Fatigue is your body's way of adapting to a fitness regimen and making you aware that you have reached your limit. So while you can’t completely avoid exercise fatigue, the following healthy lifestyle changes and tips can help keep you from hitting a wall in your workout.
1. Eat a well-balanced diet.
Your daily food intake should include complete proteins (such as meat, eggs and milk, or quinoa, chia seeds and soy if you follow a plant-based diet), fruits, vegetables and carbohydrates. The amount of carbohydrates you eat should be about 40-60% of your caloric intake for aerobic athletes and 30-35% for anaerobic (nonaerobic) athletes. This will maintain your muscles’ glycogen levels, which are depleted during exercise. Protein consumption should account for about 20-30% of your caloric intake and healthy fats should make up the remaining 10-15%.
2. Time your food intake to your exercise.
Eat a light meal or snack about two hours before working out. Try to avoid working out on a full stomach or an empty stomach. Also make sure to eat within one hour after your workout. This meal should be high in protein as it will aid muscle recovery and help your muscles repair from the stresses that exercise places on them.
3. Drink more water.
Drinking water throughout the day and during exercise is crucial to prevent dehydration and muscle fatigue. Try to drink 10 to 12 8-oz glasses of water daily and 7 to 10 ounces of water every 10 to 20 minutes while exercising. This will replace the water that is lost due to sweating.
4. Improve your aerobic capacity.
As your respiratory muscles begin to fatigue, oxygen is redirected from your limbs to your diaphragm. One way to improve your endurance is to gradually increase your aerobic capacity with interval training. You can also increase aerobic capacity by changing things up from time to time and incorporating different types of exercise. Say you’re a runner who hits the pavement four to five times a week. Instead, think about swapping out one or two of your runs for a bike ride or a swim.
Cross training, or mixing both aerobic and strength-based workouts, is another option that has been shown to be beneficial in improving aerobic capacity. Whatever method you choose, as your endurance increases, the added boost of oxygen in your blood will keep your muscles working for longer periods of time and prevent lactic acid buildup.
5. Use correct form.
Pay attention to muscle imbalances and incorrect movement patterns. The right strength and flexibility will help you achieve correct form during exercise. If you can’t perform an exercise with proper form, you should either decrease your weight or modify the exercise. Improper body mechanics decreases efficiency and burns more energy than necessary. Use a mirror to help provide visual feedback. This allows you to see if you are using correct form as well as highlights where adjustments in technique need to be made.
6. Rest and recover.
Complete a warm-up and cool down for 5 to 10 minutes each time you exercise. Start off slowly and steadily increase the intensity of your workouts so that your muscles are gradually challenged and can build over time. A dynamic warm-up, such as foam rolling, dynamic stretching and mobility exercises, is a great way to get the body primed and ready to move.
Allow adequate rest between workout sessions and strength repetitions. Make sure the rest break is enough to catch your breath between exercise sets. Listen to your body; fatigue is a sign that recovery has not taken place yet. If that is the case, then perform active recovery, which means participating in low-impact, low-intensity exercise such as walking, light swimming or yoga. Do not return to higher-intensity exercise until you feel fully recovered and recharged.
Lastly, the most important thing for recovery is sleep. Make sure that you are getting plenty of rest and allowing your body to repair after working out.
Definition
A carbohydrate-loading diet, also called a carb-loading diet, is a strategy to improve your athletic performance for endurance events by increasing the amount of fuel stored in your muscles.
Carbohydrate loading occurs when you eat a high-carbohydrate "training diet" at the same time that you scale back your activity level in the days before an event.
Purpose
Any physical activity requires carbohydrates for fuel. For most recreational activity, your body uses its existing energy stores for fuel.
But when you engage in long, intense athletic events, your body needs extra energy to keep going. The purpose of carbohydrate loading is to give you the energy you need to complete an endurance event with less fatigue, improving your athletic performance.
Carbohydrate loading may be most beneficial if you're an endurance athlete — such as a marathon runner, swimmer, cyclist or all three — preparing for an event that will last 90 minutes or more. Other athletes generally don't need carbohydrate loading. It's usually enough to get about half of your calories from carbohydrates.
Diet details
The role of carbohydrates
Carbohydrates, also known as starches and sugars, are your body's main energy source. Complex carbohydrates include legumes, grains and starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, peas and corn. Simple carbohydrates are found mainly in fruits and milk, as well as in foods made with sugar, such as candy and other sweets.
During digestion, your body breaks down carbohydrates into sugar. The sugar enters your bloodstream, where it's then transferred to individual cells to provide energy. Sugar is stored in your liver and muscles as glycogen — your energy source.
Increase your energy storage
Your muscles normally store only small amounts of glycogen — enough to support you during recreational exercise activities. If you exercise intensely for more than 90 minutes, your muscles may run out of glycogen. At that point, fatigue might set in, and your performance may suffer.
But with carbohydrate loading, you may be able to store more energy in your muscles. This may give you the stamina to make it through longer endurance events. But, you'll still need to consume some energy sources during your event.
Carbohydrate loading
Carbohydrate loading is done the week before a high-endurance activity. One to three days before the event, increase your carbohydrate intake to about 8 to 12 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight. Cut back on foods higher in fat to compensate for the extra carbohydrate-rich foods.
Also scale back your training for three to four days before the event. The combination of eating more carbohydrates and tapering activity appear to boost muscle glycogen stores.
How many carbs you need depends on your total calorie goal as well as your sport. For most athletes, 5 to 7 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight daily is right for general training. (Note that 1 kilogram equals 2.2 pounds.) Endurance athletes may need up to 12 grams per kilogram.
