Is it better to take Protein or Carbohydrates depending on your goals?

Isabel del Barrio 8 min. of reading Proteins Leave a comment

When it comes to starting with supplementation as an ergogenic aid to maximise our performance with training, one of the most frequent doubts is: What should I take: Protein or Carbohydrates?

A priori, in our daily nutrition, these 2 essential macronutrients should be present in all our meals, although we can make certain adjustments depending on the objective we are pursuing with our training:

Body recomposition;
Increased muscle mass;
Performance in endurance sports;
Maintaining muscle mass during periods of injury; etc.

Index

1 Key differences between Protein Powder vs Carbohydrates
2 Role of carbohydrates
3 Protein function
4 Which one is best for your goals?
5 Can proteins be mixed with carbohydrates?
6 Benefits of taking protein and carbohydrates together

Key differences between Protein Powder vs Carbohydrates

The role of proteins, of proven and contrasted evidence, is fundamental in those moments of the season in which the athlete trains maximum strength, within the preparatory mesocycle, and later in cycles in which the intensity and duration of the sessions increase.

In addition to the protein that should be ingested naturally in daily nutrition through food, an extra intake at specific moments that involve significant muscular effort in the athlete would be indicated to minimise the effects of physical exercise itself.

Markers such as muscle damage and inflammation are altered with training, with higher levels in the days following training (either strength or cardiovascular).

Generally speaking, an athlete’s dietary protein needs should be established first and then carbohydrates and fats should be added according to the total calorie requirement.

Role of carbohydrates

They are the basic source of energy for all the tissues of our body. It is therefore important to replenish it after long duration or high-intensity exercise.

They are not an essential nutrient because the body can catalyse the carbon structures of certain amino acids and convert them into glucose (gluconeogenesis).

Muscle glycogen (a complex CHO that is like an energy store that is easily and quickly accessed by our cells) is the main source of energy in the initial phases of exercise, i.e. at the beginning (first 10-20 minutes) of the activity there is a peak or increase in the rate of HCO utilisation.

When is muscle glycogen depleted?

It will depend on the athlete’s initial and nutritional status. On the other hand, glycogen depletion occurs when the body requires the glycolytic pathway as the main metabolic pathway during prolonged and intense exercise.

This is why HCO supplementation is necessary during training/tests of more than 60 minutes duration at moderate-high to high intensities.

In activities that last up to 2-3 hours trying to maintain a demanding intensity, energy comes from aerobic glycolysis, together with fatty acids, reaching a point where muscle glycogen stores are depleted; blood glucose becomes a main substrate in these conditions of HC metabolism.

This is the fundamental reason why nutritional strategies and nutritional planning must be incorporated to avoid hypoglycaemic and fatigue states as well.

Protein function

All body tissues are made up of protein, hence it is a macro nutrient and its intake is necessary. They are the main functional and structural component of all cells in the body.

Dietary proteins are used for development, growth and to generate and repair cells. They also serve as enzymes, transporters and hormones.

Proteins in turn are made up of amino acids (some can be produced by the body itself, but others must be ingested as the body is not capable of producing them; these are the non-essential and essential ones respectively).

Protein quality is determined by amino acid content and protein digestibility. Thus, the higher-quality proteins are highly digestible and contain all essential amino acids.

The combination of strength training and protein intake, in the form of amino acids and/or protein consumed after exercise, produces a synergistic stimulation of the protein synthesis process and its anti-catabolic effect.

(Biolo et al. 1997).

High post-exercise protein intake:

reduces protein breakdown during endurance exercise.
reduces muscle fatigue and attenuates the limiting factor of exercise itself.

Post-exercise intakes are recommended in the next 24-72 hours; at 3 hours post-exercise peak protein synthesis occurs, optimising adaptations.

Therefore, a recommended strategy is small protein intakes every 3-4 hours in the 24-72 hour period.

Which one is best for your goals?

Now that we know what they are and the key functions of these two macronutrients, let’s look at how we can adjust/increase or reduce the intake of one of them depending on our goal.

	Proteins	Carbohydrates
Lose fat
Increase muscle mass
Build endurance

How much protein and carbohydrates should be consumed?

Objective	Proteins	Carbohydrates
Performance and Recovery for Strength	1.4-1.7 grams/kg body weight/day	5-6 grams/kg body weight/day
Performance and Recovery for Aerobic Endurance	1-1.6 grams/kg body weight/day	8-10 grams/kg body weight/day

Can proteins be mixed with carbohydrates?

This is recommended in most cases.

Especially in post-workout intakes to maximise the benefits of both and to aid better assimilation of training and recovery.

Evorecovery by SportSeries

Some studies show that adding carbohydrates to protein after training reduces muscle breakdown, reduces the intensity of possible stiffness and increases muscle protein synthesis.