Does carbo-loading for marathons work? I asked sports nutrition gurus and scoured dozens of (ahem, rather dry) studies from research institutions around the world.

The verdict?

Sure it works. Sometimes. Unless you do it wrong. Or you’re a woman.

A brief history of carbo-loading

Carbo-loading has been a popular way to fuel for marathons, metric century bike rides and other endurance events since the 1950s.

Studies have found that the muscles are capable of stockpiling carbohydrate, or glycogen, is excess.

Many studies have also found that a carb surplus (what the big kids call “increased starting muscle glycogen”) can help stave off fatigue for those 4- or 5-hour treks to the finish line.

Thus, the concept of carbo-loading (aliases: carbohydrate loading, glycogen loading) came about.

Today, athletes swear by it, trainers tout it and research institutions back it up. But I’m not totally sold.

Why? Of the 25-odd carbo-loading studies I read through which showed improved energy, few actually quantified the improvement. And those that did, well, they reported energy extension ranging from 20%, to a paltry 2-3%.

Which begs: even if carbo-loading techniques do boost glycogen storage—and, in turn, do improve endurance performance—is it enough to make it worth the trouble?

How is gobbling Pasta Carbonara trouble, you ask? Well, let’s take a look at what the classic carbo-loading regimen entails.

Carbo-loading no cakewalk

The standard carbo-loading method calls for total carb depletion before you load. It’s not enough to simply up your carb intake before a big event—before you get to touch that five-pound baked potato, you have to earn it with five days of turkey, beans and protein bars.

Carb-starving yourself induces the muscles to ‘thirst’ for glycogen and in turn store up more than it would otherwise hold, Charla McMillian (author of Boot Camp Abs) explains.

To drain glycogen stores, the classic method begins one week prior to race day with a rigorous workout. On days 2-4, you’ll taper training and eat a low carb diet (roughly 10% of your intake). On days 5-7, you’ll ratchet down your physical activity to a minimum and skyrocket your carb intake—all the way up to 90% of your diet.

Hey, you say. One highly-regimented week doesn’t sound too bad. But how do fatigue, irritability and a weakened immune system sound? According to Joel Maloof, a sports health scientist, even a short period of severe carb depletion can cause all of the above pre-race joys.

Still might be worth it, you think?

Well what if I told you that following the carbo-loading regimen to a ‘T’ is no guarantee it’ll work?

A glimpse of the studies

The Sports Science Institute of South Africa reported that carbo-loading can sustain an athlete’s energy by up to 20%. So for a 90-minute run, you could add 18 more minutes of energy.

The Australian Institute of Sport also found carbo-loading to be an effective way to boost endurance. The same study found that eating carbs immediately before, during and after a workout can also keep an athlete going for hours. Gee. Why not skip the carb rollercoaster and just munch on cereal and sandwiches all day?

And what about the ladies? Well, I’m glad you ask… because most researchers don’t. The majority of carbo-loading studies use only male participants. Meanwhile, women may be scarfing double the carbs with nothing to show for it.

Apparently carbo-loading in women is a whole ‘nother ballgame. McMaster University conducted two female carbo-loading studies and found that women simply can’t store as much muscle glycogen as men. In fact, in its first study, after a 4-day carbo-loading regimen female participants came away with no glycogen surplus at all. Zilch.

Women might be able to boost our carbo-loading threshold, Baylor University found, if we simultaneously double up on calories. But wait. Does this open up the possibility that the energy boost some female athletes see “with carbo-loading” could actually be influenced by other factors—like eating more calories?

And then there was the University of Helsinki study. It concluded flat-out that carbo-loading doesn’t always cause higher muscle glycogen stores. It’s a crapshoot. (Side note: this was an all-male test group.)

…

If you’re itching to add a few more minutes to your next bike ride, you might give carbo-loading a try. But with results so iffy, and carb math that could make an engineer’s head spin (even with that handy-dandy carbo-loading calculator), then why bother?

