Last month
we discussed the concept of doing no carbs immediately after a workout
and instead using amino acids. Here’s another expert that advocates the
“no carb post-workout” approach; however, he suggests waiting a little
bit before you take amino acids.
John Kiefer has written a book on carb back-loading and during a talk
with IFBB Pro Ben Pakulski, Kiefer proposed that glucose should not be
consumed immediately post-workout but rather an hour or so afterward.
His theory is that you want to allow the catabolic effects to set in for
a while – it primes the muscle cells for greater absorption afterward.
According to Kiefer, only athletes that need to glycogen replenish
should have glucose immediately after training. Glycogen replenishment
is biphasic: the first 30 minutes is not insulin mediated (it’s the
GLUT4 and GLUT12 pathways); it’s insulin mediated about an hour or so
later. Kiefer also believes that you’ll get a better benefit from amino
acids if you can wait for this insulin spike.
Like everything in the training world, if you have 10 different
experts, you’ll have 10 different strategies. The key is to find what
works well for you.
