If your fitness objective is muscle gain, level of insulin will impact growth of your muscles. You may struggle from an unseen force that will hold your back & slow down your muscle gains over time.
Most important aspects for bodybuilders are muscle gain, fueling the muscles & maintaining a low fat percentage.
Yes, you got it right! We are going to talk about how Insulin impacts your muscle building process & how you should work with insulin to maximise your muscle gain.
So what is Insulin?
Insulin is a hormone released from the Pancreas after you eat & directly impacts blood sugar ( glucose) level. Sugar, to a lesser extent, is also impacted by consumption of protein & amino acids.
Main objective of Insulin is to keep sugar at normal level. Further, it also prevents the breakdown of muscles and is responsible to create new proteins, Glucose uptake in muscles is important since it produces glycogen which provides fuel to muscles while exercising. So how does Insulin slows down your muscle gain process?
Insulin promotes the storage of fat & conversion of glycogen into fat. It also prevents the breakdown of fat & glycogen stores.
So how do you make best use of Insulin to fuel up your muscles & minimising its impact of promoting/increasing fat & glycogen stores?
We generally measure Insulin sensitivity, speed of cell’s response to release insulin after food is consumed. The sensitivity is generally high for active people & those indulged in regular workout. Therefore rise in sugar & amino acids will immediately release insulin & its impact will take place much quicker. The focus of body builders is less on spiking insulin levels since it is more predictable & more on what macro nutrients they are using to spike the insulin level to maximise their results.
So what your diet should consist of?
Ideally your diet should have low carbohydrate content, medium fat & high protein. Carbohydrate is the main source of glucose in diet & hence primary source for triggering insulin. Protein ( amino acid) also trigger insulin but fat does not. Since protein triggers Insulin but does not impact sugar level & fat does not impact sugar level, you should consume these components from moderate to high level. Coming on to carbohydrate, you should prefer consuming complex over simple carbohydrates since it has low glycemic index & impacts blood sugar less for an extended period of time
The healthier sources of micronutrients, the better is for managing insulin level. Prolonged rise in sugar level is not good for health, however there are certain times when you require to spike your insulin levels.
So when should you consume carbohydrates to have that spike in Insulin level required for workout/weight training?
When to eat, what to eat & how much to eat is very important for your bodybuilding progress. When you need to maintain a low level of insulin, the best strategy is to consume simple carbs in high quantity couple of hours before the workout, since complex carb would spike your insulin level for a longer period of time. If its a rest day, complex carb is better.
If you have a habit of working out early in the morning, you should consume high simple carb content since they will fill your glycogen stores & spike in insulin level will decrease much faster.
The best combination for meal a couple of hours before workout would be medium to high carb & protein & low fat. Since you want to spike Insulin level, fuel your glycogen stores to indulge in workout & increase protein building & repair without increasing your fat stores. The same combination works after a workout when your glycogen stores have been depleted & your muscles are in the best shape to recover. Make sure you consume a meal within 30 minutes of completing your workout.
Throughout the day you should maintain a combination of low carb, high protein & medium fat which will keep your insulin levels low during the daily activities.
