When it comes to building muscles, carbs are not a necessity. But this doesn’t mean carbs don’t play a role in muscle building. But what is that role? How many carbs do you need to build muscle? If these questions represent your confusion, we’ve got your back.
Here, we will explain the concept of carbs from scratch. But besides this, we will also explain how carbs function in your body, the role of carbs in muscle building, and, more importantly, the exact quantity of carbs you need to build muscles. So, without wasting any time, let’s dig in.
Carbs and Their Categories:
Carbs or carbohydrates are molecules your body breaks down to make sugars. It is the nutritional category for sugars.
According to their structure, there are two categories of carbs.
1. Simple or Monosaccharide:
Glucose, fructose, and galactose are all simple sugars or monosaccharides. However, if you link two of them (together), you will get a disaccharide,such as lactose, maltose, or sucrose.
2. Complex:
On the other hand, complex carbohydrates have three or more simple sugars linked together. Complex carbohydrates with three to ten sugars linked together will be oligosaccharides. However, if the quantity of linked sugars is more than ten, complex carbohydrates will become polysaccharides.
How Do Carbs Function in Your Body?
During digestion, your body breaks down complex carbs into their monosaccharide building blocks. Later, your body’s cells can benefit from those monosaccharide building blocks for energy. Hence, when you eat any carb-rich food, the sugar level in your blood (which is usually about a teaspoon) increases. But that’s not true for all carbohydrate-rich foods.
Your digestive system doesn’t respond to all carbohydrates the same. For instance, starch and fiber are both polysaccharides. Both derive from plants and both are composed of hundreds to thousands of monosaccharides joined together. But they’re joined together differently and that changes the effect they have on your body.
Thus, foods high in starch, like crackers and white bread, are digested easily. That’s because they quickly release a whole bunch of glucose into your blood. This situation is similar to what would happen if you drank something high in glucose, like soda.
On the other hand, when you eat foods high in fiber, like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, those indigestible beta bonds slow the release of glucose into the blood.
Role of Carbohydrates in Muscle Building
As we’ve already discussed in the introduction, carbohydrates are not necessary for muscle building. In fact, studies prove that carbohydrates are not a requirement for weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting, etc. But on the other hand, having carbohydrates can make a difference in muscle building.
Several trainers, bodybuilders, and gym freaks believe you will build more muscle and strength if you have carbs in your diet. That’s because carbohydrates make muscle building easier. For instance, if you can’t achieve the target number of calories in your diet during your muscle-building journey, carbs can help you stimulate your appetite.
Thus, building muscle without carbohydrates is possible and works for some people. But trying carbohydrates in your diet during the muscle-building journey can make things a bit easier.
Amount of Carbs Required to Build Muscle:
So far, you may have understood how carbs function in the body and their role in muscle building. But now, let’s answer the elephant in the room, which is how many carbs you need to build muscle.
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy. However, consuming excessive carbohydrates is not ideal for muscle building because your body can store the extra amount of carbohydrates as fat. So, the number of carbohydrates should be according to your weight.
Like the quantity of protein, if you want to build muscle, your carbs intake should be 2 grams per pound body weight. So, for instance, if your weight is 180 pounds, you will need 360 grams of carbohydrates in an entire day for muscle-building.
You can further divide the 360 grams of carbohydrates into different meals throughout the entire day. For instance, if you take six meals in one day for muscle-building, every meal should contain 60 grams (360 divided by 6) of carbohydrates.
However, if you don’t know how many calories you need to build muscle, you can take assistance from a TDEE calculator.
A Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE calculator app can help you build an entire chart according to your age, weight, and height. All you need to do is find the best TDEE calculator app and input the required fields. Such an app will bring results according to your input.
What Are the Best Carbs for Muscle Gain and Fat Loss?
To bulk up and build muscle, you need to lose fat. So, gym freaks, bodybuilders, and weight lifters agree that the following entries are the best carbs for muscle gaining and fat loss.
- Fruit.
- Legumes (beans, peas, and lentils).
- Oats.
- Quinoa.
- Sweet potatoes.
- Vegetables.
- Whole wheat bread.
- Whole wheat pasta.
Conclusion:
Carbohydrates will assist your workouts, but it’s not necessary for building muscle. So, the idea that a high carbohydrate intake is essential for building muscle is a false assumption circulating among people trying to build muscle. The truth is, if you want to build muscle, you do not need to consume copious amounts of carbohydrates.
As far as the amount of carbohydrates is concerned, the answer to this question depends on the body weight. Since the amount of carbohydrate consumption for muscle building is 2 grams per pound body weight, if you weigh 180 pounds, you should split 360 grams of carbs in your daily meals.
Add new comment