HOW TO FUEL YOUR WORKOUTS
Let’s face it, working out is only PART of the equation. In order to truly see and feel your best, optimizing your nutrition needs to be at the top of your mind! Conversely, what you eat before and after your workouts can significantly impact your performance, recovery, and overall progress. Let’s dive into the importance of proper nutrition surrounding your workouts, plus re-highlight the critical role of hydration.
Pre-Workout Nutrition
Eating before a workout can sometimes feel like a chore and dare I say a gamble because the last thing you want is to feel nauseous, bloated, sluggish, the list goes on. A pre-workout meal or snack can provide energy, enhance performance, and even prevent muscle breakdown. So by fueling properly you just may be able to achieve your goals, FASTER!
PROTEIN: Eating a good, high quality source of lean protein can help reduce muscle breakdown, promote better muscle retention and growth. Consuming protein before a workout can increase muscle protein synthesis, leading to greater muscle growth and repair (especially for resistance or strength training.) Protein before workouts can provide your muscles with the necessary amino acids to improve strength and power during your workout, leading to better performance AND help with muscle breakdown, preserving muscle mass.
While it’s important to have carbohydrates for energy (like we just talked about), consuming protein alongside carbs can help stabilize blood sugar levels, providing a steady source of energy throughout the workout. Plus, protein has a thermogenic effect, meaning it can increase your caloric burn and aide in fat loss.
CARBOHYDRATES: Carbohydrates are your body's primary source of energy. Consuming them before a workout ensures that you have enough fuel to power through your exercise session. Having carbs before a workout can enhance endurance and overall performance as it helps delay fatigue.
Consuming carbs can even help preserve muscle glycogen stores. This means that during your workout, your body will rely on the carbs you’ve ingested for energy, rather than breaking down muscle tissue. PLUS, Carbohydrates also support cognitive function, which can aide in maintaining good form and concentration, especially in workouts like Pilate where form and alignment are key.
FATS: Keep fats moderate - unless you are doing long, endurance-style training as they can slow down digestion, and are intended for longer steady-state fuel. Fats provide a slower-releasing source of energy, which can be useful for longer, lower-intensity workouts. They help in maintaining energy levels throughout the exercise.
Fats are crucial for hormone production, including those that help with muscle recovery and performance so incorporating fats in a meal pre-workout is a great idea, as long as it is a couple of hours before an intense workout as it may cause discomfort or sluggishness.
TIMING: Try to eat a meal 2-3 hours before your workout, but let’s face it we are all busy and pressed for time, so if you’ve forgotten to eat grab a snack that is high in protein, easy on your stomach, and packs a bit of carbs so you have something to burn! Aim to get 10-20 grams of protein and 50-65 grams of carbs.
Post-Workout Nutrition
After your workout, your body needs the right nutrients and hydration to repair muscle breakdown, replenish glycogen stores, and reduce overall muscle soreness and fatigue. So knowing when, what, and how much to eat can be a pivotal aspect in your muscle growth and body recovery journey.
PROTEIN: As we have hammered in, protein is essential for muscle repair and growth. After a workout - particularly a resistance or strength training workout - your muscle fibers experience small tears and protein provides the amino acids necessary to repair and rebuild these fibers, leading to muscle growth and increased strength.
Protein helps to speed up recovery by reducing muscle soreness and inflammation. So having protein post-workout boosts muscle protein synthesis, the process by which muscles rebuild and grow. Plus, after a workout, your body can enter a catabolic state, where it starts to break down muscle tissue for energy. and protein intake post-workout helps to counteract this
Protein is crucial in post-workout recovery, in fact, it can aid in balancing hormones like insulin, which plays a role in muscle recovery and energy storage - AND help manage appetite, and support weight loss or maintenance goals.
TIMING & AMOUNT: Aim to get 30-45 grams of protein within 60 minutes of your workout.
CARBOHYDRATES: Be sure to include complex carbs to replenish glycogen stores post-workout as carbohydrates help restore glycogen levels depleted during exercise. Glycogen is the primary fuel source for your muscles, so restoring it is essential for recovery and energy for your next workout. Consuming carbs post-workout can reduce muscle protein breakdown. When combined with protein, it promotes muscle repair and growth by increasing insulin levels, which helps shuttle nutrients into muscle cells.
By replenishing glycogen stores, you are helping to reduce post-exercise fatigue, because let’s face it, when you go hard in your workout it can drain your energy so we want to keep that energy up with fuel. PLUS, carbs help your body stay hydrated as they help you to retain water. Which again, when you are going hard in your workout (especially in a heated class) you are sweating buckets and you need to be able to rehydrate - and well!
TIMING AND AMOUNT: Try to eat within 30-60 minutes after your workout and aim to eat .4g of carbs per body weight post-workout for optimal recovery.
Hydration
So let’s quickly touch on hydration as it is so important in both your pre and post-workout regimen. First off, hydration helps to improve your athletic performance and reduces fatigue while aiding in recovery so you can work out better and harder and also recover faster so that your next workout is also just has hard and impactful. PLUS, water helps regulate your internal body temperature, which, when working out in the heat can be extremely beneficial for your performance and stamina.
PRE-WORKOUT: Drink at least 16-20 ounces of water 2-3 hours before exercising.
DURING WORKOUT: Sip on water throughout your workout and stay hydrated - but be sure not to take huge gulps as it can upset your stomach and make you feel more bloated than satiated.
POST WORKOUT: Rehydrate with at least 16-24 ounces of water and even more if your workout is extra sweaty and intense. Adding electrolytes can also be beneficial, as this helps your body absorb and retain water better.
SUM IT UP, SIS
Proper nutrition before and after your workouts is absolutely crucial for maximizing your performance, aiding in recovery, and achieving your fitness goals. By fueling your body with the right nutrients and staying hydrated, you'll see improved performance in your workouts, more muscle growth, and recovery better, faster, and stronger.
Stay fueled, stay hydrated, stay fit! 😉
