What is Carbohydrates? What is the role and importance of Carbs in muscle building?

Like proteins and fats carbohydrate or carbs is an energy providing macronutrient. In fact carbohydrates in the form of Glucose is your body's first choice of

energy production. Through a tricky but quick process known as Glycolysis your body metabolizes glucose into Pyruvate, during this process two units of the body's energy providing molecules known as ATP is generated. During physical activity your body repeatedly goes through this process up until 45 seconds to 3 minutes. Where the Glycolytic pathway begins to fatigue from then on you either need to rest or your body would tap into other fuel sources. All carbs are eventually metabolized into simple sugars Glucose with the exception of dietary fiber. 

Since the body is unable to break it down excess glucose in the body is stored in Form of Glycogen which is simply Glucose molecules chained together into branches. Unfortunately there's a limit to how much Glycogen can be stored, which caps at about 500 to 1200 grams. All other excess Glucose is then metabolized into fat. Maintaining blood Glucose levels is really important to ensure you have energy readily available. 

Whenever your body's low in carbs it breaks down Glycogen into glucose in a process known as Glycogenolysis or it metabolizes non carbs substances such as Lactate and Pyruvate into Glucose in a process known as Gluconeogenesis.

 At the point where your body depletes both Glucose in the bloodstream and all of its Glycogen stores the body begins to transition into a state known as Ketosis. In this state compounds known as Ketone bodies becomes a main source of energy. Touted for its fat burning attributes getting into the state of Ketosis has become popular. With low and no carb diet programs where this is safe or even more effective than Glucose is still debated to this day. But are all carbs created equal?

 A rising concern in today's world is the overconsumption to so-called bad carbs from processed foods such as fast food and children's cereal but the problem is not so much that these carbs are bad. In fact they're not really bad at all. They are just carbs in its simplest forms known as Monosaccharides and Disaccharides. Which are the same sugars found in fruits and dairy. In fact Glucose is a Monosaccharide and we all know how important Glucose is to our body. 

The problem with processed foods is that it contains too many of these Monosaccharides in a single serving. Since these cars are in its simplest form it's relatively easy to digest and to digest a lot in one meal which pushes your calorie intake up and as we discussed before the more calories you consume the more weight you gain. The so called good carbs that come from foods like oat meal or whole-wheat bread are simply considered good either because they contains dietary fiber which will make you feel fuller while consuming fewer calories or if they contain complex carbohydrates such as Polysaccharides which takes longer to digest. If moderation is taken into consideration having some of these bad carbs isn't going to do much harm. In fact they come very handy if you need a quick boost of energy. As far as how many carbs you consume, you should shoot for roughly 45 to 65% of your daily calories on a standard 2,000 calorie diet. That's roughly 225 to 325 grams per day.

 You're trying to get stronger? Consuming carbs before your workout may help with a few extra reps.

You're performing endurance activities? Carbs right after workout will help replenish glycogen levels.

 You're trying to lose weight? Eating fiber containing carbs and more protein will help bring the calories down. And if you're trying to keep the doctor away a delicious carb loaded Apple might come save your day.

Read also:
What is Protein?Explained.
How to build peak of your bicep?
How to increase width of you biceps?
How to lose fat?
7 must use supplements for bodybuilders.