Carbohydrate Needs of an Athlete
EXS-428
This study that was published in 2019 took an already well-known topic and dove deeper
into an important and more realistic portion of the testing. It is common knowledge that adding
, 2
carbohydrates to an athlete’s system during exercise is beneficial to performance. These
researchers found that a majority of the studies that had been done on this topic had controlled
their subject’s intake by fasting them for a period of time before exercise(Learsi et al., 2019).
They hypothesized that there could be different results if this variable was isolated
independently. The researchers wanted to see if there was a performance difference between
subjects that entered the testing fasted and those who entered fed. They had found studies that
functioned similarly to the one they performed, but none of them accounted for some variables
that they wanted to control for(Learsi et al., 2019). This led them to designing this test to mimic
competition as closely as they could while testing their hypothesis that those who entered fasting
and received carbohydrates would perform higher than subjects who entered testing fed and
received carbohydrate, and those two trials would produce better results than trials with a
placebo instead of carbohydrate(Learsi et al., 2019).
The subjects were nine physically active males who were highly active on a bike. The
subjects performed four trials over 4 weeks with two sessions prior for measuring lactate
threshold and familiarization with the test(Learsi et al., 2019). Each time they performed a 105-
minute constant load exercise that was immediately followed with a ten-kilometer time trial. In
the two days leading up to the tests, all of the subject’s diet and exercise routines were
controlled(Learsi et al., 2019). The 4 tests were randomly taken by each subject and all of the
subjects performed the tests in each state. The states were fasted and given carbohydrate, fed and
given carbohydrate, fasted and given placebo, and fed and given placebo(Learsi et al., 2019).
Using data that they collected in the first two sessions, they tried to personalize the test as closely
as they could with balancing lactate threshold and intensity.
EXS-428
This study that was published in 2019 took an already well-known topic and dove deeper
into an important and more realistic portion of the testing. It is common knowledge that adding
, 2
carbohydrates to an athlete’s system during exercise is beneficial to performance. These
researchers found that a majority of the studies that had been done on this topic had controlled
their subject’s intake by fasting them for a period of time before exercise(Learsi et al., 2019).
They hypothesized that there could be different results if this variable was isolated
independently. The researchers wanted to see if there was a performance difference between
subjects that entered the testing fasted and those who entered fed. They had found studies that
functioned similarly to the one they performed, but none of them accounted for some variables
that they wanted to control for(Learsi et al., 2019). This led them to designing this test to mimic
competition as closely as they could while testing their hypothesis that those who entered fasting
and received carbohydrates would perform higher than subjects who entered testing fed and
received carbohydrate, and those two trials would produce better results than trials with a
placebo instead of carbohydrate(Learsi et al., 2019).
The subjects were nine physically active males who were highly active on a bike. The
subjects performed four trials over 4 weeks with two sessions prior for measuring lactate
threshold and familiarization with the test(Learsi et al., 2019). Each time they performed a 105-
minute constant load exercise that was immediately followed with a ten-kilometer time trial. In
the two days leading up to the tests, all of the subject’s diet and exercise routines were
controlled(Learsi et al., 2019). The 4 tests were randomly taken by each subject and all of the
subjects performed the tests in each state. The states were fasted and given carbohydrate, fed and
given carbohydrate, fasted and given placebo, and fed and given placebo(Learsi et al., 2019).
Using data that they collected in the first two sessions, they tried to personalize the test as closely
as they could with balancing lactate threshold and intensity.
