Ask The Experts: Old School High Intensity Cardio Myths Meet Current Science-Based High Intensity Cardio Truths

By Mark Macdonald, Creator and CEO of Venice Nutrition of Venice Nutrition
Truths behind the carbo-loading philosophy

I played on my first club soccer team at the age of 9; I can remember my coach talking to us about carbohydrate loading. He shared how we should eat a big pizza Friday night to prepare for the game Saturday morning. Then during the game we should all continue the carbohydrate intake by drinking Gatorade, juice and eating orange slices at halftime. This philosophy was a reoccurring theme in all my sports: cross country, tennis, cycling, swimming, basketball and soccer. It was also supported during my collegiate soccer years by my coaches and professors.

The theory behind carbohydrate loading is that by taking in a high dosage of carbohydrates (sugar) the day before your sporting event you'll provide your muscle with a long lasting supply of glucose (sugar) which will maximize energy. This philosophy also reinforces taking liquid glucose supplements (goo) and/or high sugar electrolyte recovery drinks (Gatorade) during a sporting event.

After college my focus shifted from sports to bodybuilding. I quickly realized that the carbohydrate loading philosophies I'd learned were just philosophies …. As I dug deeper into how the body actually can create and burn energy it became evident that carbohydrate loading for high intensity cardio was a myth and in truth actually hinders performance.

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the 5 most well known high intensity cardio myths and then present the current science/physiology and actual truths of maximizing performance and recovery during high intensity cardio events. The information in this article is also reinforced by thousands of testimonials of high performance athletes that our nutrition centers have worked with through the years, a few being:

* The American Stroke Association – Marathon Club

* Professional, Collegiate & High School Athletes from all sports: Football, Basketball, Soccer, Tennis, Track, Lacrosse, Boxing, Wresting, Volleyball, etc.

* Thousands of Regional Triathletes, Cycling, Swimming & Running Clubs

The 5 Myths Are:

Myth 1: You can eat as many carbohydrates as you like since you exercise and train so hard.

* Truth: There is a great saying 'No work out can out work a bad diet'. The reality is that too much of anything will yield negative results. ALL carbohydrates are broken down to sugar and too much carbohydrate intake (even healthy ones) will spike your blood sugar levels, cause an over release of Insulin and cause you body to store fat. Take a look around you and watch the people you know who overeat carbohydrates and exercise a lot, most of the time they have higher body fat levels and lack muscle tone. This is due to the overconsumption of carbohydrates and working at too high of a heart rate for too long of a time.

* Everything needs to stay in balance. Your body is a feed as it goes machine. The best way to look at this is by taking a baby's feeding routines into account. A baby will feed every 3 to 4 hours, eat balanced meals of all three nutrients (protein, fat and carbohydrates), stop when satisfied and begin eating again when it is hungry. Our nervous system uses glucose (sugar) to create energy, so it relies on a steady balanced supply. When a baby grows (or you workout more one day than your other days), the body will need more fuel. It won't only need carbohydrates… it requires more balanced meals. The combination of protein, fat and carbohydrates within each meal creates a hormonal balance of your blood sugar levels which will maximize your results.

Myth 2: During high intensity cardiovascular exercise (Heart Rate above 160 BPM) of extended duration (60 minutes and above) you should eat many more carbohydrates before, during and after exercise to ensure you have enough energy to maximize performance. (I will do my best to keep this answer as non scientific as possible)

* Truth: Your body does require more overall calories (carbohydrates, protein and fat) during high intensity exercise due to the fact that you are mostly burning glucose during the activity. The old philosophy is that loading up on carbohydrates before an event would maximize your glucose (sugar) reserves for the activity. Unfortunately that is not the case. When too many carbohydrates are consumed your body will store fat and some of the glucose will also be stored to be utilized for energy. The challenge with this is that the stored glucose (sugar) in muscle tissue lacks something called a Glucose 6 Phosphate, all this means is that the sugar in each particular muscle can only be used for that muscle and cannot be accessed for blood sugar. So any extra glucose your body requires will be taken from the amino acids (protein) in your muscle mass. In essence, your body begins to cannibalize itself. For these reasons, carbohydrate loading before, during or after an event will completely work against you.

