Workout Nutrition: Is it Really That Important?
Are you trying to out-train a poor diet?’ Understand the role of nutrition in your program and how it can make a huge difference to your training outcomes
Nutrition
It is no secret that nutrition and eating well is the key factor when it comes to looking and feeling good and when it comes to specific results based training or prepping for a completion of some sort, getting you nutrition dialled in is a must!
The human body needs the very best fuel you can provide to be able to perform to its very best. Providing your body with high quality, clean, foods and supplements that will help your body perform at its best will maximise your output in every aspect of athletic performance, stronger immune system, digestion and mental cognition.
Now imagine fuelling your body with refined, greasy and sugary foods. Firstly, they have no benefit to your most important asset in life (your health) and provide little or no benefit to running your body at its full potential, leaving you fatigued, malnourished and more like a rusty old tractor than a finely-tuned racing car.
The ability to reach your highest potential first comes from understanding the importance of the correct nutrition. Think of it like this, a workout takes around 45 minutes whereas your diet and eating habits span the entire day so your plan to reach your goals should consider the ratio 70% diet and 30% training. It really is that important, and remember you are what you eat.
Nutrient Timing
Considered to be just as important as the diet plan itself, timing is crucial, especially around your workout. There are 2 critical nutritional windows that you really have to utilize to get the most from your training program. Missing these golden opportunities means you will actually undo most of the hard work you are putting in at the gym!
The Energy Phase – Pre Workout
The Energy Phase coincides with your workout. The primary metabolic objective of the muscle during this phase is to release sufficient energy to drive muscle contraction. Between 15 and 30 minutes pre-workout is your ideal opportunity to provide your muscles with the fuel they will need for an intense training session. If there is no fuel to burn your energy, strength and endurance will slump so your workout is already suffering and your ability to perform is hindered before you have even started.
The Anabolic Phase – Post Workout
The Anabolic Phase is the 20 minute window following a workout in which your muscles, in the presence of the right combination of nutrients, initiates the repair of damaged muscle protein and replenishes muscle glycogen stores. Immediately after exercise, muscle cells are extremely sensitive to the anabolic effects of the hormone insulin. Having been depleted of fuel stores and minerals from exertion, the body is desperate to soak up as much as possible and start repairing all those torn muscle fibres.
This sensitivity, however, declines rapidly and, after several hours, muscle cells even become insulin resistant. Insulin resistance is a condition that dramatically slows muscle glycogen recovery, repair of existing muscle, and synthesis of new muscle.
Whether you provide the nutrients required or not, your body will start repairing itself. The downside is if you are not providing the required nutrients for repairing, your body will take those nutrients/aminos from other vital processes and become catabolic (breaks down muscle to repair itself). This essentially means your body is stealing them from other vital functions responsible to recover from your workout and to build progress.
You will actually end up going backwards if you don’t fuel those muscles.
The Growth Phase
The Growth Phase extends from the end of the Anabolic Phase to the beginning of the next workout. It is the time when the muscle enzymes are involved in increasing the number of contractile proteins and the size of muscle fibres, as well as in helping the muscle fully replenish muscle glycogen depleted during the Energy Phase. During the Growth Phase, consumption of carbohydrate and protein is essential to maintain optimal muscle growth. By following the Nutrient Timing System, you’ll be able to maintain a high anabolic state and restore muscle glycogen, repair muscle tissue damage, and synthesise new muscle.
Convenience
Athletes, fitness enthusiasts and bodybuilders alike have known for a very long time that exploiting these nutritional windows is the secret to achieving those impressive goals. Whole foods are a great source of all the fuel the body needs but unfortunately, the digestive process just is not quick enough to exploit these windows at the perfect times required.
Wolfing down a chicken breast or a steak straight after your workout just isn’t always viable and this is where supplements come in handy. Their liquid form means they are easy to consume and are digested very quickly. The vital materials will get to where they are desperately needed in plenty of time to ensure the big rebuild goes to schedule and that every last rep, cycle or step was not wasted!
Your body has a long list of nutrients it needs to deal with the intensity of training and getting them all crammed in can be a task in itself. This is why high quality blends are popular. Being able to replenish nutrient stores, speeds up recovery, helps increase strength, improves nutrient uptake, and promotes muscle growth all in one go really is the ideal way to ensure you are doing everything you can to make your hard work worthwhile.
There are many, many ingredients you can add to your pre and post meals but to keep it very basic, ensure to get some quality protein and fast digesting carbs post training to give your body the required nutrients to speed up your recovery and see some great progress.
To give you a few examples on where to start, here are some of the most important ingredients and the correct dosage required over the two essential windows of opportunity.
– 25 – 30g Whey Protein Improves Recovery | Builds lean muscle | Builds strength – 20 – 40g Dextrose (lower end for weight loss) Replenish depleted glucose | Maximise nutrient delivery | Fast releasing energy – BCAA (AMINOS) Stimulated muscle growth | Boosts energy | Delay muscular fatigue – 3 – 5g Creatine Improves explosive energy | Builds lean muscle | Improves strength – 1.8g Beta Alanine Increased intensity | Improves strength | Increased endurance – 5g L – Glutamine Increased protein synthesis | Cell rehydration | Improves Recovery – Citruline Malate Increases blood flow | Enhanced nutrient uptake
Fats should be minimised or avoided at the pre and post workout times as they will slow down the absorption of the nutrients you need. These are guidelines for someone who trains regularly and can be applied to both mass/muscle building as well as weight/fat loss as they are essential ingredients for either.
Your diet and calorie intake throughout the day will dictate your weight gain/loss. If you are on a carbohydrate-controlled diet, be sure to choose an fast acting protein powder over a cheaper whey protein concentrate as it contains trace amounts of carbs , higher rates of lactose and fats. However, it is important to replenish your glycogen stores so avoid cutting carbs out altogether even when trying to lose body fat.
Summary
The absolute bottom line is a common saying in the health and fitness industry “You will not out-train a poor diet!”
If your nutrition program is your weakest area, either because you’re just starting out or you simply don’t have the nutritional knowledge to see good results, then take some time to do a little research from reputable sources or experienced coaches and make the necessary changes.
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