Blood sugar and muscle growth: control it smartly

When it comes to muscle growth, blood sugar is one of those topics people often notice only once their energy starts swinging or fat begins piling up too fast during a mass phase. If you want to train harder and recover well, tracking your protein intake isn’t enough. Carbohydrates, insulin and blood sugar stability all work within the same system.

Why does blood sugar affect muscle growth?

All muscles are built in a similar way. Only the time it takes to build them varies. Monitoring your blood sugar is one way to save that time.

Let’s get straight to the point. If you asked which matters more for gaining mass, protein or carbohydrates, I’d choose protein. Protein is made of amino acids, and the body uses them to build new muscle tissue. Hard training causes microdamage in muscle cells. After a meal, the body uses amino acids to repair those cells. In plain language, you could call this building muscle.

But that doesn’t mean carbohydrates are a side detail. Quite the opposite. Carbohydrates help trigger the processes that carry amino acids into the muscles. Without enough carbohydrates, a protein-rich diet may fall flat when you’re trying to gain mass, because training energy and recovery signals aren’t at the same level.

A simple truth: muscle doesn’t grow just because you eat protein. It grows better when training, protein, carbohydrates and recovery move in the same rhythm.

Blood sugar, insulin and training energy

Carbohydrates are converted into glucose in the body. Glucose raises insulin levels. Insulin helps amino acids and glucose move into the muscles, where glucose is stored as muscle glycogen. Muscle glycogen is the fuel the body uses during a hard workout.

When glycogen is low, a workout quickly becomes heavy going. The end of a set comes sooner, the weights feel heavier and recovery drags on. When there’s enough glycogen, the body has more strength to do the work that gives the muscle its growth signal.

The catch is that blood sugar shouldn’t be constantly too low or too high. When glucose levels drop, the body may release more of the stress hormone cortisol. That’s not good news for someone trying to build mass. A diet with too few carbohydrates can therefore hold back muscle growth, especially when workouts are hard and frequent.

The other extreme is no better. If your food constantly contains a lot of fast-absorbing carbohydrates, insulin is released continuously. The body may start directing glucose into the muscles less effectively. This situation is often described as insulin resistance: there’s plenty of glucose, but the muscles don’t use it as well. Some of it goes into fat stores.

How can you bring blood sugar under control with food?

You need enough carbohydrates to make hard training possible. But “enough” is a broad concept. If you asked ten 90-kilo bodybuilders how many carbohydrates they need per day for a hard workout, the answers would probably be all over the place.

The original recommendation was about 6.5 grams per kilo of body weight. By that measure, a bodybuilder weighing 90 kilos needs about 600 grams of carbohydrates per day. This isn’t a mandatory number for everyone, but a starting point. If fat burning is going well and your weight is moving in the desired direction, you may eat more carbohydrates. If you’re gaining fat too fast during the mass phase, it’s worth reducing the amount.

The mirror, a training log and how you feel say a lot here. Are the weights going up? Are your belly and waist growing faster than your muscles? Do you get sleepy after meals, or does your energy stay steady? These signs help you figure out whether you’re getting the right amount of carbohydrates.

Choose slower carbohydrates

Favor carbohydrates that are as natural and minimally processed as possible. During a mass phase, oat flakes, brown rice and potatoes work well. They break down more slowly than many sweet or heavily processed foods. Glucose enters the blood more gradually, and the body doesn’t have to produce such sharp insulin responses.

Eat protein together with carbohydrates. Protein slows carbohydrate absorption and helps keep blood sugar more even. If you put on fat easily but still want to keep carbohydrates for muscle growth, add vegetables to every larger meal. Dietary fiber does the same thing: absorption becomes calmer.

Practical tips: keep your blood sugar under control

So what actually helps? Start simple. Don’t put all of the day’s carbohydrates into one or two giant portions. Spread them across your meals so that you have more energy around training, but the rest of the day doesn’t turn into constant snacking.

If your workout is in the evening, most of the starchy carbohydrates can fall around lunch and the post-workout meal. If you train in the morning, the body needs fuel earlier. The most important thing is to watch the pattern: after which meal do you have strength, and after which do you feel sluggish?

The original text also mentioned supplements used to stabilize blood sugar. American ginseng was highlighted there like this: one gram 40 minutes before eating may help keep blood glucose levels in check. The same text recommended taking a gram twice a day before two meals. You shouldn’t take such supplements blindly, especially if you use medication or have a health problem related to blood sugar.

The second plant mentioned was bitter melon (Momordica charantia). It was described as a plant that may affect how glucose moves into the muscles and how much insulin the body produces. For today’s reader, the most sensible conclusion here is a calm one: before reaching for a supplement, check the basics: food, training and sleep. If those are lagging, no capsule will work miracles.

FAQ: blood sugar and the bulking phase

Is a low-carbohydrate diet suitable for muscle building?

It suits some people in the short term, but if you’re doing heavy strength training and trying to gain mass, too few carbohydrates can mean poorer energy, less glycogen and weaker recovery.

Does more carbohydrate always mean more muscle?

No. If you eat more carbohydrates than your body uses for training and recovery, some of the energy can end up in fat stores. The amount has to suit your body weight, your training and your metabolism.

Which carbohydrates keep blood sugar more stable?

In practice, oat flakes, brown rice, potatoes and starchy foods eaten with vegetables all work well. They release energy more steadily than sugary drinks or sweets.

Translated from Body magazine; Author: Chris Aceto

Author: Greta

Source: WHO – physical activity.

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