You should be very interested in test and test only your first cycle. It will give far more gains than eq.
honey and bananas aren't going to spike your insulin as its mostly fructose. Use a simple sugar post workout like maltodextrin, waxy maize or dextrose
Below is a GREAT article from start to finish, but I highlighted the rebuttal to the above statement.
Most people eat sugar excessively in today's world of fast food and candy bars. The reason sugar causes fat storage so fast is because it is a simple carbohydrate which digests very quickly. Excess sugar in the bloodstream is unhealthy so the body immediately stores it as fat. Here are the different types of sugars:
- Monosaccharide: Made of only one sugar molecule, they are the simplest form of carbohydrates and cause the greatest insulin spike because they digest so fast. Very sweet (fructose, glucose, dextrose, ribose, galactose)
- Disaccharide: Made of 2 sugar molecules bonded together, they also digest extremely quickly and cause a great insulin spike. Sweet (lactose, sucrose, maltose, trehalose.)
- Polysaccharide: Made of many molecules of sugar bonded together, they are not sweet, and digest slowly. They do not create insulin spikes, and provide a constant, slow digesting supply of glucose to the blood. They are the ideal and healthiest source of carbohydrates, (Starch, cellulose, glycogen)
What Are The Negatives Of Sugar?
Excess sugar causes:
- Obesity
- Tooth Decay
- Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
- Insulin insensitivity
- Improper endocrine function
- Improper immune system function
- May cause diabetes
- Causes hyperactivity, followed by drowsiness and energy deficiency
- Contributes to heart disease and other illnesses
- Addiction
Too much sugar is not good for anyone. Sugar can cause diabetes, insensitivity to insulin, tooth decay and rotting, obesity, and heart disease. However, sugar has some advantages, which will come later in the article.
Sugar is a fast digesting carbohydrate with a high glycemic index. This means it digests quickly and causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels. After ingesting sugar, blood sugar levels begin to rise, which your body does not like. Your body's response to this is to release a hormone called insulin, which pumps your muscles full of sugar (which they don't like), and stores the excess sugar as fat (which we don't want). This is obviously counter-productive for bodybuilders. But don't jump to conclusions just yet.
Does Using Sugar Have Any Benefits For A Bodybuilder?
Are there certain times, such as post-workout, where an insulin spike could be useful to a bodybuilder?
After a workout, your muscles are tired and depleted of their energy stores. At this stage, your body is in a catabolic or breaking down state of both muscle and fat.
Your body is breaking down muscles and fat for energy, because you've used up all your energy during your workout. How do we reverse this? Well, as you know, sugar causes increase blood sugar levels. Increasing your blood sugar levels will pump the excess sugar into your muscles, and since your muscles need all the sugar they can get, there will be no excess sugar to store as fat!
Conclusively, it would actually be productive to cause an insulin spike post workout to pump your muscles full of the energy and nutrients which you've depleted during your workout!
Ingesting a mixture of high glycemic index sugar as well as protein has been shown to cause a much greater insulin spike than ingesting sugar alone. We all know eating protein post workout is vital, but don't cut back on the sugar too.
Eating a couple of bananas or adding honey to your post workout shake will do your body a favor! But hold on, don't take this too literally and eat 2 bars of chocolate post workout. Remember, the healthier sources the better.
Another time when an insulin spike is beneficial to a bodybuilder is immediately after waking up. Your body has been without food for 8 hours while you were
asleep, and - unless you had a good protein filled meal before sleep - has been burning muscle.
This would be a great time get an insulin spike to pump energy into your muscles and revive your system, because the body is in a similar state to the one it was in post workout.
Again, ingesting lost of protein, some sugar, and some slow digesting carbohydrates would be great in the morning. Just a slight increase in insulin would be effective in the morning. This is because, although your body has bee fasting for 8 hours, it wasn't exercising or using muscle, so it needs significantly less energy.
Another reason bodybuilders use sugar is if they use
creatine. The insulin spike will help shuttle the creatine more effectively to the muscles without bloating.
Why go for an outdated product such as
creatine monohydrate and have to eat tons of sugar just to be able to get it into your muscles? Just switch to
micronized creatine or
CEE (creatine ethyl ester) to get much better results with less sugar, and less around the waistline! We should try to use technology to our advantage!
Post-Workout Meal:
What is the best post-workout meal for me?
A good post-workout meal contains:
- Minerals
- Vitamins
- Sugar
- Protein
Let's compare 2 bananas and a tablespoon of honey to 2 bars of chocolate to see which the best post workout meal is. We'll call bananas meal #1, and the bar of chocolate meal #2. To make your own comparisons, you can use this
free database containing nutritional information about all foods.
