbohydrates play in this process, how a post-training carbohydrate works, and how you should evaluate a post-workout carb source.
We’ll also introduce you to our favorite new carb on the block, Performance Lab Carb.
Consider this article your brief, total guide to post-workout carbohydrates.
Table of Contents
Why Do Carbs Matter?
The role of carbohydrates in the diet is a simple one; they are the short-term energy source. They provide the bulk of the energy in your diet, and this is important for all kinds of processes.
The main relevance of this is that carb availability is a key factor in the production of muscle mass. It’s an energy source that can signal to the muscles and the hormones that you’re ready to grow and it doesn’t have to scrimp on the new proteins or other tissues.
This is an expensive process in metabolic terms, so your body needs encouraging. Carb availability in the body is a great way of achieving this – especially since you store carbohydrates in your muscles themselves.
This closely ties your carbohydrates to your muscle growth, recovery, and short-term performance. These are key factors in any fitness goal, so you need to pay attention to them!
Why Do Post-Workout Carbs Matter?
Carbs are for energy availability, and there’s no time when you need energy more than post-workout. Your body is both depleted and damaged, and it’s trying to shift from ‘fight or flight’ to ‘digest and rest’.
The switch between damaging exercise and recuperative rest needs to be as immediate and effective as possible. Feeding is one of the main ways of achieving this, though it does interact with other things you need to put time into:
- Reducing stress
- Getting plenty of water
- Changing to a relaxing environment
- Sleeping, if it’s later in the day
- Dietary protein
These are the keys to kickstarting your recovery and they make the whole process of recovery and growth easier.
The role of the carb, then, is to improve the recovery process and offer energy. It’s also going to be involved in other key processes associated with muscle growth.
One key example is glycogen supercompensation; the process of replacing the glycogen that you used during exercise. This is stored in the muscles and the replacement/addition is a factor in local energy – as well as how the muscle looks.
When a bodybuilder talks about being ‘flat’ this is the result of depleted muscle glycogen – it’s also why marathon runners will typically slow down across a whole race. Energy in the muscles matters whichever end of the strength-endurance spectrum your goals sit!
Combining Carbohydrates with Protein
The uptake of carbs and proteins together is the absolute key to better recovery. These are the two nutritional needs that are most directly tied to extra demands from training and extra benefits in the recovery process itself.
The combination of the two is key – but their respective absorption is different. The combination is best when the carbs and the associated nutrients help the uptake of the protein through the digestive process.
The two nutrients in combination is the bulk of your muscular recovery support. As with the carb availability, protein availability signals for muscle growth. It’s impossible to gain significant muscle mass – or even repair what you have – without using proteins.
Combining the energy of carbohydrates and the building blocks that come with dietary protein, you’re more than halfway to proper post-workout nutrition. The remainder is primarily vitamins and minerals.
The good news is that the clever folks at Performance Lab have released a Protein supplement designed to pair well with their Carb – even going as far as to make them flavor matched so you can enjoy a 2-in-1 chocolate shake, getting the best of both worlds.
What Should You Look for in a Post-Workout Carb?
Speed of Absorption and Signaling
If the point of a post-workout supplement is to kickstart recovery, you want it in your system as rapidly as possible.
This isn’t a new concept; it’s why whey protein has such a niche on the market. Carbohydrates are faster absorbing than proteins due to their role in the body, and they have an existing scale for speed of absorption – the glycemic index.
The GI of a carbohydrate indicates how fast it gets into the bloodstream. A rapidly absorbing carb is perfect after a workout to get you into a recovery state and support both glycogen supercompensation and muscle protein production.
The simple fact is this; the faster you get the carbs into your body, the faster they can get to work. The problem is that many of the fastest absorbing carbs in our diets are sugars, and often they really aren’t the best place to look for a sustainable, long-term carb availability option.
This is why there are some other popular carb choices like dextrose which offer a similar approach but with a slightly longer effect. They still run into the problem of being straight through your system or spiking insulin above functional levels for too long.
This is one of the big challenges of a good post-workout carbohydrate source and it’s why we don’t just spoon sugar down with a protein shake!
Controlled Release and Prolonged Gains
In many ways, this is the opposite of the last point, but they work together. You don’t want a carb that just dumps out into the bloodstream all at once and then leaves you without energy later on.
The long-term availability of proteins and carbs is arguably more important than the short-term for muscle recovery/gains. This means that you want something that will persist and continue to release for a while.
The availability of carbs and the recovery/growth of tissues isn’t an immediate thing. The recovery process is where all the good stuff happens and this process can easily take 24-48 hours, so a single burst of carbohydrates isn’t the way to go.
