Pro tip of the day: carb cycling

Carb cycling is a plan that consists of rotating High, Moderate and Low carbohydrate intakes according to your daily workout plan and to the end goal of your diet.

According to the current research, when the amount of glycogen is lower the basal metabolic rate increases (in part due to the enhance mitochondrial density), increasing fat burning up to three times the amount of fat that the control group burned (but it can also cause a greater loss of muscle).

One of the simplest methods of carb cycling (and very useful to see how your body reacts to it) is known as “Fuel for the work required”, the premise of this method is simple, adjust the amount of carbohydrates consumed depending on the training needs.

An example of this routine would be on leg days using high carbs, on upper body moderate carbs and on rest days low carbs.

If your goal is to progress in a specific muscle group, just change the high carb days to the days of that specific muscle group, if you train a strong muscle group the first thing in the morning, it would be advisable to do the high carb day the day before, since muscle glycogen is not lost at night, only liver glycogen.

Marco D. Angelo

PhD in biochemistry, specialized in enzymology and metabolic biochemistry with a background in pharmacology, he works in a molecular biology laboratory and in his spare time works as a high-performance trainer in addition to assisting other coaches.