Your Guide To Post Workout Nutrition!

Building muscle works like this…in the gym you break down your muscles with intense, heavy lifting. This training creates millions of tiny tears in the muscle. The inflammation caused, combined with extra blood in the muscle, is the reason why your muscles looked “pumped” when you train. Out of the gym you feed your muscles the right fuel enabling them to repair and grow more tissue to adapt to the requirements of your training.

What your body needs after you train:

Protein & amino acids:

Protein and amino acids make up the majority of muscle tissue. These nutrients are severely depleted during an intense weight training session. Protein and amino acids can quickly be replaced by drinking whey protein immediately after your workout.

Glycogen:

Glycogen in muscle tissue is also heavily depleted during training. Glycogen is used for energy, once glycogen is depleted the boy will turn to other fuel sources, like muscle tissue (which bis exactly what you don’t want!) and fat stores. Glycogen can be replaced quickly with simple carbohydrates (dextrose)

Your post workout shake:

I have covered this in more detail in the ultimate post workout shake post, but I’ll post it again here. Here’s what you should have in your post workout shake:

1. 45g of whey protein isolate
2. 65g of dextrose
3. 5g creatine (if you take it)
4. 5g of glutamine (if you take it)

Your next meal…

While a post workout shake is the fastest way to get nutrients to your muscles fast after your workout, you still need more nutrients from real food. 45mins - 1 hour after you finish your post workout shake you should try to have one of your 6 meals. This meal should consist of a lean protein source, complex carbohydrates and essential fats. Eating this meal will fill in any nutritional gaps left from your post workout shake.

Take home lessons:

• It’s important to get nutrients to your muscle cells quickly. The best way to get nutrients after your workout is a post workout shake.
• Protein, aminos and glycogen are depleted during training and must be replaced asap to prevent muscle catabolism (breakdown)
• 45mins to 1 hour after your post workout shake have one of your 6 meals.

If you have any questions about this post, leave them in the comments below!