Post Workout Nutrition
In your efforts to gain as much muscle as you can, your post workout nutrition will make or break great muscle gains. This post-workout period of eating, the 3 hours immediately following your workout, is without a doubt the most important time to eat properly to build muscle.
After an intense weight training session, your body loses vital nutrients and will act like a sponge to whatever you eat, soaking it all up. So what you eat during this time is very important and if you eat the right foods you can greatly increase your muscle building potential and speed up your recovery. Ok, so now you understand the important of your post workout nutrition. Let's take a look at what you need to accomplish after your intense workout for the best muscle building results: - Minimise muscle breakdown and return your body to an anabolic state
- Restore blood sugar and glycogen levels
- Feed your muscles with the right nutrients to encourage growth and recovery
All this can be done by consuming two post workout meals. One protein shake taken immediately after your workout, and another whole-food meal soon after.
Post Workout Shake
The reason you should drink a protein shake straight after your workout is because your body is in a lot of stress and is starving for nutrients. You need to quickly replenish your body with the right nutrients, and a liquid meal will do this best.Your post workout shake should contain these ingredients for the best results: 1 - 30-40 grams of whey protein. 2 - 5 grams of creatine if you are taking creatine. 3 - 5 grams of glutamine. 4 - 70-80 grams of simple sugar, eg dextrose.
All this should be mixed in water and taken as soon as possible after completing your workout (no longer than 20 minutes after). Mixing it with milk won't be as effective because it will take a little longer to digest. At any other time of the day milk would be fine for a protein shake, but during post workout nutrition you need to recover as fast as you can, so use water. Taking a high-potency multivitamin supplement with the protein shake is also recommended.
Post Workout Meal
After taking your post workout protein shake, you should eat your second post-workout meal which will be made up of whole foods. Aim to eat this meal 45 minutes to an hour after finishing your workout. This meal needs to contain some high quality protein and high glycemic carbohydrates. Any quality protein source will do, so long as its a whole food. Eg: steak, chicken, tuna, fish, or eggs. High glycemic carbohydrates are the types of carbs that break down quickly into your bloodystream. This is what you need for your second post workout meal. Some good sources for this would be potatoes, white rice, or rice cakes. Here is an example of what your second post-workout meal could look like: - 6oz of steak - 1 potato - Glass of orange juice
This meal will continue to provide your starving muscles with the nutrients they require in order to synthesize new muscle tissue and restore glycogen levels. After this second meal there is still about 2 hours or so to take advantage of as best you can.Your goal in this 3-hour window is to consume as much high quality protein and high glycemic carbohydrates as you can. The goal of this meal is to give your body the nutrients it needs to start the muscle growth and repair process. The more quality protein and high glycemic carbohydrates you eat at this meal, the better. The majority of guys out there trying to build muscle don't realise the importance of post workout nutrition. It can greatly accelerate your results if you do it right. But if you ignore this critical feeding time, your gains will suffer. So to sum it all up, after your intense weight training session you should consume 2 meals. One protein shake taken immediately, and one whole food meal taken within 45-60 minutes. Following this routine will give you all the more chance to pack on massive amounts of muscle as fast as possible.
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