If you want to get lean and add muscle, you HAVE to manage your blood sugar.
Improving health and getting leaner means less sugar and a decreased consumption of processed carbohydrates which over time will lead to improved insulin sensitivity. Improved insulin sensitivity and better management of blood sugars are essential for long-term health.
Insulin Resistance - What is it?
When someone is insulin-resistant, glucose cannot effectively enter into the cell; chronically elevated insulin levels create dysfunctional insulin receptor sites on the cell.
Because blood sugar is not adequately entering the cells, it stays in general circulation rather than being stored. As a result, the body must produce higher levels of insulin to remove glucose from the bloodstream, which causes even greater metabolic dysfunction.
Characteristic symptoms of insulin resistance include: fatigue after meals, craving for sweets that doesn’t go away when sweets are eaten, increased thirst and frequent urination.
Effects of Insulin
1. The more insulin you have the lower your testosterone levels
2. If you are overfat (males = + 20% body fat and females = + 28% body fat), you are likely converting increased amounts of testosterone into estrogen
3. It is more difficult to build skeletal muscle mass because calories consumed are more likely to be stored as adipose tissue rather than skeletal muscle mass
4. Insulin is the hormone of aging
5. All cause mortality increases by at least 50%
Practical Application
If you want to build muscle, you can run insulin during the anabolic window - which is roughly 3 hours post-training.
Who benefits from this?
Lean males: 10-20% body fat or lower
Lean females: 18-28% body fat or lower
Why?
These people have the ability to manage their blood sugars more effectively than their over-fat counterparts. As a result, they can benefit from adding THE OPTIMAL amount of carbohydrates into their post-workout nutrition to help build muscle. Insulin is the most anabolic hormone in the body and can be used to purposely gain muscle.
This concept is highly individualized and these are only general principles. To understand the full benefits on an individualized post workout strategy, click the link below to get started.