The Top Five Tips for Maximizing Your Post-Workout Nutrition!
As a figure athlete or fitness buff, you should already know that the most important meal you have during the day is the one you consume after your workout. In fact, research has shown that consuming a meal immediately after training is far superior to your post-workout recovery as consuming the same meal one-hour later. And even more importantly is what you eat! The time frame after a workout has been termed by some as the anabolic window of opportunity, meaning what you eat within this limited amount of time can have a significant impact on not only your recovery but also your muscle building! Now you must be wondering, ‘how do I maximize my post-workout nutrition'! Read below for my top five tips:
Liquid Diet: The key to your post-workout nutrition is that it must be liquid; this will ensure rapid digestion and release of the important hormones that are necessary to stimulate growth and repair.
Protein Power: Following an energy draining, muscle tearing workout, one of the most important elements you need to consume post-workout is a whey protein isolate or WPI! In terms of quality and bioavailability, whey isolate is King! WPI is an extremely fast digesting protein and highly soluble allowing it to kick-start the repair process quickly! It also contains the highest proportion of branched chain amino acids or BCAAs which are considered the building blocks of muscle; they are critical for driving protein synthesis and repair. And of all the BCAAs make sure you get an ample supply of leucine, which is one of the most important because of its ability to directly stimulate muscle protein synthesis by activating a major complex in the anabolic pathway called mTOR. Research has shown that leucine has a positive effect on protein metabolism, increasing the rate of protein synthesis and decreasing the rate of protein degradation after intense training.
Give me Sugar: Your post-workout meal should contain a source of high glycemic carbs, or sugar such as dextrose. These short-chain carbs are digested quickly, causing a rise in blood sugar and hence insulin levels - the key anabolic hormone responsible for growth. The elevated insulin levels will help to drive fuel into the muscles for synthesis and repair! Consume a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein for best results.
Hold the Fat and Fiber: Simply put, fat and fiber slows down digestion. Therefore if you combine fats or fiber with the two needed components of your post-workout meal as mentioned above, protein and simple carbs, you will only be slowing down their digestion, which of course is the exact opposite of what you want to happen.
Recovery Essential: Be sure to get glutamine into your post-workout recovery plan! Supplementing with glutamine can reduce the amount of glutamine that is robbed from the muscles during training, it has also been found to decrease neutrophils, which cause cell damage, preserve muscle tissue and have a direct effect on protein metabolism.
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