Research
Macro partitioning
Long-term carbohydrate manipulation (weeks to months) does not influence strength gains or hypertrophy in strength-trained individuals, provided total caloric and protein intake are adequate.
You do not need to eat a high-carbohydrate diet to build muscle or get strong. Focus on hitting your protein targets and maintaining a caloric surplus (if bulking) or deficit (if cutting). You can choose your carbohydrate intake based on preference, activity level, or metabolic health without sacrificing strength gains.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Longer-term changes in performance were not influenced by carbohydrate intake in 15 studies; one study favored the higher- and one the lower-carbohydrate condition.
Why this rating
Systematic review of 17 long-term studies, mostly showing no difference.
Source
The Effect of Carbohydrate Intake on Strength and Resistance Training Performance: A Systematic Review
Menno Henselmans et al. · Nutrients · 2022
DOI 10.3390/nu14040856
systematic_reviewCited 53×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- In strength-trained individuals, acute carbohydrate intake does not improve resistance training performance (repetitions to failure or total volume) when compared to a fed state with a 2-5 hour post-prandial window, provided the workout volume is moderate (≤10 sets per muscle group).Good
- High-volume resistance training (>10 sets per muscle group) performed in a fasted state may benefit from acute carbohydrate supplementation compared to fasting or non-caloric placebo, likely due to glycogen sparing effects.Moderate
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →