Carbs Are Making a Comeback: Why Performance Nutrition Is Moving Beyond High-Protein Everything
Carbs Are Making a Comeback: Why Performance Nutrition Is Moving Beyond High-Protein Everything
For the last decade, one nutrient has dominated fitness nutrition: protein.
High-protein breakfasts. Protein shakes. Protein bars. Protein yoghurt. Protein cereal. Even foods that were never traditionally associated with protein suddenly have “HIGH PROTEIN” written across the packaging.
And to be fair, there is a good reason for the obsession. Protein plays an essential role in supporting muscle growth, maintenance and recovery.
But somewhere along the way, another major performance nutrient started getting pushed into the background:
In 2026, the conversation is beginning to shift. Rather than asking how to remove carbohydrates from a diet, more athletes and everyday gym-goers are asking a different question:
How can I actually use carbs to improve my training?
From pre-workout meals and glycogen availability to intra-workout carbohydrate powders and post-training recovery, carbs are finding their way back into performance nutrition.
And no, that doesn't mean protein suddenly doesn't matter.
It means we're finally moving towards a more complete picture.
Why Did Carbs Become the Enemy?
Carbohydrates have had an interesting reputation in fitness.
For years, low-carb and ketogenic diets became enormously popular, particularly within weight-loss circles. At the same time, protein continued to gain attention because of its relationship with muscle growth and satiety.
Eventually, many people started thinking:
Protein = good. Carbs = bad.
But nutrition isn't that simple.
Carbohydrates aren't inherently fattening, just as eating protein doesn't automatically make someone lean.
Changes in body weight ultimately depend heavily on overall energy intake and expenditure over time.
For someone who trains regularly, carbohydrates can also serve an extremely useful purpose:
Fuel.
What Happens to Carbs After You Eat Them?
When you consume carbohydrate-containing foods, digestible carbohydrates are largely broken down into glucose.
That glucose can then be used for energy.
Some glucose is also stored as glycogen, primarily within skeletal muscle and the liver.
Think of muscle glycogen as part of your body's readily accessible fuel supply for training.
When exercise intensity increases, carbohydrate utilisation generally becomes increasingly important.
That makes carbohydrates particularly relevant for activities involving repeated high-intensity efforts, including:
- Resistance training
- Running
- Cycling
- HYROX-style training
- CrossFit
- Team sports
- Combat sports
- High-intensity interval training
So while someone sitting at a desk and someone completing a two-hour training session both need good nutrition, their carbohydrate requirements may look very different.
Glycogen: The Word More Gym-Goers Should Know
If protein has muscle protein synthesis, carbohydrates have glycogen.
Muscle glycogen is carbohydrate stored inside your muscles.
During training, particularly moderate-to-high-intensity exercise, those glycogen stores can contribute fuel for muscular work.
As training becomes longer, harder or more frequent, managing carbohydrate availability can become increasingly relevant.
This doesn't mean you need to consume enormous quantities of carbohydrates before every gym session.
A recreational lifter training for 45 minutes has very different requirements from an endurance athlete training for three hours.
But it does explain why aggressively restricting carbohydrates while simultaneously trying to maximise high-intensity training performance can sometimes be counterproductive.
Protein Builds. Carbs Fuel.
One of the biggest mistakes in modern fitness nutrition is treating protein and carbohydrates like competitors.
They're not.
They perform different roles.
A simplified way to think about it is:
Protein → provides amino acids that support muscle repair, growth and maintenance.
Carbohydrates → provide an important fuel source for training and help replenish glycogen.
You don't have to choose one.
For many active people, an effective performance diet contains both.
That chicken and rice bodybuilding meal suddenly makes a little more sense.
Should You Eat Carbs Before Training?
This is where carbohydrates become particularly practical.
Eating carbohydrates before training can help ensure carbohydrate availability for the session, particularly when training is demanding or prolonged.
Common pre-workout carbohydrate sources might include:
Rice, oats, fruit, bread, cereal, potatoes or a carbohydrate-based sports product.
The amount and timing depend heavily on the individual.
Eating an enormous meal ten minutes before squatting probably isn't going to feel fantastic.
Instead, a larger meal may work better a few hours before training, while something smaller and easier to digest can be used closer to the session.
The goal isn't to follow a magical “anabolic window.”
It's simply to arrive at training adequately fuelled.
What About Carbs During Training?
For most people completing a normal gym workout, water and an appropriate pre-training meal may be perfectly adequate.
But the situation changes as exercise becomes longer, more demanding or more endurance-focused.
This is why carbohydrate-based intra-workout products have been used in endurance and sports nutrition for years.
Ingredients such as:
- Dextrose
- Maltodextrin
- Highly branched cyclic dextrin
- Other rapidly available carbohydrate blends
can provide carbohydrates during exercise without requiring someone to stop halfway through training and eat a bowl of rice.
For someone completing long endurance sessions, tournaments, high-volume training or hybrid events, this convenience can become valuable.
For someone doing a relaxed 40-minute arms workout?
Probably less necessary.
The Rise of the Hybrid Athlete Changes Everything
One reason carbohydrates are becoming more relevant again is that the definition of “fitness” is changing.
A growing number of people don't want to be exclusively strong or exclusively good at cardio.
