Pre and Post Workout Meals
Nutrition is an essential part of any serious workout program. You cannot transform the body just through exercise, you must also eat right
and sufficiently nourish the body. What you eat before and after your workouts has a huge effect on not only how you feel and perform
during the workout but also how you recover from it and grow. This is one area where nutritional supplements can be very helpful.
Pre Workout Nutrition
Pre-workout meals are somewhat dependant on when you work out. If you like working out in the late afternoon or at night, your previous
meals might be sufficient to get you through your exercise regimen but in most cases, we do need to consume some food. The reason behind
a pre-workout meal is to make sure you have enough energy, supplied to the body through glycogen. The meal must provide this necessary
fuel, without putting too much strain on your digestive system. A mixture of complex carbohydrates and protein is considered best, with
a little more emphasis on the carbs for sustained energy. I have personally found that a sandwich or oats with milk eaten about 1.5 hours before working out
to be optimal. Right before my workout, I prefer some simple carbohydrates and free form essential amino acids (EAA). A good supplement
that fits this bill is 8-BetaAnabol by Epic Nutrition. The carbohydrates, essential amino acids and beta analine in this supplement have been proven in several studies
to increas the anabolic response of resistance training and help recover between workouts.
Post Workout Nutrition
Post workout meals are key in replenishing low glycogen stores, beginning muscular growth and repair, and restoring the immune system. The
time span upto 90 minutes after an intense workout creates a unique situation where the body is primed to absorb nutrients, much like a
sponge. The very first thing I do when walking out of the gym is consume a shake that consists of quick digesting whey protein hydrolysate, a
blend of quick and medium digesting carbs, amino acids and ergogenic aids like creatine. An excellent supplement that that provides all these
very important nutrients in the post-workout window is Torrent
by Universal Nutrition. This great product includes very high quality ingredients like
waxy maize starch, whey protein hydrolysate, leucine, glutamine, citrulline malate and three types of creatines, in ample quantities to have a significant
impact on recovery and body composition.
My next step is consuming about 30 grams of protein - preferably a combination of micellar casein and whey protein isolate - with an equal amount of
oat flour in water.
For my protein source, I highly recommend Ultra Peptide
by Xtreme Formulations. Ultra Peptide contains premium udenatured low temperature processed micellar casein, cross flow microfiltered
whey isolates, and hydrolyzed whey peptides - a combination that has been proven to stimulate protein synthesis while at the same time preventing muscle tissue breakdown.
The final part of the post workout meal is real food. This might depend on the time of day you workout, but I prefer to have a small meal about an hour after exercising. A
sandwich or a small pasta dish with a good mix of protein, carbs and fat would probably be ideal. Eat small, balanced meals every 3-4 hours after that.