Carbohydrate Loading

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Carbohydrate Loading

The consumption of carbohydrates before exercise improves carbohydrate stores and reduces the chance for premature fatigue, regardless of whether the sport is high endurance and low intensity, intermittent (as in many team sports), or high intensity and low endurance.

Carbohydrate loading is a strategy commonly followed by many athletes before a competition to increase muscle glycogen storage. The general technique is to gradually increase carbohydrate and fluid intake each day, beginning the week before competition, while exercise is tapered downward. This reasonable, safe strategy maximizes glycogen storage.

An older strategy for carbohydrate loading involved depleting carbohydrates by exercising intensely while consuming low-carbohydrate foods. This carbohydrate-loading technique is dangerous (depletion of glycogen stores may cause a sudden and dangerous drop in blood pressure), and there is no evidence that it better optimizes glycogen stores.

The following is an example of how to Carbohydrate load

Seven Days Before Competition

One week before competition is the time for a complete, total, and exhaustive workout. During this workout, all the protocols discussed earlier in this book should be followed. It's important to drink plenty of carbohydrate-containing fluids during the workout.

It's also important to follow the workout with plenty of carbohydrates. Consuming at least 400 calories from carbohydrate (100 grams) immediately after the training regimen is desirable, followed by at least 800 calories (200 grams) during the next several hours. This is your first attempt at getting your muscles to replace the glycogen that has been lost during the workout.

Six Days Before Competition

Six days before competition represents the first day of tapered exercise plus maintenance of a high-carbohydrate intake with plenty of fluids. Since activity is reduced, total energy intake should also be trimmed to match needs. Activity can be decreased by reducing total time spent in training or by reducing the intensity of the training activities. For instance you could do fewer repetitions or could do the same repetitions with less weight. Regardless of the technique followed, competition-minus-6-days should provide a training schedule that is not as exhaustive as competition-minus-7-days.

Five Days Before Competition

On the second day of reduced exercise intensity and duration, a consistent high carbohydrate and fluid intake is still maintained. Again, total energy intake should be reduced to match needs. This day, competition-minus-5-days, is characterized by activity that is discernibly less than the athlete is accustomed to doing.

Four Days Before Competition

Four days before the event your training regimen should focus on key elements of the special skills you have, with an emphasis on practicing skills in a way that keeps you from becoming exhausted such as posing. As with the previous days, you should maintain a high carbohydrate and fluid intake to support your needs.

This is also a good time to eat a little extra protein, 2-2.5 grams per pound of bodyweight, to make certain all your tissue-repair needs are covered and to support the manufacture of creatine. Therefore, providing a little extra protein merely provides some assurance that protein intake is not a limiting factor in performance.

Three Days Before Competition

Similar to 4 days before competition, 3 days before competition places a continued emphasis on low- to moderate-intensity exercise, a high carbohydrate intake, and a low fat intake, along with a slightly greater emphasis on protein. Other activities during the day should also be reduced, with more time made available for both physical and psychological relaxation. The athlete should absolutely avoid becoming exhausted from any activity.

Two Days Before Competition

Two days before an event is an excellent time to get more rest, and a good way to achieve this goal is to eliminate the morning training schedule. The afternoon training should be reduced to no more than 1.5 hours, with a moderate to low intensity. The focus should be on reviewing posing, music etc and reinforcing the mental strategy it will take to compete effectively. Of course, carbohydrate and fluid intake should remain high.

One Day Before Competition

The day before competition should be characterized by plenty of rest (both physical and mental) and relaxation. Getting familiar with the competition venue, or watching films of your own successful competitions are appropriate activities. By 1 day before competition, you should have already been briefed about who you've competing against and what strategy to follow.

This is almost your last chance to make certain your glycogen stores are at peak values, and you should maintain a steady fluid intake to ensure optimal hydration going into the next day's activities. The carbohydrates you consume should be high in starch and relatively low in fibre. Pasta, bread, rice, and fruits (without seeds or skins) are excellent choices. Vegetables and legumes tend to have lots of fibre but may produce gas (causing you to become uncomfortable and bloated).

Competition Day

It is particularly important that athletes avoid doing anything they are unaccustomed to doing, or eating anything they are unaccustomed to eating, on the day of an event. Athletes should have a checklist prepared of what is needed and where it is.

Eating and drinking appropriately on competition day is important, so make certain you have the right foods and drinks immediately available (don't leave it to chance). Take charge of knowing what you need, and take charge of getting it. Avoid being put in any situation that will cause you stress on competition day.

Morning Competition

If the competition pre-judging is early in the morning, you should give yourself enough time to eat some carbohydrates, drink some fluids, and get to the competition. Different athletes process foods differently, so knowing the best time differential between eating and the competition is important. Some athletes feel best when they finish eating 2 hours before competition, while others feel best finishing 3 hours before an event.

Each athlete should know what works for him or her. The athlete should make whatever minor adjustments are needed. After eating, maintain a sipping protocol on sports beverages for the entire time leading up to the competition. The athlete should not be placed in a position of feeling rushed. When that happens, the food inevitably gets the short end of what should be done, and the athlete suffers, either through poor endurance or GI distress, during the entire competition.

Late-Evening Competition

The late evening is also a difficult time to compete; the body wants to sleep, but the competition is keeping it awake. Therefore, sleeping late and eating something every 2.5 to 3.0 hours will help keep your energy level up until it's time to compete.