The Basics Of Pre And Post-Workout Nutrition

Upon starting a new fitness plan, or if you are already a seasoned exerciser, you are likely going to want to start paying a little more attention to your nutritional intake. When you are eating proper foods, it is going to greatly increase the results you see from your program as nutrition can actually account for up to 90% of the progress you see.

What Purpose These Meals Serve

The before meal is what is going to help provide your muscles with the fuel they need to perform vigorous exercise as well as help offset any muscle losses that may occur during the workout (since weight lifting is a catabolic (breakdown process) in itself.

The Composition Of These Meals

So what should these pre and post workout meals consist of? You are mostly going to want to focus on the macronutrients of carbohydrates and protein for these meals without any additional fat. The problem with consuming a high quantity of fat in these meals is that fat takes a lot longer to digest by the body than either protein or carbohydrates. When you are preparing yourself for exercise, the last thing you want is a stomach full of food therefore high fat meals are definitely not ideal.

A big part of the meal is going to come from carbohydrate sources (more on types and quantities below), as this macronutrient is what fuels your body most efficiently during activity. It supplies your muscles with a by product called ATP, which is the primary energy molecule. Once ATP stores run out or are not being produced fast enough by the body to meet the demand is when you start seeing issues with fatigue and are forced to stop exercising.

Protein on the other hand, is going to give your muscles building blocks called amino acids. Without having these in your blood stream your muscles will not be able to maintain their integrity and thus will be broken down by your workouts. This will result in you simply losing muscle rather than gaining it. It is definitely not the ideal circumstance you want to be creating.

The Preworkout Meal

The main purpose of the preworkout meal is to fuel the muscles for the upcoming activity. What you choose to consume during this meal is largely going to depend on the time of the day that you workout. For those who are working out first thing in the morning, it's likely that they are going to want to have a liquid meal as they aren't going to have a lot of time to digest the food before they hit the gym. Others may simply have a hard time tolerating solid food first thing in the morning, thus they do better with a meal replacement shake.

If this is the situation you are in, you will want to have a liquid shake that is finished 15-30 minutes before you begin working out. This will provide you with just enough time to get the glucose into your blood stream and energy delivered.

For this shake, aim to include about 0.15-0.2 grams/lb of bodyweight in protein. So if you are a 150 pound person, this would equate to be 22-30 grams of protein total. On the carbohydrate side of things, you will want to try to consume 0.33 grams per pound of body weight, so using our same 150 pound person, this would equate out to 49.5 grams.

An example of such a meal would be one scoop of whey protein powder blended with 1 banana and one cup of orange juice. You could also choose a slightly slower burning form of carbohydrates that are eaten along with the whey protein shake if you don't have too big of issues with a small amount of food beforehand.

For individuals who have slightly more time between their pre-workout meal and the start of their exercise session, they should likely choose a solid food source meal as this will slow digestion slightly to ensure they have a lasting source of energy.

In this situation, the meal should be taken in about 60-90 minutes before exercise should begin and should again consist of carbohydrates and protein, in the form of 0.2-0.22 grams of protein per pound and 0.33 grams of carbohydrates per pound. The small amount of extra protein will help to provide the amino acids to your muscles until the end of your workout since the duration from meal time until end will be longer.

For this type of meal you likely want to try for a low to moderate GI starchy carbohydrate such as a sweet potato or oatmeal. You can also supplement this with a moderate amount of vegetables, just try and keep the volume controlled so that the additional fibre does not cause stomach distress later on.

By following the above guidelines you will help to maximize the effort level you can put into your workouts, therefore seeing the best possible results.

The Post Workout Meal

As you learned above, the postworkout meal is going to serve to replenish muscular glycogen stores as well as help provide the amino acids your muscles need to repair and rebuild themselves after being broken down through strength training activities.

It is always best for you to try and consume this meal as soon as possible after your workout as there is a critical window of opportunity when the muscles are more receptive to taking in the nutrients.

Many people choose to also consume a shake for this meal as it is easily transported to the gym so you can have it on your way out. Solid meals can work too, however it is really going to be a matter of personal preference. Some studies suggest that whey protein powder may be taken in by the muscles slightly quicker, therefore providing an advantage, but on the whole it is much more important that you just get some food into your body than the particular type of protein.

Your protein intake here will be slightly higher, at around 0.25 grams of protein per pound of body weight and then 0.5 grams of carbohydrates per pound of body weight. Notice in particular the higher carbohydrate recommendation. This is to not only replace the energy you just expended but also to provide your body with the energy required to synthesize new muscle tissue. Shorting yourself at this point will be very detrimental to your results so it is of utmost importance that you don't skimp on carbohydrates during this meal. If you are one of the individuals who tends to fear carbohydrates, thinking they will get stored as body fat, you can rest assured that eating them immediately after a workout is the one time of the day when they will not be stored as body fat. Furthermore, if you often find yourself craving sweets or simple grains such as candy, cereal or bagels, now is the time to eat them because you actually want the carbohydrates to be released into the blood stream rapidly.

So to sum up, you should consume a lean protein source, from meat or from protein powder depending on your needs and preferences and then a simple carbohydrate source. Options here would be dextrose (purchased at any health food store), thinly rolled oatmeal, fruit, sugary cereals, bagels or white rice.

A final note about the post workout meal, if you are currently looking to add muscle mass, you can always consume more than the 0.5 grams/pound recommendation of carbohydrates to try and give your body that extra bit of energy it needs to really spark some growth. Don't go crazy as too much may lead to a small amount of fat gain, but you could bring the recommendation up to 0.7 or even 1 gram for some individuals who have a particularly hard time putting on muscle mass.