Especially if there are simpler ways to keep your energy up—some of which still involve, thank goodness, a big bowl of fettuccini.

Related posts:

• Fitness deadline? Don’t wreck yourself
• 7 deadly sins of race training
• 3 lessons on increasing speed from Usain Bolt

Ask me. Ask Ryan. Ask anyone who’s plunged headfirst into a new exercise routine: the odds of injuring yourself or getting sick right after you hit the ground running are HIGH.

Better, it proves, to hit the ground strolling.

Maybe you’re training for a triathlon or other athletic event. Or the terror of unpacking last year’s bikini just sent you tearing into the gym.

Whatever your frenzied fitness ambition, pause.

In my first guest post at MizFit’s blog (yeah!), I pinpoint 3 reasons why taking a measured approach to exercise is hard.

The reasons are legit, and thank goodness, because I was beginning to question my maturity level. (Doesn’t *everyone* know that slow and steady wins the race?)

Yes, starting your new exercise routine slowly will win you license to wear skimpy swimsuits 10 times faster than full-speed-ahead. So, my gift to you: a handful of speed bumps. Read them now on MizFit’s blog.

I was going to post a review of 4-Hour Body this week. Unfortunately, I’m still reading it. And may very well be reading it for the rest of the summer. In the interim, as I work through the epic fitness bible (and count toting it around town as my daily workout), here are some hiking tips.

Obviously, you know that hiking is a workout — but do you know just how much?

I didn’t. Yet, after four hikes in three days, I now know convinced: Hiking is going to be an ingenious way to cross paths with my swimsuit in July. Following are some fitness benefits of hiking which I gleaned from trial (and mostly error) during a weekend in Moab, Utah.

Want to get bikini ready? Gyms be damned — hiking is where the workout’s at.

Reason #1 to Hike: It works all your muscles.

Leaping over streams, traversing sand, climbing rocks, breaking awkward falls, trekking downhill, uphill (and downhill and uphill again). Hiking terrain will force your body to work muscle groups large and small. Stray from paved or flat trails and you’ll get a serious interval workout too.

And to make the most of this total-body activity, you’ll want to dress appropriately. I slid down enough mountains to officially recommend comfortable, flexible clothing and shoes with decent traction. Truth be told, I find Vibram Five Fingers dorky (at best), but I coveted many a pair over the weekend for their grip and nimbleness as compared with my trainers.

Reason #2 to Hike: You’re more likely to leave your comfort zone.

Must. Get. To. Waterfall.

Hiking is a great way to force yourself to go a little further than planned. Sure you might be tired at the 5-mile mark, but you’ve come this far. Can you really turn back before you reach the trail destination? And once there, well, now you have no choice but to go all the way back.

To sidestep plateaus and progress in your regimen, you need to stop being a wuss. And be honest: how often does it happen at the gym, where you can jump ship at first sign of dewy forehead?

There’s also something about being in nature that seems to channel a primitive survival instinct. It seems to trigger an ability to handle rough n’ tumble activities we might not do, say, in an air conditioned room with iPod and coffee-flavored protein smoothie at arm’s length.

Reason #3 to Hike: The scenery serves as a distraction.

Sure, you need to face the pain and conquer it… or whatever. But according to marathon psychologist Jeff Brown, there’s nothing wrong with wielding distraction to get through a tough workout. (He says athletes do it.)

Well, what better distraction than nature, full of new and ever-changing stimuli, to get through a grueling workout?

So stop watching Judge Judy — and the clock. Hit the trails!

Got hiking tips? I need them.

Related posts:

• 5 Fun Ways to Stay in Shape
• 10 Signs You’re Exercising Too Much
• The 7 Deadly Sins of Race Training

In honor of National Bike Month, I spent the weekend making a list of the things I’ve learned about cycling over the past year. Namely, the things I’ve learned not to ride without. After surviving Little Red Riding Hood last June despite a savage lack of preparation, I decided that cycling might be the sport for me, so I made a few upgrades to my regimen. I quickly realized they were long overdue. If you’re just getting started with cycling or are stuck in the budget-DIY-version, here are four investments you should make now. Don’t worry, some are free.