Meal ComparisonNutritionMeal # 1Meal # 2The Better MealSugars 68.9g 45.4g Meal # 1 Carbs 25g 52.2g Meal # 2 Calcium 11.8mg 176.4mg Meal # 2 Potassium 844.9mg 327.4mg Meal # 1 Fats 0.8mg 26.2g Meal # 1 Sodium 2mg 70mg Meal # 1 Fiber 6.1g 3g Meal # 1 Cholesterol 0mg 20mg Meal # 1
The last column states which meal would be best considering the specific nutritional part it is talking about. For example, bananas have more potassium so meal one was chosen to be best in this area. Bananas have less cholesterol so they were also chosen to be the best meal.
We can see from this table that bananas would be the best meal to eat post workout. 2 bananas have more sugar than a piece of chocolate, which would make a better insulin spike. They have more potassium, which has been shown to lower blood pressure, create optimum nerve functioning during exercise, reduce muscle soreness, increase strength, and helping in synthesis of protein. These things are obviously vital for bodybuilders.
Bananas have less saturated fats, less sodium, more fiber, and less cholesterol. Conclusively, 2 bananas and a protein shake is the best post-workout meal! Also, it would be best to have a multivitamin and a fish oil capsule post workout to give your body vitamins and some good fats to feed your muscles.
- An ideal endomorph post workout meal: An ideal mesomorph post workout meal:
- 3 bananas
- 1 teaspoon of honey
- Multi Vitamin
- Fish Oil
An ideal mesomorph post workout meal:
- 3 bananas
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- Multi Vitamin
- Fish Oil
Reaction:
How much sugar do you think an average bodybuilder should consume?
Quantity is not as important as when its consumed. You can consume some extra sugar without any problem if you consume it at the right time, such as post workout or in the morning. This means that almost all of your sugar should be consumed post workout or in the morning.
However, as a general rule:
- Endomorph (fat person): 0.2 g per pound of body fat
Mesomorph (muscular person): 0.4 g per pound of body fat
Ectomorph (skinny person): 0.6 g per pound of body fat
Endomorphs, or people whose bodies are more prone to gaining fat, need less sugar because their body gains muscle fast already. The excess sugar will cause extra fat. Mesomorphs need a normal amount of sugar because they have a normal body. Ectomorphs need large amounts of sugar to pack on muscle because their body will not pack on muscle easily.
Bonus:
Have you had any issues or success using sugar?
I have always added a little sugar in my post workout meal with great results. Being an endo/meso morph, I found I need to hardly use any to get great results. I suggest not overdoing it because it will help in accumulation of fat unless you're an ectomorph. Before I found
bodybuilding.com and read about using sugar post workout, I did not consume any sugar before or after my workout. I got less than optimal results, even though I was still starting and should have had extremely fast muscle gain. Now, by using sugar sparingly post workout, I have been able to boost my gains substantially.
Using excess sugar, however, can actually by catabolic to the muscle, and cause fat accumulation and lack of energy! After eating a meal with lots of sugar, your body releases insulin, which pumps the sugar into the muscles and switches off your body's fat burning capacity and switches on fat storage. The insulin removes excess sugar from the blood because it assumes more is coming. This is because, in the past, it was difficult to cause an insulin spike without eating loads of food because there weren't many foods high in sugar.
As a result, your body stores so much sugar as fat that it goes below the optimum glucose levels. Your body now realizes that all you ate was a bar of chocolate and that there is no more glucose on the way. Your body would usually burn some fat to supply the blood with enough sugar, however, the ever so helpful insulin decided to shut off the fat burning switch, so the only other option is - you guessed it - muscle! Conclusively, do not create an insulin spike unless it's in the morning or post workout because you will cause muscle breakdown.
Overdoing sugar, however, can lead to less insulin sensitivity. This means you would have to ingest more sugar and release more insulin to get the same reaction of pumping the muscles full of sugar. This can lead to quick fat accumulation as insulin stops fat burning. It's best to take sugar in moderation, only during post workout or in the morning, and to ingest protein with it to cause an insulin spike without needing to eat so much sugar.
Conclusion:
The key to sugar is to use it at specific times in moderation. These times are post workout or in the morning. If you use creatine, and need to ingest a lot of sugar to absorb it, I suggest taking it on an empty stomach immediately post workout, and then your protein and moderate sugar 20 min after your workout. This will maximize the benefits by putting the insulin spike and the creatine spike at roughly the same time. Try switching to a more absorbent form of creatine such as micronized or CEE for better results with less bloating.
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