Is post-workout nutrition worth the effort? You bet!
5 January 2007If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
There is a rock solid consensus among the iron elite that a physiological “window of opportunity” opens with the onset of an intense weight training session and closes about an hour after the cessation of the session. If nutrients (calories divided between protein and glycogen-replenishing carbohydrate) are consumed while the window of opportunity is open these nutrients are assimilated 300% faster and more efficiently than normal. Provide traumatized muscle tissue exactly what they require in the post-workout environment and hasten the healing process while accelerating the muscle growth curve. Workout results are actually enhanced. When you think about this, it’s a pretty sensational concept: by simply eating or drinking correctly within a specified timeframe results from a workout are amplified and demonstrably superior to results from the identical workout without consuming post-workout nutrients. Of course all this only matters if the workout is of sufficient intensity. If the workout is insufficient to trigger hypertrophy then the window of opportunity is non-existent and the whole effort is in vain. Post-workout nutrients need be proper nutrients and ingested within the designated timeframe. To put a finer point on it: if the post workout nutrients are in liquid form the time needed for the digestive process is vastly reduced and vital nutrients reach their ultimate destination far faster. While eating a chicken breast and serving of brown rice provides the nutrients required, the “lead time” needed for whole foods to be broken down by digestive enzymes and distributed to needy, battered, traumatized muscle tissue need be taken into account. Care must be taken to allow sufficient digestion time; if consumption of whole foods takes place near the end of the window timeframe the opportunity is missed. It takes time to digest, emulsify and distribute food to traumatized muscle tissue.
I personally use a combination of whey protein and maltodextrin carbohydrate powder. A double serving of Parrillo 50-50 Plus powder provides 30 grams of high BV protein and 40 grams of glycogen-replenishing carbohydrate instantaneously. The digestive lead-time for a liquid post workout “smart bomb” is negligible. My power-laden protein/carb potion tastes great and I like to consume this mixture about 2/3rd’s of the way through the workout. I have a real problem with energy nosedives towards the end of a serious workout and I find that by drinking my smart bomb mixture while still training, my end-of-workout performance improves appreciably. I place my dry powder in a small Tupperware container and throw it into my gym bag. When I’m ready to activate the powder I walk to the water fountain, unscrew the top, add water, replace the top, shake the tar out of the container and start sipping the activated mixture. The taste and potency of modern nutritional supplements has advanced light-years over the past decade. Back in the bad old days, supplement makers would load up protein powder with sugar in order hide the god-awful taste and the protein potency was diluted and weak. Nowadays market-force competition and labeling transparency has resulted in a generation of products that stack up well against the protein benchmark: egg whites. Top supplement makers have found ways to engineer taste without resorting to sugar. I unreservedly recommend that every purposefully primitive weight trainer consume a protein/carbohydrate shake as the workout winds down. Feel free to eat a ‘regular food’ meal but do it quickly. The post-workout whole meal should contain a lean protein source and a quality carb source. Portion size will depend on the size of the individual. I tend to err towards more nutrients, not less. If you eat a regular food meal, take into account digestive lead-time. If you drink a smart bomb pick one that is low in sugar and remember to combine amino acid-replenishing protein powder with glycogen-replenishing carbohydrate powder. Be smart and smart bomb. Muscles are shattered by a truly significant workout and drinking a pleasant tasting shake as the workout winds down is so logical and easy. You will be able to actually improve the quality and results from the workout by smart bombing. Why ignore this classical, result-producing trick of the muscle-building trade!
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