Exercise Supplementation: Carbs + Protein For High Intensity Endurance Athletes
What bodybuilder already knew, has now been confirmed by a group of scientists from the University of Texas ( Ferguson-Stegall, 2010 ): Carbs alone won't do the trick ! In their study Ferguson-Stegall and collegues investigated the effect of a low carbohydrate beverage (50% less total carbohydrate than a carbohydrate-only supplement) with added protein on cycling endurance performance in 15 trained athletes: [The subjects cycled] on 2 separate occasions at intensities alternating between 45 and 70% VO2max for 3 hours, after which the workload increased to approximately 74-85% VO2max until exhaustion. Supplements (275 mL) were provided every 20 minutes during exercise, and these consisted of a 3% carbohydrate/1.2% protein supplement (MCP) and a 6% carbohydrate supplement (CHO) .[...] for subjects cycling at or below ventilatory threshold (VT) time to exhaustion (TTE) in MCP was significantly greater than for CHO (45.64 +/- 7.38 vs. 35.47 +/- 5.94 minutes, respectively,...