Glycogen Load

If you’re an endurance athlete, you want have enough fuel and stamina to finish the event. Glycogen loading can help with that. This is a training diet that increases the stores of energy in your muscles by increasing your intake of carbohydrates the week before the event. You can also use glycogen loading to help pump your muscles for bodybuilding competitions. Using this training diet can help you achieve the results you want for your important event.

Steps

Establishing the Basics of a Carb-Loading Diet

1. Start glycogen loading before your event. You should glycogen load the week before your high-endurance activity. This helps gives your muscles enough time to store the glycogen in your muscles that you will turn into energy.
   • Try doing this three or four days before your endurance workout.
2. Reduce your training during this time. Since your goal is to reserve your energy and store it in your muscles, you should go easy on the training on the days you’re glycogen loading. Training will use up some of the energy.
   • One to three days before your endurance event, do no activity. Instead, rest and save your energy for the event.
3. Experiment with a glycogen load diet before an event. If you are interested in using a glycogen load diet for an endurance event, you should experiment with the method before your event. Extreme dietary changes, like significantly increasing your carbohydrate intake, can mess up your digestive system.
   • You want to work out any problems and figure out the best way to make the diet work for you before your big event.
4. Expect to gain a few pounds. Because of your glycogen loading, you may gain up to five pounds. This is normal. Glycogen that is stored in your body stores water. This may cause your muscles to feel heavy with this added glycogen and water weight. However, as you go through your endurance event, the glycogen will be used and your muscles will feel lighter.

Putting Together a Meal Plan

1. Eat moderate carbs for a few days before glycogen loading. During the three days before you glycogen load, eat around two to three grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight. This should increase your carbs slowly.
   • For a person who weighs 160 pounds, you will be eating between 350 to 450 grams of carbohydrates.
2. Increase your carbohydrate intake. Glycogen loading is done by adding significantly more carbohydrates to your diet. Around 70 percent of your calories each day should be from carbohydrates during this period. To store enough glycogen to provide energy, try increasing your carbohydrates to around four or five grams for each pound of your body weight.
   • To calculate how many carbs you need to eat, multiple four or five grams by your body weight.
   • For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, your carbohydrate intake during those few days will be around 720 grams.
3. Reduce your fat. While you are glycogen loading, you should reduce the amount of fat in your diet. This helps your body have more room for the carbohydrates. It also doesn’t add more calories to your diet that you don’t need.
   • For example, you wouldn’t have avocado, heavy oils, or nuts while carb loading.
4. Eat enough protein. As you get ready for your endurance event, you want to make sure you eat enough protein. Protein can help your body process glycogen, and it can also be used for energy. In the weeks before your event, eat around 0.6 to 0.7 grams per pound of body weight.
   • For example, you can eat lean chicken, grass-fed beef, fish, nuts, and Greek yogurt.
5. Choose complex carbs. Glycogen loading doesn’t mean you should eat any carbs you want. Simple carbs, like baked goods, cookies, donuts, or white pasta, are not going to give you the nutrition you need to do well in your endurance event. Instead, choose healthy complex carbohydrates.
   • For example, try whole grain bread, wheat pasta, brown rice, oats, quinoa, barley, or other whole grains. Another good option may be energy bars or granola bars.
   • You can also try fruit, dried fruit, beans, legumes, or starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes..
   • Sports drinks, gels, and juices may help increase your carbohydrates. Make sure to combine these with complex carbohydrates to help balance the sugar.
6. Eat carb-heavy snacks. For snacks, you can eat foods high in carbohydrates. Go for grains, cereals, and granola, along with dried fruit. These foods can provide ample amount of carbs.
   • Try raisin, dried cranberries, or other low-sugar dried fruit. Fruits like bananas, pineapple, apples, and melon also contain carbs. You may want to include low-sugar fruit juices.
   • Yogurt with granola, pretzels and crackers, oatmeal, baked tortilla chips, or cereal make good snacks.
7. Eat small meals throughout the day. You may be more successful with your carbohydrate loading if you eat multiple small meals throughout the day instead of a few extremely large meals. Five or six meals throughout the day can help you get the amount of carbohydrates that you need without feeling sick.
8. Prepare your menu. Figuring out exactly what to eat when carb-loading can be confusing. Add grains to each meal, like cereals, bread products, and rice. Fruit and fruit juice also helps increase your carbs. Drinking milk can also add carbs to your meals.
   • For example, breakfast may include a bagel, banana or apple, nut butter, honey, cereal, or milk.
   • Lunch may consist of a meat, multiple slices of bread, carb-heavy vegetables like sweet potatoes or carrots, crackers, tortilla chips, and milk.
   • For dinner, you may eat meat, rolls, vegetables, and a banana or apple.

Using Alternative Glycogen Loading Programs

1. Do a rapid loading the day before. Your situation may not allow you to taper off your physical activity so you can glycogen load. You can still load your muscles the day before. Start by doing an intense workout 24 hours before your event. The workout should deplete all your glycogen in your muscles.
   • After your workout, your diet should switch to a high carb diet, with five to six grams of carbs for each pound of your body weight.
   • During a rapid load, you would significantly decrease your protein and fat.
   • To calculate how many carbs to have each day, multiply five to six grams of carbs for each pound of body weight. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you will eat around 750 grams of carbohydrates.
2. Do a glycogen load before a bodybuilding competition. The other activity you may want to do a glycogen load for is a bodybuilding competition. Carb loading can help your body have a more muscular look by making your muscles fuller instead of flat. Leading up to your glycogen load, do a light circuit workout that targets your whole body to get rid of glycogen. Three days before your event, lower your carb intake to approximately 50 to 100 grams.
   • The evening before your event, eat carb-heavy meals every two hours with approximately 30 grams of carbs. The carbs should only be complex carbohydrates, like oatmeal, whole grains, sweet potatoes, or bananas.Have another meal of 30 grams of carbs when you wake up the next morning.
   • A couple of hours before your competition, have a meal with 50 grams of carbs and 30 grams of fat.
3. Follow a week-long glycogen loading program. An alternate way of carb loading for a competition is to alter your carb intake for seven days. Start by consuming low amounts of carbs for the first three days. Shoot for less than 50 grams each day. Two days after that, eat around 100 to 150 grams.
   • The final two days before your competition, consume a high amount of carbs. You should go try for over 150 grams.

Sources and Citations

See also

• Calculate Carbs
• Get Started on a Low Carb Diet
• Reduce Your Carbohydrate Intake
• Stop Enjoying Carbs