1. Throw down for gear and a bike fitting.

This I learned the hard way—literally. Riding without proper cycling gear really hurts! If you’re pretty sure that you’ll stick to cycling, even just on the weekends, it’s worth splurging on some clothing and equipment.

You like being uncomfortable just to save a few bucks? Fine. But those bicycling backaches, wrist aches, knee aches and “other ailments” (you know what I’m talking about) can stick around long after your rides. So get the padded shorts, ventilated jersey, gloves and shoes. To be able to ride longer and have correct posture is well worth it, and ergonomic accessories can help prevent overuse injuries. (By the way, I’ve spent eons shopping for the right pair of bike shorts. The verdict? Sugoi shorts rock. They don’t bunch up in the you-know-where.)

As for the bike, yours should fit you proportionately with your seat at the right height. Gender-specific matters. And side handle add-ons or drop handlebars are great for giving your wrists a little variety.

2. You needn’t head for the hills.

Repeat after me: Gear-mashing is not the only way to get fit on your bike. Yes, you want to build muscle in order to get stronger and burn more fat, and you’ve been told that steady-state cycling won’t do much for you. But according to Bicycling Magazine’s Selene Yeager, “fast feet stave off fatigue.”

So rather than hammer your way uphill on the high gears—especially if you’re going for a long-distance ride rather than a quick strength-training workout—she recommends pedaling faster on a lower gear for better results. That’s called spinning, by the way, and let the sweat puddles in spin class be testimony to its effectiveness.

3. Get more than a leg workout.

Hey gladiator quads. Cycling can tap more muscle groups than you think. A pedaling technique I used last year while riding for 5 straight hours? Switch the muscles you’re using to power yourself. Give your quads and calves a rest by channeling your glutes, pulling instead of pushing as you pedal. It disengages your legs and draws energy from your butt through your hamstrings. Give it a try. You might not be able to walk the next day, but hey, it’s a glute workout.

You can also get an energy boost by engaging your core. In fact, holding yourself upright and strong on your bike is a serious core workout and means less work for your other muscles. I actually prefer to power with my glutes instead of my legs because it uses less energy. I also have a more even, elegant pedal stroke and can better hold my line.

4. Events are awesome.

Like Ryan says, there’s no reason to fear your first race. Events and competitions should not be intimidating. As for support, the people are friendly and the water, food and SAG wagons abound. Not only that, but the camaraderie and the goal are shockingly effective ways to jumpstart a sleepy cycling routine. [See 7 Easy Ways to Rekindle Your Workout Routine and 5 Cheap Alternatives to Hiring a Personal Trainer.]

Need more proof that all of this works? How ‘bout this: Little Red Riding Hood, which raises money and awareness for cancer research, caps at 3,000 riders. Each year, it sells out literally within days of registration opening. People flock from all over and camp out to do this ride.

Cycling events make awesome mini getaways and are a chance to meet new people and see new places. Sounds better than a weekend in Vegas, if you ask me (unless you’re there for Viva Bike Vegas).

A final word of warning

You will probably spend more on your cycling hobby than you intended. This is where upgrades blur into blatant splurges, and you might just choose to roll with it. For example, yesterday I stopped in at a bike shop for a $30 bike light. 30 minutes, 60 dollars and one baby-blue-eyed freckled salesperson later, I was the proud owner of two flashing-blinking-chargeable-by-iPhone bike lights. And I’ll probably still get run over.

But hey, sometimes the toys make the sport.

What are your tips for improving the cycling experience?

Related articles:

• 7 Deadly Sins of Race Training
• 6 Fitness Splurges Worth the Money
• Are You Being an Exercise Wuss?

How much should you increase your distance each week? When should you start the taper? What happens if you eat a burger right before the big race?