* Of course, you definitely need to feed yourself before, during and after the training. The key is to feed yourself a balanced meal of protein, fat and carbohydrates - preferably low glycemic ones - and high quality food before and after training. During high intensity cardio of extended duration training (marathon, triathlon, extended high intensity cardio, etc...) you are best to either eat a piece of a protein bar or a have a portion of a protein shake every 15 minutes. Make sure the protein bar and protein shake match your balanced nutrient ratios.

* This type of consistent feeding will provide your body with a steady supply of glucose. It will also keep your liver Glucose stores full. Keeping these stores full is critical because the glucose found in the liver is the only stored Glucose that can be converted into blood sugar. Now, the liver can only hold approximately 400 grams of glucose at any given time... This is why carbohydrate loading will not work.

Myth 3: To maximize performance you must eat a lot of heavy carbohydrates (pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, etc) the night before an event.

* Truth: The same information from Myth 2 applies to Myth 3. The overall philosophy of carbohydrate loading was to provide the body with a high amount of stored glucose (sugar) so it could utilize these stores during an event. As we discussed above, it is physiologically impossible. This means that all carbohydrate loading will do is store more fat and end up keeping the body's blood sugar levels unstable.

* The answer is to consistently feed your body high quality balanced meals before, during and after the event. This will maximize your performance.

Myth 4: During the event you should be consistently taking in glucose (sugar) supplements to keep your energy consistent.

* Truth: I think you are now seeing the theme... all your meals should be balanced and you should feed your body as you go, meaning as you output energy, make sure you are consistently replacing that energy.

* All pure sugar replacements do is quickly go through your digestive system and spike your blood sugar levels. Physics says that what goes up must come down... The same thing applies to your blood sugar levels, and that kind of reaction will drastically affect your performance. When using glucose supplements you will eventually have an energy crash. They will also cause irregularities in your blood sugar and affect recovery time.

* The solution is to consistently feed on a protein bar or protein shake as explained in myth 2.

* Of course, there will be times where you will 'hit the wall' meaning your body seemed to burn more fuel than you expected and you experience low blood sugar. If this happens, taking a glucose supplement is recommended (always have one available for these types of emergencies) and then evaluate what happened so you can create a solution to prevent it from occurring again.

Myth 5: After the event you should eat many carbohydrates so you can refuel your body's low glucose (sugar) supply.

* Truth: There is an old philosophy about the 'window of opportunity', meaning after an event your body is in such a deficit it needs to take in a large amount of food, especially carbohydrates, to recover and maximize performance. Once again this will only lead to spiking your blood sugar and storing fat.

* Imagine if there is not a deficit, what if you fed your body correctly and balanced through the event and never hit a blood sugar low?

*If you never hit a blood sugar low there is never a need to over consume carbohydrates. The reality is this: if you can prevent the ups and downs of your blood sugar and keep you body in a constant state of homeostasis (internal balance) you will train, perform and recover much more efficiently and effectively.

This brings me to a great success story of a professional tennis player I worked with. Brendan Zackey came to me wanting to improve his endurance and overall speed and recovery on the court. He was fit and trained about 4-5 hours a day… and his nutrition was all mostly carbohydrates. His body fat was too high and it affected his ability to outperform players who had a higher tennis skill set. After three months of implementing the Venice Nutrition System and taking on these high intensity cardio recommendations I've explained, his body composition greatly improved and he quickly became a higher ranked tennis player. His mental focus, endurance, strength and recovery all went from a 5 out of 10 to an 9 out of 10 (10 being the best). Brendan can now out perform his competition because he understands how his body utilizes fuel and he then implements that knowledge to maximize his performance.

As this article shows, there's misinformation everywhere …. I too bought into it at one time; that was of course until I could see the holes and inconsistency in the information I was working from. Myths like these are easy to spot if you choose to become educated on how your body works. Once you make that choice and let go of what you think or what others say works and actually start spending time understanding the body, you will then have the tools to achieve all of your health goals and maximize performance.

We are finally in a place where all the information is now available and that is a great place to be, because your success is now up to you…. I invite you to remember these 5 Truths, let go of the 5 myths, and begin implementing some of these suggestions. Do that and you will take your sports performance to the next level!

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