Pre Workout Nutrition
When preparing for a long road trip in your car you always make sure to fuel up right? Well its the same with your body. If you want to get the most out of your workout, want to go harder, longer, and get more done you need to fuel up as well.
- You need to eat before your workout, but you need to give your body time to digest the food so its not sitting in your stomach when your trying to exercise. Also, you want to get as much of the glucose stored in your muscles so that when it comes time for your body to consume energy it gets it from stored glycogen which burns more energy than it would if it took the glucose from your blood stream.
- Load up on complex carbs. You want energy that is sustainable and lasts. Simple carbs and sugars wont give you the long term energy you need for a hard workout. Complax carbs can come from whole grains and pastas.
- Dont forget your healthy fats such as mono-and poly- unsaturated fats. These will help give you even more sustained energy to fuel your aerobic endurance training.
There are heaps of information out there about what you need after your workouts. Most tell you that protein is the key, that you wont recover if you dont down a shake with at least 40 grams of protein and that the more protein the better. Unfortunately, mostly all of this information is wrong. Not because protein isnt important but because they tell you the worng macronutrient to load up on. What you really need are carbs.
- Replacing your glycogen stores after a workout is the very most important step. Without consuming carbohydrates within 1 hour of your workout cause many issues. First, your glycogen stores will not be replaced fast enough and they will not be able to be refilled fully before your next workout. This will cause your next workout to be severly hindered due to the lack of energy available. Also, without the carbs, your body wont be able to start the rebuilding process. This means it will take longer for your muscles to heal and make your gains take longer than you want.
- Protein is important because it helps achieve a positive nitrogen balance which allows your body to start storing and rebuilding your muscles instead of eating the muscle to get the enrgy it needs.
- When eating or supplementing after a workout you should have at least a 3:1 carbto protein ratio. So if your consuming 20 grams of protein you will need at least 60 grams of carbs, and this ratio gets much higher if your workouts are intense and/or your preparing for an athletic event. In these cases the ratio will be more 5:1.
- Most protein powders out there are a waste. They offer 50 grams of protein with 5 carbs. Well that craps on replacing your carbohydrates, and your body can only process between 20-30 grams of protein at a time which means your pooping out all the extra so you just wasted money. The best powder I have found at the moment is Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Natural 100% Whey. It offers a great mix of Essential Amino Acids and vitamins as well as 24 grams of protein. I mix the vanilla flavor with Lemon Lime Gatorade Powder. It tastes like an orange creamcicle, and the gatorade adds the simple sugars that are quickly digested by the body. If you dont want to use a protein shake, simple chocolate milk is a great substitue.
Before you workout you need to fuel up just like your car before a long trip. You need complex carbs and good fats that help give you sustained energy for your workouts. Eat at least an hour before so your body has time to digest it. After your workout you need to consume at the very least 50 grams of carbohydrates within an hour after your workout. You should consume at least a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein to help with protein synthesis(muscle building) and glycogen replenishment. The main part is you need to eat before and after if you want the workouts that will get you the type of fitness you want.
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