Clearly, there’s a lot to consider when training for your first athletic event. That’s why the chance that you’re committing at least one critical mistake is, well, high.

But worry not, fellow rookies. This week, conditioning coaches rallied at our U.S. News blog, On Fitness, to save us from our training demise. Read the article: 7 Rookie Mistakes to Avoid When Training for a Race

Not even sure that you want to endure miles of torture on the blacktop? Here’s an inspiring guest post about running that I’m pretty sure will change your mind.

Here’s to smart training, enjoying the outdoors, and crossing at least one finish line this summer.

More good reads:

• Races: A good way to trap yourself into achieving fitness goals
• Why There’s No Reason to Fear Your First Race
• Fact and Fiction of Running

With the lack of education available on exercise and health management to the general public, people often begin their new diet and exercise regimen with routines that focus on the cardiovascular system. There is nothing wrong with focusing on cardio as this form of exercise has many benefits, ranging from burning calories to stress reduction.

Cardio is definitely a form of exercise that more should perform, as long as it’s done correctly. Even though this type of exercise can be as simple as walking, jogging or light running, many people actually perform these exercises incorrectly, resulting in little progression and causing frustration in those attempting to lose weight.

In fact, the Sports Injury Clinic reports, “running injuries are very specific due to the repetitive nature of the sport. Injuries are caused either by the bodies own intrinsic factors or by extrinsic factors.”

The Sports Injury Clinic further states that the most common problem is feet that collapse and overpronate cause the leg to turn in and put pressure on the achilles tendon, shin, knee, hip and spine. There are several risks people need to be aware of, but few actually take time to be more informed.

Additional myths that circulate the web that more people should be aware of include:

• Myth: Stretch before you run.
• Fact: You can do an easier jog to warm up and then set your pace to warm up your muscles.

• Myth: Cool downs don’t matter.
• Fact: You can’t take your heart rate up to 60-80% of your maximal heart rate and just stop, sit and stretch. You need to jog slower or walk to keep moving until your heart rate gets below 100bpm safely.

• Myth: You should do cardio before eating breakfast to burn more calories.
• Fact: Your body burns carbohydrates, then fats and then proteins for energy. If you don’t have something to burn effectively, it can’t find the calories to burn and make you smaller. Eat a small snack to get your body started and for a boost of energy.

• Myth: Cardio builds enough muscle to not work legs.
• Fact: It is weight-bearing but not the same as strength training. Although many runners in this community continue to believe that strength training provides no benefits to runners, research has debunked this myth. Strength training improves your injury resistance and overall endurance.

Whether people are trying to lose weight through running, or attempting to maintain a healthy body weight, they need to focus and narrow down on fitness myths that can cause delays in their progression. It’s just a matter of equipping yourself with the right information that can separate you from being a running athlete or causing serious injury to your body.

By Jen Cassetty, M.S. of Exercise Science, NSCA CSCS and ACSM HFS certified

Related Posts

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Cardiovascular Health: Longer, Stronger, or Faster

Should I Be Doing Long Runs or Walks to Lose Weight?

Please note: This post is for the average person. Pros, trainers, ironmen and women, please move along; I need to have a private chat with my fellow moderate worker-outers. Thanks.

Ahem. OK. Now that Skyler and Ryan aren’t listening, I’m going to sanction a few things we never promote on this site. After all, Ask Fitness Coach is a fitness site dedicated to real people, and sometimes real people need a break from 5Ks and 60-mile rides.

And sometimes real people take vacations and spend a little too much time at the buffet.

I just returned from a week in Waikiki — that’s 7 whole days of mai tais and beach food, in case you’re doing the math. I’m happy to report that I did not board the plane home in a muumuu purchased from the airport gift shop. In fact, I lost weight. My legs and bum are more toned. Even my abs are tighter.

How?

Walking.

