If I had a friend who wanted to know how glucose enters the body, and how they create energy from that glucose I'd make it very easy for them. I would explain that when they eat glucose (sugars), if their body is in need of ATP, for example if they are exercising, it will enter the glycolytic pathway. But if they don't need to make any more ATP, the body will store glycogen, the by product of gluconeogenesis , for later use. I would explain that glycogen is the branched form of glucose that gets stored in the muscles and liver. Once those glycogen stores are full the body takes the rest of the glucose and it gets stored as fast.
Later, when they need to create energy from that stored glucose they are four initial energy sources available to the muscle of the person exercising- the body first uses up its creatine phosphate stores in the first sixty seconds. Then, after that the body uses up the glucose from the glycogen of the muscles stores, which is initially consumed by anaerobic metabolism. Next the body uses the glucose from the liver, from both its glycogen stores and the gluconeogenesis from lactic acid produced in the muscle, again initially consumed by anaerobic metabolism. Time wise, their is about ten to thirty minutes worth of glycogen stored in the muscle cells. So glycogen loading can be a key component if the person is training for a marathon or something that involves high intensity training.
It is important to understand how glucose is stored and how energy is created in the body, especially when you are an athlete. I have learned so much about the body by taking this biochemistry course, not just in the term of biological molecules and how they are processed and used, but from how I can use this knowledge on a daily basis to make my life, and healthy, that much better.
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