Do you have a post-work out nutritional regime? If you answered ‘no’ to this question, which you probably did, you could be wasting as much as 50% of all that hard work you do in the gym! Sad but true – and I’m here to tell you how to get the effects from your work-out that you deserve.
We need to go back to basics to explain why this waste of work happens and what you can do to ensure that it never happens again.
To generate the energy you need for exercise, your body burns off carbohydrates and also breaks down muscle tissue. This break down of muscle tissue is even more pronounced if you’re doing weights. And, because the body is a very clever piece of kit, when the exercise session is over, it has a greater ability to use nutrients such as glucose and protein to rebuild muscles and recover energy. Don’t forget, that protein is the basic building block of muscle fiber.
So, to put it into simple terms, after exercise, your body is supercharged for growth! This supercharged period lasts for about four hours, hence the title of this article.
An intake of sugars and proteins within this four-hour period will not only help you to recover faster, but it will also ensure that your metabolism is fully-fuelled. This means that you will burn fat faster!
A lot of people inadvertently do the exact opposite and actually avoid eating following a work-out. Not a good idea.
What starving your body in this four-hour window achieves is a further break-down of healthy muscle. Your body does this in an attempt to get the materials it needs to repair the muscle fibers that were damaged during the training period. You can see that, if this situation is repeated every time you train, over time you will actually reduce the total muscle mass of your whole body. So, in effect, what will happen is completely opposite to what you intend to happen.
When your body is under stress, you produce a hormone called Cortisol. When you exercise, your body thinks it’s under stress. Cortisol speeds the process of muscle loss that I’ve just described. So, in this situation, Cortisol is a baddy (although in reality it’s a goody and helps you in times of ‘real’ stress). To stop the production of Cortisol is easy – you just need to eat!
Not that simple, though, because eating the wrong stuff will undo your efforts in the gym just as much as not eating does. So, you need to ensure that you eat the right stuff – carbohydrates and protein.
The rules are simple: within a few minutes of stopping your exercise, have some protein – 30 to 40 grams as soon as you can. The best and easiest way is to have this is in the form of protein powder mixed into a drink, although milk would also do the trick.
This simple step will provide your body with the building blocks it needs to repair and renew muscle fibers. Whilst talking about protein, take care not to take in protein before a work-out because it’ll just sit in your stomach and will probably cause bloating.
Okay, so you’ve had the protein, the other thing your body will be short of is carbohydrates, which it needs to refuel so, again immediately after your workout, have 60 to 100 grams of carbs.
Some examples of healthy carbs are:
- Juices
- Fruits
- Sports drinks
Suitable proteins include
- Milk
- Eggs
- Poultry
- Fish
- Meat
- Soy products
One excellent example of a post-training snack is a flavored yogurt because it contains carbs, proteins, and calcium in one hit.
You should have a meal that contains high quality protein and good supplies of carbohydrate about one hour after your training session. Don’t forget, you are still in the window of opportunity. For this meal, you should select one of the protein foods shown above and have it with grains, potatoes, or cereals.
So, to maximize the effects of your work-outs take care with your post-training nutrition regime – give your body what it needs to repair and renew. Sounds too good to be true, but by taking this advice you could increase your work-out effectiveness by as much as 50%.
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