Maximize Your Workouts with Proper Post Workout Nutrition

Working out takes a lot of commitment and time, and it is not easy to get in shape. With so much time and effort put into your daily workout, it makes sense to pay attention to making the time immediately after your workout pay off. What you do immediately after working out can either enhance the affects of your workout, or reduce them.

There is an easy way to enhance the value of every workout through a solid nutritional program. Everyone who is interested in health and fitness understands how important proper nutrition is, and post workout nutrition is a vital part of building muscle, losing fat, increasing endurance and building strength.

Perhaps the most important part of sports nutrition is knowing how and what to eat in the post workout period. Proper post workout nutrition will help you make the most out of those hours in the gym, and get the best results you can achieve.

Strength and endurance exercise have countless health benefits, but these exercises also produce considerable stress on the body. Some common symptoms of this stress include sore muscles, tiredness, and increased appetite. Experiencing these symptoms is our body’s way of telling us that the fuel sources of our muscles have been depleted, and that those muscles are in need of repair and replenishment.

While damaged and depleted muscles may seem like a bad thing, these changes can actually help the body adapt and provide increased endurance. The key is to provide those muscles with what they need immediately after the workout. Doing so will help the muscles recover and grow stronger. For instance, endurance exercises will cause the muscles to suffer minor damage and nutrient depletion, but in the long run the muscles will compensate by becoming stronger.

Likewise, strength training works by tearing down the weaker muscle fibers and building bigger and stronger muscle fibers. In both endurance and strength training, the goal is to tear down older, less adaptable muscle and rebuild a stronger and more functional muscle in its place. This process is known as remodeling.

This remodeling process can only take place if the muscles are provided with the right raw materials. Just as you could not remodel your house without bricks, mortar, wood, hammers and nails, it is impossible to remodel your body without providing it what it needs in the form of proper nutrition. During and immediately after working out, the carbohydrate and protein structures in the muscles have been broken down.

After this breakdown has occurred, the immune system comes to the rescue and signals are sent to the body to begin the rebuilding process. Without proper levels of protein and carbohydrate in the post workout period, this rebuilding process will not occur, and your muscles will be unable to reach their full potential.

This means that the post workout period is not the time to do nothing. After all, you have just spent a considerable period of time building your body; the last thing you want to do is negate those effects. It is vital to provide those post exercise muscles with the fuel they need – namely protein and carbohydrates.

All fitness enthusiasts, young and old, male and female, must take post workout nutrition seriously to give their muscles the raw materials they need. All forms of exercise use carbohydrates to produce energy, so depletion of muscle carbohydrate stores is inevitable after a workout. For this reason, it is vital to enjoy a post workout meal which is high in carbohydrates. This high carbohydrate meal will help to put back the carbohydrates the workout has depleted.

Not just any amount of carbohydrate will do, however. It is important to consume sufficient quantities of carbohydrates to produce the insulin needed to shuttle those carbohydrates and amino acids to the muscles where they are needed. High carbohydrate consumption will produce the insulin release needed to promote glycogen storage, repair damaged muscles and promote muscle growth.

And since the protein in the muscles is degraded during a workout as well, adding a relatively large amount of protein to your post workout nutrition is important to rebuild the structure of the muscles. After a workout, the body will decrease its protein synthesis while increasing its protein breakdown. Adding protein to the post workout meal can reverse this effect.

So how much carbohydrate should you take and how much whey protein should you include in your post workout nutrition? Dr. John Berardi, who specializes in human performance and nutrition consulting, recommends 0.8g of carbohydrate per 1 kilogram of body weight and anywhere from 0.2g - 0.4g of protein per 1 kilogram of body weight.

To convert your body weight to kilograms, divide your total weight by 2.2. So a 200 pound guy weighs 91 kilograms (200/2.2 = 90.9, or 91). Following Dr. Berardi's recommendations, a 200 pound guy should aim for about 36 grams of whey protein and 73 grams of carbohydrates as a part of his post workout nutrition.

You also want your post workout nutrition to be fat free. Eating fat after a workout can decrease the effectiveness of the post workout meal because it may slow the absorption of protein and carbohydrates into the muscle tissue.

The timing of your post workout nutrition is important as well. It is essential that the post workout meal be consumed immediately after working out. After exercise, the muscles are depleted and in need of repair. It is important to provide the muscles with what they need as quickly as possible. Waiting too long to consume your post exercise meal will cause the replenishment of glycogen and the protein repair to be diminished.

A liquid shake, consisting of water, protein, and carbohydrates such as dextrose and maltodextrin, is most effective after a workout. Whole foods definitely have their place, but not for post workout nutrition. The reason?

For one thing, a liquid shake is easy to take and easily digestible. Many people find it difficult to eat a big meal right after an intense workout, and many simply are not hungry following exercise. In addition, a liquid shake is absorbed into the body much more quickly than whole foods.

Liquid shakes which contain fast digesting proteins like whey protein isolates and fast digesting carbohydrates like dextrose and maltodextrin, have been shown to be absorbed much more quickly than comparable whole food meals. For instance, a liquid shake with whey protein, dextrose, and maltodextrin may be fully absorbed in the body in 30 to 60 minutes, while a whole food meal often takes 2 to 3 hours to be fully absorbed and available to the muscles.

Time is of the essence after a workout, so as a part of your post workout nutrition, skip the foods and go for a quick liquid shake instead!

Recommended Reading:

Window of Opportunity - A more in-depth look at post workout nutrition and written more for body builders. Regardless of your fitness goals, however, you will learn something from this article! Includes specific recommendations on what you should consume after a workout.

Dextrose & Maltodextrin: An In-Depth Analysis - These two carbohydrate supplements are the best choices for post workout nutrition. This article explains what they are and why they work so well together.