Okay, but what type of carbs should the athlete be eating? The reason carbs have a bad reputation is because there are lots of low-quality sources out there, in the form of junk foods and other convenience foods that don’t offer any real nutrition – people fill up on them and pack on the pounds, but are still starving for nutrients. Over consumption of simple sugars (mono and disaccharides), like those found in candy and soda, has also been linked to the onset of type 2 diabetes and obesity. These types of carbs have a high glycemic index, which means they cause your blood sugar to rise rapidly and then eventually crash. The exception to the rule is the simple sugar found in fruits. Because fruits contain fiber, vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants and other goodies, they generally prevent the sugars from being absorbed so rapidly in your system, so you don’t get that crash.

Shaun McDaniel doesn’t eat on his half-hour lunch break. Instead, he spends his time in the basement of the New York thrift store where he works, doing as many push-ups as he can before break-time is over. Unable to afford a gym, it’s also in this dingy, unfinished concrete basement that he trains after work. Shaun slides his feet under clothing racks to do sit-ups. The exposed pipes and staircase become pull-up bars. The fifty-pound boxes of secondhand clothing serve as weights. It’s all part of the training regime Shaun has created for himself with one goal in mind – to get into the Guinness Book of World’s Records.