I have a question on intraworkout nutrition. It’s become a popular niche in the supplement world to recommend people who work out for long durations (60 or more minutes) to consume a beverage containing some combination of carbs and amino acids. I can see some theoretical reasons to do this but the only studies I’ve seen show a decline in Muscle Protein Breakdown rates in untrained individuals and that with training those same rates diminish later without the need for the beverage. I personally have seen my liver enzymes and CPK reduced in bloodwork when training consuming carbs vs just water. But…does that even matter? In theory I suppose the benefit is less Muscle breakdown leads to better recovery which leads to better adaptation, but does that actually prove out anywhere? Interested in your take on the matter. Thank you!
I don’t think there’s good evidence to support that eating during a workout <3+ hours has objective benefits in performance. Additionally, I don’t think CPK or liver enzymes are good proxies to track when it comes to a training or recovery intervention. I think they fluctuate wildly without reliable correlation to performance.