PWO fuel

[thegymbum]

I know that during a high intensity (say, somewhere around 80%-85% max HR), the main fuel your muscles use is glucose. At rest, there's a bias for fatty acids to supply energy. I'm curious... what about RIGHT after a high intensity work out (like in the hour after the workout)? Anyone know if fats or glucose or a more balanced combo of the two is the main fuel for muscles? The reason I'm curious is that I've noticed that on days that I don't eat for at least an hour PWO, right when I finish my blood sugar is still normal, but then over the next hour or so, I have a huge dip into the hypoglycemic range. So I'm guessing that a lot of glucose is still burnt, although I can see that it could just be dropping due to muscle cells taking up extra glucose as a normal PWO response. Anyone know? (not that I have any real use for the answer, lol, just satisfying my curiosity).

[PowerChica]

I duno but I've heard your muscles absorb more glucose and amino acids right after u work out so it could be that they're soaking it up. How do u know your blood sugar is low?

[thegymbum]

PowerChica, that's a good point; I'm sure that that's a contributing factor to the drop. I'm curious though if it's that plus the actual utilization of carbs as fuel or just one of the two. It's interesting because even when I do really extensive cardio workouts (which I try to avoid, but in the past I'd go for hours, sometimes because I was training for a particular race, sometimes because I was insanely stupid :-p), my blood sugar never seems to drop during the work out- my thoughts are that the catecholamine levels are so high that my body is constantly mobilizing whatever fuel sources it can get ahold of. But it's that window afterwards. If I eat pretty much right away, I generally avoid it, as long as it's enough and carb-filled enough, but if for some reason I get held up or just choose to wait a while, it's almost inevitable that I become really hypoglycemic. Oh, and I "know" just because of the way it feels. I don't normally check my blood sugar or anything, unless I have an appointment or am playing around, lol, but have a really good sense of exactly what it feels like when it is low.