Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
If you want to become very strong, you should lift heavy
weights, eat carbohydrates before you lift and eat plenty of
protein afterwards. Normal amounts of insulin help muscles
grow, and eating carbohydrates causes your blood sugar to rise,
which, in turn, causes your pancreas to release insulin. Taking in
large amounts of protein after a workout helps muscles to
recover faster from hard exercise, so you can do more hard work
and grow larger and stronger muscles (Journal of Physiology,
Volume 573, 2006).
To increase muscle strength, the weights you lift must be
heavy enough to cause muscle burning while you lift and your
muscles to feel sore on the next day. The soreness is caused by
damage to the muscle fibers themselves. Most athletes quickly
learn to lift lighter weights on as many days as it takes for the
soreness to go away, and then lift very heavy weights again.
The faster muscles heal from hard workouts, the more quickly
you can go back to lifting heavy weights and the stronger you will
become.
Insulin brings protein building blocks, called amino acids,
into muscles to increase the rate of healing. Eating
carbohydrates raises blood insulin levels. Protein is the building
blocks for all tissues, particularly muscle. So the faster and more
protein you can bring into muscle fibers, the more quickly they
heal and the faster you can go back to your heavy lifting
program.
January 15, 2007