ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2018
Fuel for the Work Required: A Theoretical Framework for Carbohydrate Periodization and the Glycogen Threshold Hypothesis.
Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 110 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Digital Approaches to Improve Carbohydrate Periodisation Behaviour in Athletes Using a Pilot Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomised Trial Design.
Investigating the Combined Effect of Acute Energy Deficit and Aerobic Exercise Training on Muscle Quality in Healthy Adult Males
Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 215 citations in OpenAlex.
- Responses to Exercise with Low Carbohydrate Availability on Muscle Glycogen and Cell Signaling: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of a Low-Carbohydrate High-Fat Diet Combined with High-Intensity Interval Training on Body Composition and Maximal Oxygen Uptake: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Performance effects of periodized carbohydrate restriction in endurance trained athletes - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of environmental hypoxia on substrate utilisation during exercise: a meta-analysis.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2019Pooled it
- Skeletal Muscle Glycogen Content at Rest and During Endurance Exercise in Humans: A Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2018Pooled it
- Effects of exercise followed by a low-carbohydrate diet on peak fat oxidation and mitochondrial coupling control and efficiency in healthy trained men.The Journal of physiology · 2026Trial
- Low Carbohydrate Availability in Energy Balance Alters Bone Turnover and Muscle Proteomic Response With Limited Endocrine Disruption.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2026Trial
- Low-Versus High-Carbohydrate Isocaloric Diets on Continuous Glucose Monitoring Metrics in Healthy Trained Cyclists: A Randomized Crossover Trial.European journal of sport science · 2026Trial
- Carbohydrate restriction drives greater perturbations in circulating metabolites than low energy availability in elite male athletes.Physiological reports · 2026Trial
- Isolating the effects of carbohydrate and lipid availability on exercise-induced skeletal muscle signalling in males.The Journal of physiology · 2026Trial
- Glycaemic Impact of Low- and High-Glycaemic Index Carbohydrate Diets in Ultra-Endurance Athletes: Insights From Continuous Glucose Monitoring.European journal of sport science · 2025Trial
- Divergent Changes in Peak Fat Oxidation and FatScandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2025Trial
- Acute effects of intra-training carbohydrate ingestion in CrossFit® trained adults: a randomized, triple-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial.European journal of applied physiology · 2025Trial
- Evaluating the evening carbohydrate dilemma: the effect of within-the-day carbohydrate periodization on body composition and physical fitness.European journal of nutrition · 2024Trial
- Gut Microbial Stability is Associated with Greater Endurance Performance in Athletes Undertaking Dietary Periodization.mSystems · 2022Trial
- Divergent serum metabolomic, skeletal muscle signaling, transcriptomic, and performance adaptations to fasted versus whey protein-fed sprint interval training.American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism · 2021Trial
- Initiating aerobic exercise with low glycogen content reduces markers of myogenesis but not mTORC1 signaling.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Carbohydrate restriction following strenuous glycogen-depleting exercise does not potentiate the acute molecular response associated with mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle.European journal of applied physiology · 2021Trial
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Deliberately training with reduced carbohydrate (CHO) availability to enhance endurance-training-induced metabolic adaptations of skeletal muscle (i.e. the 'train low, compete high' paradigm) is a hot topic within sport nutrition. Train-low studies involve periodically training (e.g., 30-50% of training sessions) with reduced CHO availability, where train-low models include twice per day training, fasted training, post-exercise CHO restriction and 'sleep low, train low'. When compared with high CHO availability, data suggest that augmented cell signalling (73% of 11 studies), gene expression (75% of 12 studies) and training-induced increases in oxidative enzyme activity/protein content (78% of 9 studies) associated with 'train low' are especially apparent when training sessions are commenced within a specific range of muscle glycogen concentrations. Nonetheless, such muscle adaptations do not always translate to improved exercise performance (e.g. 37 and 63% of 11 studies show improvements or no change, respectively). Herein, we present our rationale for the glycogen threshold hypothesis, a window of muscle glycogen concentrations that simultaneously permits completion of required training workloads and activation of the molecular machinery regulating training adaptations. We also present the 'fuel for the work required' paradigm (representative of an amalgamation of train-low models) whereby CHO availability is adjusted in accordance with the demands of the upcoming training session(s). In order to strategically implement train-low sessions, our challenge now is to quantify the glycogen cost of habitual training sessions (so as to inform the attainment of any potential threshold) and ensure absolute training intensity is not compromised, while also creating a metabolic milieu conducive to facilitating the endurance phenotype.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.