Sample carbohydrate-loading meal plan
Here's a sample carbohydrate-loading meal plan for an athlete who weighs 170 pounds (77 kilograms). It's based on 4.5 grams of carbohydrates for each pound (10 grams per kilogram) of body weight.
You can tweak this sample carbohydrate-loading meal plan to suit your own tastes and nutritional needs.
| Breakfast | ||
| Milk, fat-free (12 ounces) | 18 | 125 |
| 1 plain bagel (4.2 ounces) | 52 | 260 |
| Peanut butter, smooth (2 tablespoons) | 7 | 191 |
| Honey (2 tablespoons) | 35 | 128 |
| Banana (1 medium) | 27 | 105 |
| Morning snack | ||
| Crunchy raisin and almond cereal (1 cup) | 74 | 360 |
| Grape juice (12 ounces) | 55 | 225 |
| Lunch | ||
| Milk, chocolate, reduced fat (12 ounces) | 46 | 285 |
| 4 slices white bread (1 ounce per slice) | 49 | 266 |
| Chicken breast, roasted without skin (4 ounces or 1/2 breast) | 0 | 187 |
| Romaine lettuce, shredded (1/4 cup) | 0.5 | 2 |
| Red tomato slices (1/2 cup) | 2 | 11 |
| Mayonnaise, light (2 tablespoons) | 3 | 71 |
| Tortilla chips, low-fat, baked (1 ounce) | 23 | 118 |
| Baby carrots (12) | 10 | 42 |
| Afternoon snack | ||
| Low-fat fruit yogurt (8 ounces) | 47 | 250 |
| Low-fat fruit granola (1/2 cup) | 33 | 157 |
| Blueberries (1 cup) | 21 | 83 |
| Cranberry juice, unsweetened (12 ounces) | 42 | 156 |
| Dinner | ||
| Wild Atlantic salmon, baked (3 ounces) | 0 | 155 |
| Dinner roll, whole wheat (2 rolls, 1 ounce each) | 29 | 151 |
| Milk, fat-free (12 ounces) | 18 | 125 |
| Salad, combine: -Romaine lettuce, shredded (2 cups) | 3 | 16 |
| -Bell or sweet green pepper (1/4 cup) | 2 | 7 |
| -Green apple, chopped (1 medium) | 25 | 95 |
| -Dried cranberries (1/3 cup) | 33 | 130 |
| -English walnuts, chopped (1/4 cup) | 4 | 191 |
| -Asiago cheese, shredded (1 ounce) | 1 | 134 |
| -Reduced-fat Ranch salad dressing (2 tablespoons) | 6 | 55 |
| Evening snack | ||
| Strawberries (1 cup) | 11 | 46 |
| Sherbet, any flavor (1 1/2 cups) | 78 | 416 |
| Total | 754.5 | 4,543 |
Source: Nutritionist Pro, 2018
Results
Carbohydrate loading may give you more energy during an endurance event. You may feel less fatigued and see an improvement in your performance after carbohydrate loading. But carbohydrate loading isn't effective for everyone.
Other factors can influence your athletic performance or interfere with the effectiveness of your carbohydrate-loading strategy, including how fit you are, how well you hydrate and how intensely you exercise. Even with carbohydrate loading, you still may feel muscle fatigue.
For men, a carbohydrate-loading diet can increase the levels of glycogen stored in the muscles as much as 100 percent of your normal amount. Women may need to consume more calories than usual during carbohydrate loading to get the same benefits as men do.
Despite carbohydrate loading, you still need to replenish your body's energy during endurance events to maintain your blood sugar levels. You can do this by periodically consuming sports drinks, gels, or bars, fruit, or hard or chewy candies during your event at the rate of 30 to 60 grams every hour or two. And don't forget to eat carbohydrate-rich foods after your endurance event, too, to replenish your glycogen stores.
Risks
Carbohydrate loading isn't right for every endurance athlete. It's a good idea to consult your doctor or a registered dietitian before you start carbohydrate loading, especially if you have diabetes. You may also need to experiment with different amounts of carbohydrates to find what works best for you.
A carbohydrate-loading diet can cause some discomfort or side effects, such as:
- Digestive discomfort. You may need to avoid or limit some high-fiber foods one or two days before your event. Beans, bran and broccoli can cause gassy cramps, bloating and loose stools.
- Blood sugar changes. Carbohydrate loading can affect your blood sugar levels. If you have diabetes, monitor your blood sugar during training or practices to see what works best for you. And talk to your dietitian or doctor to make sure your meal plan is safe for you.
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Jan. 05, 2021
- Basics of carbohydrate loading for sports performance. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. //www.eatright.org/fitness/sports-and-performance/fueling-your-workout/basics-of-carbohydrate-loading-for-sports-performance. Accessed July 5, 2018.
- Kerksick CM, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Nutrient timing. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2017;14:33.
- Thomas TD, et al. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and athletic performance. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016;116:501.
- Duyff RL. Eat smart for sports. In: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. 5th ed. New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2017.
- Kenney WL, et al. Body composition and nutrition for sport. In: Physiology of Sport and Exercise. 6th ed. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics; 2015.
- Nutritionist Pro diet analysis (computer program). Stafford, Texas: Axxya Systems; 2008. //nexgen1.nutritionistpro.com/shop/product-detail/nutritionist-pro-diet-analysis-software-13. Accessed Sept. 27, 2018.
- Deldique L, et al. Recommendations for healthy nutrition in female endurance runners: An update. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2015;2:17.
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