Rather, the goal is to always have carbs circulating at levels relevant to your training needs. This is one of the reasons that diets like Keto and Intermittent Fasting are poor for muscle; they either limit carb intake, or they adjust carb timings, leaving recovery ‘blind spots’.
The best carb for post-workout is the kind that sticks around for a while and keeps fueling your recovery. This is even more important when you’re on a cutting diet and you have to limit your overall calorie intake.
The last thing you want is to get caught hungry with 40 calories left for the day, because your post-workout carb doesn’t sustain you.
Convenience and Ease of Use
The hard part of a lot of carb sources is that they’re horribly inconvenient.
Want to get a good carb? Good luck getting your favorite potato dish or rice and fish into the gym. Nobody wants to be that guy – and old food prep in a sweaty gym bag is also not the best feeling or experience.
If you’re busy during the day, there’s huge convenience to the kind of shaker-bound carb sources you’re seeing with elite athletes and bodybuilders. These have real application in your life, and they’re built around the needs we’ve outlined.
Aside from their application to the physiological benefits of a good carb source, they’re just less fuss. They’re not going to leave you with a smelly gym bag, all-day food-sweat, or issues transporting them.
Secondary Ingredients and Nutrients
The best carbs are the ones that do other things beside provide energy. It might be their key role in the body but it’s not the only one that carbs play as a food group.
While there’s no point using beans as a post-workout source due to their slow absorption, they are a good example. The best thing about wholegrains and pulses is that they bring a ton of other nutrients and benefits on top of the carb content.
Equally, a post-workout carbohydrate that offers more than just energy is a great place to look. You can get this from other nutrients in combination – e.g. broccoli with your rice – but this slows the absorption.
As before, there’s a fine line to walk between nutrient density and the things that slow down your absorption of carbs. This is a balance that can be fixed with intentional post-workout carb supplementation – as well as through combining foods.
KarboLyn and the New Era of Workout Carbs
KarboLyn is one of the key compounds that we’ve looked at as a source of carbohydrates for post-workout. The absorption rate is high, but the release rate is sustained, producing a sharp uptake and GI without the crashing/dumping you’d see with most high-GI carbs. This is the main ingredient in Performance Lab SPORT Carb.
This is a compound that can improve the carbohydrate availability, consistently, without running out of steam too soon. It’s primarily due to the molecular engineering that took place to produce the best corn-based carb.
As you can see in the graph above (courtesy of Performance Lab), the result is that it fits all the categories for rapid uptake sustained release, and convenience. But what about secondary ingredients?
Our Top Post-Workout Carbs Supplement:
Performance Lab Carb
*To Buy, Visit: www.performancelab.com
As we’ve already touched upon, the best example of a product combining this carb source with other nutrients is the Performance Lab SPORT Carb.
It’s a combination of KarboLyn with Himalayan salt (an electrolyte blend), coconut water powder (for even more absorption/hydration quality) and, crucially, Cinnamon.
We love this as a secondary compound because – aside from being a delicious spice – it’s also a great insulin-control compound. This is important because the absorption and distribution of KarboLyn is seriously bolstered by the combo.
There’s no point getting better carbs into your body if your insulin action is poor. The cinnamon in this product – combined with the consistent release – improves the uptake and keeps you insulin sensitive even while dosing up on post-workout carbohydrates.
The combination really does add a lot to the product and it’s why Performance Lab Carb stands out as our favorite post-workout carbohydrate supplement. Simple, but brutally effective.
You can see the full ingredients here:
Best Post-Workout Carbs Supplement: Closing Remarks
The idea of a post-workout carb supplement is to produce the best, fastest recovery process.
This is one of the simplest and most effective ways of improving your own performance. It’s not as flashy as many other supplement techniques but makes up for it by being far more reliably effective – it’s one of the simple, powerful habits you can build for better performance.
We’ve set out the key factors that you want to look for when it comes to carbohydrate sources – as well as how they compete.
They’re basic needs, but the way you manage them is going to make a ton of difference:
- Rapid absorption and uptake
- Sustained release and carb availability
- Convenient to use and transport throughout the day
We think KarboLyn – and specifically the Performance Lab Carb – fulfil these roles all at once. As with all other Performance Lab products, Carb is also GMO-free; soy, gluten, shellfish, dairy, wheat and caffeine-free, and 100% vegan.
It earns its place in our top spot.
You can buy Performance Lab SPORT Carb direct from the manufacturer for discounts on multiple purchases.
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