One of the most important factors in achieving bodybuilding success is muscle definition, which correlates with body fat percentage. In search of the perfectly defined physique, bodybuilders need to consider various diet methods, and carbohydrates receive significant criticism in the bodybuilding world, with articles regularly written on how carbohydrates lead to excessive body fat levels, and because of this overwhelming negativity, many weight lifters pursue muscle building with a higher fat, lower carbohydrate approach, with hopes of maintaining a reasonable body fat percentage. But is there a point where carbohydrate grams can decline excessively, reaching levels where muscle building becomes very difficult, if not impossible? For those who ride the current bodybuilding bandwagon, the response would seem to be no, but reality is often substantially different than what popular bodybuilding notions will have us believe.
It is true that excess carbohydrates will cause body fat levels to rapidly increase, blurring muscle definition, and many battle a rotund mid-section and love handles due to larger than necessary carbohydrate ingestion. But stripping carbohydrates to extremely low levels with the hope of bypassing the bulge battle is a common blunder, as even though body fat will certainly decline using such a technique, the possibility for muscle gain will follow an inversely proportional pattern, with dramatic reductions in future muscle size improvements, to the point where no further muscle building will soon be possible. Obviously, a bodybuilder not only has the goal of controlling body fat levels, but also maximizing muscle gain, therefore bringing carbohydrates to either extreme will prevent one of the two goals, leaving the bodybuilder with an angry, unproductive experience while attempting to produce a fair balance between muscle size and low body fat levels.
What proponents of the anti-carbohydrate diet fail to realize is that muscle building relies upon carbohydrates to fuel individual hormones in the body, especially insulin, which is extremely anabolic, leading to significant muscle increase, but also fueling quick body fat accumulation when utilized improperly. Because insulin is a byproduct of carbohydrate consumption, in order to achieve the most impressive muscle gains, carbohydrates must be present in the diet, but to prevent body fat from spiraling out of control, both the quantity of carbohydrates and timing of such nutrients must be systematically integrated in order to provide muscles with sufficient carbohydrate nutrients for muscle increase, while greatly reducing the negative impact on body fat levels.
In addition to enhancing insulin for anabolic impact, carbohydrates provide an immediate energy source, and since the body must produce explosive output during weight lifting workout sessions for muscle gain, carbohydrates provide this energy source for maximum effort. When adopting a low carbohydrate diet philosophy, the body is unable to generate maximum intensity during each weight lifting set, and therefore muscle gains are negatively impacted, and muscle which has already been built is at risk of being lost. Those who follow a low carbohydrate regimen tend to lose weight lifting workout motivation, as inadequate carbohydrates can negatively impact motivation and mood, leading to very poor weight training performance, which clearly impacts muscle building in an extremely negative way.
One additional detrimental factor when adopting a reduced carbohydrate diet philosophy is metabolic reduction, and although initially a low carbohydrate diet regimen may cause body fat to decline and enhance definition, the prolonged impact of such a diet routine will not only burn muscle, but will also attack metabolism (the level at which the body burns calories), meaning that you will require less food to maintain a particular body fat level. As a result, fat percentage will begin to climb when food reaches the required level for muscle building due to this metabolic slowdown, and the net result is a more noticeable fat level than will occur when properly balancing fat and protein with carbohydrates.
When your goal is to improve muscle size and definition, please ignore the mistaken theory suggesting that carbs are the harmful enemy that hampers success, as by eliminating this vital nutrient from your weight lifting diet plan, you will experience far less muscle size and definition than is otherwise possible, but by integrating carbohydrates at specific times of the day and in potent quantities, you will allow the body to gain muscle without the customary body fat surge that accompanies popular weight gain strategies. Carbohydrates, if used correctly, are one of the few fat loss and muscle building keys to success.
Author Resource:-
Francesco Castano authors MuscleNOW.com, a diet and weight training program teaching the exact techniques for muscle building without supplements or drugs. He also owns FatVanish.com, teaching exactly how to lose weight without supplements.
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