I walked non-stop in Honolulu. I walked for 3 or 4 hours every day, through the city, up and down the beach. Not with duty-free shopping bags on my arms and carry-on luggage strapped to my ankles. Just plain old walking. And I noticed a big difference.

True, it won’t catapult you to your ideal shape, but Mayo Clinic experts say walking is a solid way to boost your health and whittle your waistline. Mireille Guilano says it’s why French women stay slim. Even though they eat A LOT.

On every vacation there will be unavoidable buffets and fast-food burgers, but walking is an easy way to stay active (and who really wants to figure out foreign transit systems, anyway?). You don’t even have to tread for hours like I did; 10 minutes here and there will add up. According to the American Council on Exercise, a short midday walk and another after dinner will deliver noticeable results.

Celeb trainer Harley Pasternak says the average European walks 237 miles per year. The average American? 87 miles. So there you have it. Preventing vacation weight gain is as simple as channeling your inner European and hoofing it instead of hailing a cab.

I speak from experience: walk at least once a day, and not only will you come home slimmer, but you’ll have a fatter wallet from all the cash you saved skipping the bus.

Simple steps for extra calorie burn while you walk:

• Straighten up and engage your core muscles.
• Vary your intensity.
• Take the long route.
• Seek the path of most resistance. (If you happen to be visiting hilly San Francisco, or Pittsburgh — the only U.S. city with over 700 public stairways — you’re in luck!)

Related Posts:

6 Ways to Travel Healthier

Walking Barefoot Reaps Benefits, Too

How to Dine Out Guiltlessly

While running in sneakers usually causes your heel to strike the pavement first, barefoot running causes your mid- or fore-foot to land first, which Harvard researchers believe causes a less abrupt impact than landing heel first. A January study published in Nature found that heel-strikers have a higher risk of impact-related foot injuries like plantar fasciitis.

If you’d like to try barefoot running or stripped-down barefoot-like shoes, you’ll have to make a few adjustments to your normal workout routine to help you get used to running without the solid cushioning of a traditional running sneaker. Kepler recommends the following five tips.

Continue reading…

Related Posts:

Why There’s No Reason To Fear Your First Race

Is Running Worth the Risk of Injury?

Open Discussion: What Defines A Personal Record?

Pretty frustrating right?

The detour obviously killed any chance at a personal record.

Then I had the thought; is a race necessary to set a personal record? I think that most of us immediately associate a PR with an organized race, but why?

Does our ability to perform only count when somebody else is measuring the distance or keeping our time?

I realize that a race comes with some added components of difficulty like nerves, running in a big group, and unfamiliar routes, but aren’t those the exact reasons a PR shouldn’t be limited to an organized event?

3.1 Miles is 3.1 miles no matter where it’s run. The same goes for 10K, 13.1, 26.2, and ultra-marathons. In my ever so humble opinion a personal record should be just that, personal. If I set up a time trial, map out the route, have someone else time me, and run in ideal conditions when I feel great, can’t that be considered a personal record? I would think that I’d want my truly best time to be considered my personal best. Not just my best time within a set of circumstances created by someone else.

What are your thoughts? Is a personal record defined as a best time to run a certain distance, or as a best time to run a certain distance in a race?

In case you haven’t heard, the Ask Fitness Coach team has been nominated as the official fitness blogging team for the U.S. News blog On Fitness. Meet us over there once a week as we dig up little-known tips and surprising research to share with a news-seeking audience of, oh, 100,000-plus.

Do we tone it down a little for our mass audience over there? Yep.

Are we still dishing on the fat-blasting power of things like greek yogurt, omelet breakfasts and hoopilates? You bet.

So, if you’ve been dying to try cardio kick-boxing, hula-hooping, Zumba or pole fitness, you’ll love the latest post in our U.S. News blog: 4 Cardio Workouts That Are Creative and Fun.

Tell us: which do you think burns the most calories? And which are you brave enough to try?

More good reads:

• Chelsea survives a Zumba class
• Can you keep up with the Kardashian’s core workout?
• How celebs prepare for body battle