Your body quickly restores energy after exercise, no insulin needed!

🥖🍝 Timing of carbohydrate intake and replenishment of glycogen stores

🔥Glycogen forms the main source of energy during CrossFit training and lifting sessions. It basically is a bunch of glucose molecules strung together of which you have about 300-500g sitting in your liver and muscle, good for 1500-2000kcal. Thus, this energy source is precious and you want to re-build it quickly after you have been working out.

🧐This study showed that the fastest resynthesis of glycogen occurs right after glycogen depleting exercise and that this was INdependent insulin. Indeed, when insulin production was blocked (by somatostatin infusion), glycogen resynthesis occurred just as fast as without any infusion. Only in the later parts insulin was needed to further push glycogen resynthesis.

This is because exercise and insulin can independently regulate glucose uptake into skeletal muscle. Via separate molecular pathways. One of the many fascinating aspects of the human body🙏.

Take home📄: To recover fast after a WOD, eat 60g of carbs right after you finished it. It is at this moment your muscles are the most ‘open’ to absorb the glucose.

Full text: PMID: 7909795

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