They want both.
They might lift weights four days per week while running twice.
They might train for a HYROX-style event while still trying to build muscle.
They might combine strength training, cycling, running and conditioning throughout the week.
These hybrid-style training routines can create significant energy demands.
And when training volume rises, fuelling becomes increasingly important.
Suddenly, carbohydrates aren't something to fear.
They're something to strategically use.
Electrolytes + Carbs: Why You'll Often See Them Together
Take a look at endurance nutrition and you'll frequently see carbohydrates combined with electrolytes.
There's a reason.
When you sweat, you lose water and electrolytes, particularly sodium.
Long-duration exercise can therefore create multiple nutritional demands at once:
Fluid + electrolytes + energy.
That's why some sports drinks and intra-workout formulas combine carbohydrates with electrolytes.
Instead of thinking:
“Should I take electrolytes OR carbs?”
The better question is:
“What does this particular training session require?”
A short strength session may require neither during training.
A long run on a hot Australian summer day is a completely different situation.
Do You Need Carbs After Training?
Post-workout nutrition has traditionally been dominated by protein shakes.
And protein absolutely remains important.
But carbohydrates can matter too, particularly when glycogen replenishment is a priority.
After exercise, consuming carbohydrates helps replenish glycogen that has been used during training.
How urgently that needs to happen depends on your schedule.
If you train once per day and have plenty of time before your next session, simply eating normal carbohydrate-containing meals throughout the day may be enough.
But athletes completing multiple sessions within a short recovery window may need to pay closer attention to post-training carbohydrate intake.
Again, context matters.
But Don't Carbs Make You Gain Fat?
This is probably the biggest misconception surrounding carbohydrates.
Eating carbohydrates does not automatically mean gaining body fat.
Body-fat gain occurs when energy intake consistently exceeds energy expenditure over time.
Carbohydrates contain approximately 4 calories per gram, the same approximate energy value per gram as protein.
Fat contains approximately 9 calories per gram.
That doesn't make dietary fat “bad” either.
All three macronutrients have roles within a balanced diet.
The real issue is overall dietary intake, food quality, activity level and individual goals.
Carbs Can Also Make the Scale Move — Without Meaning Fat Gain
This is worth understanding.
When carbohydrate intake increases, glycogen storage can increase.
Glycogen is stored alongside water.
As a result, someone increasing carbohydrates after eating relatively low-carb may notice their body weight rise fairly quickly.
That doesn't necessarily mean they suddenly gained a large amount of body fat.
Some of that change can reflect increased glycogen and associated water storage.
It's another example of why judging nutrition entirely by tomorrow morning's scale weight can be misleading.
Are Carb Supplements Necessary?
No.
Just like protein powder isn't mandatory for consuming protein, carbohydrate powders aren't mandatory for consuming carbohydrates.
Whole foods should generally provide the foundation.
Rice, oats, potatoes, pasta, bread, fruit and other carbohydrate-rich foods can easily contribute to daily intake.
But supplements provide something whole foods sometimes can't:
Convenience.
Drinking a carbohydrate-electrolyte formula during a long training session can be much easier than trying to eat solid food.
Likewise, athletes with very high energy requirements may find carbohydrate powders useful for reaching their nutritional targets without constantly eating huge meals.
Use them because they solve a problem — not simply because they're supplements.
What About People Trying to Lose Fat?
Carbohydrates don't need to disappear during a fat-loss phase.
A calorie deficit remains the primary nutritional requirement for losing body weight over time.
Protein is particularly important during this period because adequate protein alongside resistance training can help support the maintenance of lean mass.
But carbohydrates can still be strategically placed around training.
For example, someone might prioritise some of their daily carbohydrate intake before and after exercise to help support training performance while remaining within their overall calorie target.
Fat loss doesn't necessarily require:
Zero bread. Zero rice. Zero fruit. Zero carbs.
It requires an appropriate overall nutrition strategy.
The Bigger Shift in Performance Nutrition
The return of carbohydrates represents something bigger happening in fitness.
We're gradually moving away from thinking:
“Which nutrient is best?”
and towards asking:
“What does my body need for what I'm asking it to do?”
Want to support muscle growth and maintenance?
Protein matters.
Performing long or demanding training?
Carbohydrate availability may matter.
Sweating heavily?
Fluids and electrolytes become important.
Trying to recover between sessions?
Sleep, calories, protein, carbohydrates and hydration all enter the equation.
There isn't one macronutrient that wins.
The Bottom Line
Protein isn't going anywhere in 2026 and it shouldn't.
It's fundamental to muscle growth, repair and maintenance.
But the era of treating high protein as the entire performance-nutrition strategy is beginning to look outdated.
Carbohydrates provide fuel for training, contribute to muscle glycogen stores and can become particularly important as training intensity, duration and frequency increase.
That doesn't mean everyone needs to start loading up on carbohydrate powders.
It means athletes and gym-goers can stop viewing carbs as something they automatically need to avoid.
At SUPPS247, you'll find protein, carbohydrate, electrolyte, creatine and performance-nutrition products designed to help you build a nutrition strategy around the way you actually train.
Because the question isn't:
Protein or carbs?
It's:
Are you giving your body what it needs to perform?
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