How to keep you body happy during your workout and see results after...
Most novice gym goers do not nutritionally prepare their bodies for a workout. Nor do they supply their muscles with the nutrients to rebuild and recover once its all over. Without sound Exercise Nutrition your progress in the gym will be limited. Imagine brushing a blank wall without any paint in your bucket... You've definitely put in the hard work but accomplished nothing! This is exactly what is happening when you don't feed your body properly.
What do your muscles want before a workout?
Your muscles want fuel to go! While most of us have Days worth of energy stored in our midsections, this source of fuel isn't tapped until later in the workout. To begin, your body needs readily available energy from your blood system. The best sources to meet this need should come in the form of easy to digest carbohydrates (breakfast bar, fruit, juice, ect...) Before you come to the gym you should plan a small meal (100-200 calories) consisting mainly of carbs. To avoid stomach cramping you should eat this meal 60-75 minutes before your workout. This will also allow your body the perfect amount of time to digest the carbohydrates, transfer them into the blood and circulate them around the body to be used to start-up the muscles.
What do your muscles want during the workout?
Your muscles still need fuel. If you've eaten your pre-workout meal then you will have enough energy to get you through the initial portion of the workout. Eventually your metabolism kicks in and you start to burn your body's stored fuels (fat and stored glycogen). Unless you are working out for more than 1-hour your body should have enough stored energy to get the job done. After 1-hour you may experience a "crash" in energy. To avoid this you may want to sip a carbohydrate/electorlyte drink throughout the workout to help supplement your metabolism. And always stay hydrated! You should never feel thirsty during a workout.
What do you muscles want after the workout?
When it comes to exercise nutrition, the post-workout meal is highly important. Immediately following a workout, your muscles are most receptive to carbohydrates and proteins. Carbs and proteins are the supplies used to rebuild your body after the stress of the workout. If you wait too long to feed your body these nutrients, the muscle cells quickly become unreceptive and you miss your window of opportunity to rebuild. You literally have 30-60 minutes to ingest, digest and circulate the carbs and proteins for them to be taken up by the muscles and be effectively used. The best way to accomplish this is by taking your post-workout meal in liquid form (smoothies, shakes and powder mixes). Liquids only require 10-15 minutes to clear the stomach and digest in the intestines. Solid foods take nearly an hour to digest causing you to miss your window of opportunity. Depending on your body-size and goals you should get 15-40 grams of protein and 30-80 grams of carbohydrates in your post-workout drink. Don't be afraid of all those carbs, this is the one meal during the day where it is absolutely necessary to have all that yummy sugar! The sugar is actually what helps transport the protein into the muscle cells. Without it, the protein goes mostly unused and is stored as fat.
What do your muscles want before a workout?
Your muscles want fuel to go! While most of us have Days worth of energy stored in our midsections, this source of fuel isn't tapped until later in the workout. To begin, your body needs readily available energy from your blood system. The best sources to meet this need should come in the form of easy to digest carbohydrates (breakfast bar, fruit, juice, ect...) Before you come to the gym you should plan a small meal (100-200 calories) consisting mainly of carbs. To avoid stomach cramping you should eat this meal 60-75 minutes before your workout. This will also allow your body the perfect amount of time to digest the carbohydrates, transfer them into the blood and circulate them around the body to be used to start-up the muscles.
What do your muscles want during the workout?
Your muscles still need fuel. If you've eaten your pre-workout meal then you will have enough energy to get you through the initial portion of the workout. Eventually your metabolism kicks in and you start to burn your body's stored fuels (fat and stored glycogen). Unless you are working out for more than 1-hour your body should have enough stored energy to get the job done. After 1-hour you may experience a "crash" in energy. To avoid this you may want to sip a carbohydrate/electorlyte drink throughout the workout to help supplement your metabolism. And always stay hydrated! You should never feel thirsty during a workout.
What do you muscles want after the workout?
When it comes to exercise nutrition, the post-workout meal is highly important. Immediately following a workout, your muscles are most receptive to carbohydrates and proteins. Carbs and proteins are the supplies used to rebuild your body after the stress of the workout. If you wait too long to feed your body these nutrients, the muscle cells quickly become unreceptive and you miss your window of opportunity to rebuild. You literally have 30-60 minutes to ingest, digest and circulate the carbs and proteins for them to be taken up by the muscles and be effectively used. The best way to accomplish this is by taking your post-workout meal in liquid form (smoothies, shakes and powder mixes). Liquids only require 10-15 minutes to clear the stomach and digest in the intestines. Solid foods take nearly an hour to digest causing you to miss your window of opportunity. Depending on your body-size and goals you should get 15-40 grams of protein and 30-80 grams of carbohydrates in your post-workout drink. Don't be afraid of all those carbs, this is the one meal during the day where it is absolutely necessary to have all that yummy sugar! The sugar is actually what helps transport the protein into the muscle cells. Without it, the protein goes mostly unused and is stored as fat.
Recap:
Pre-Workout: 100-200 calories of primarily carbohydrates to get you started. This should be consumed 60-75 minutes before you exercise.
During Workout: Unless you exercise more than 1-hour all you need is water to stay hydrated. If your workout goes beyond 1-hour you may benefit for a carbohydrate/electrolyte sports drink such as Smart Water to help prevent an energy crash.
Post-Workout: Consume a liquid carbohydrate/protein drink consisting of 15-40grams of protein and 30-80grams of carbs. To maximize effectiveness you should begin this meal as soon as you finish the last repetition in your workout.
During Workout: Unless you exercise more than 1-hour all you need is water to stay hydrated. If your workout goes beyond 1-hour you may benefit for a carbohydrate/electrolyte sports drink such as Smart Water to help prevent an energy crash.
Post-Workout: Consume a liquid carbohydrate/protein drink consisting of 15-40grams of protein and 30-80grams of carbs. To maximize effectiveness you should begin this meal as soon as you finish the last repetition in your workout.
Without proper exercise nutrition it is very difficult for your body to build lean attractive muscle which in turn will help you burn off excess fat. Many beginners are afraid of consuming any calories around their workout because they feel this negates the calories they've burned during the workout. While this appears to be a legitimate argument, it is merely a short sided view of what is actually happening. These critical meals help support your metabolism and allow you to burn even more calories throughout the day when you are at rest. In return you will yield a greater number of calories burned and more fat lost!
For more information on workout meals and supplementation email cheston.bogue@gmail.com.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteGood blog but do you realise the front page is unreadable? (text colour)
Have a great day!