Monday, November 1, 2010

Post-Workout Nutrition

This is an issue that I've spoken much on with some of our fellow West Houstoners as well as our coaches and alot of superior athletes that I have had the pleasure to compete against. Post-Workout Nutrition. What exactly does that mean? Well it's different for everyone, but it should be utilized and fulfilled by anyone that looks to gain the most out of their workouts.


There is a small window when completing vigorous physical activity where your body is in an anabolic (building) state. Your muscles have been torn down and your glycogen (energy) stores have been depleted by your workout. Within this small period of time, your body is calling out for you to replenish and rebuild. 15-30 minutes after workouts is ideal and 1 hour is the deadline to consume a healthy blend of protein and carbohydrates. Regardless of what you choose to eat/drink, this is a must for anyone looking to maximize their gains and enhance the muscular recovery process.


There seems to be a non-insulin mediated glucose transport that takes place within this window, so feel free to break out the sweet potatoes and bananas!


Although fruit/vegetables and lean meat sound sooo appetizing after a heavy 5x3 back squat with a hint of AMRAP, I, personally, tend to prefer the liquid meal. It's believed to be faster absorbing and it is a bit easier to shoot down the hatch. This is just my preference, like I said everyone is different. To be precise, I have a 12 oz gatorade (40g carbs) with a heaping scoop of whey (40g protein). Keep in mind those numbers may change workout to workout with regard to the duration, intensity and/or load of the wod. It's delicious, convenient and most of all easy to take to the gym and slam shortly after peeling myself off the ground. Now you can really have fun with the flavors but I prefer to keep things simple. Orange gatorade + vanilla protein = heavenly orange creme. Try it out if you'd like and let me know what you guys think. Everyone seems to hate on the idea, but honestly its not about taste it's more about effect. I would drink sewage water if it would best recover and prep my body for Steph D's partner wod the following day.


All in all ladies and gentleman it comes down to reaping the benefits of your workouts. If you expect the most out of your bodies day in and day out, you have to treat it right. That feeling of fatigue/soreness and lethargy could sometimes be a lack of "post-workout" nutrition. I know I certainly feel the "wrath of the wod" when I don't fuel my body correctly post-exercise.


Just a quick food for thought on post-workout nutrition. I don't see many people doing it and I truly think we can all benefit from it. We wonder why we can't get out of bed the morning after walking lunges, well a small meal of protein + carbohydrates post-lunges could be of much assistance for future reference. Play around with it and find what works for you, but definitely get something in and get it in quick!


Thanks for letting me bore you, like I said earlier if you ever have any questions regarding any of my posts or anything in general, feel free to blog/comment/ask/e-mail (aja@crossfitwesthouston.com) anytime. We are here to help you guys on your path to excellence. Keep living life.


-AB

9 comments:

  1. Good stuff, Aja. I've tended to lean to a healthy dose of chocolate milk (~20 oz) for PWO nutrition since I don't use Whey. I know it's not Paleo b/c of the dairy, but have you had any experience with choc. milk or know any pros/cons with using it?

    Great stuff, keep it coming!

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  2. Brian,

    Yes, I have also seen chocolate milk to be quite the popular post-recovery beverage. It aids the body in recovery, especially the muscles. The balanced blend of protein + carbohydrates + nutrients post-workout help in building and rebuilding lost stores of glycogen as well as lean muscle tissue. It's quick, efficient and awesomely cheap! Excellent when choosing something simple to take down after working out.

    For people with specific goals, you may want to be precise in picking your brand. A lot of chocolate milk out there is high in corn syrup or HFCS(high fructose corn syrup). I know some of the brands at whole foods contain sugar or organic sugar that can correctly trigger the insulin response needed post-wod. This is the best time to get glucose to the muscles without much of an insulin spike, so this is a way to do it right.

    One final point, you may want to try a non-fat/low-fat chocolate milk brand as I know fat has a hankering to slow the release of glucose into circulation which reduces insulin response and glycogen resynthesis.

    Main point is carbs + protein is key, there are a thousand ways to skin a cat, find what works best and DDOOOO ITTTT. Be your own scientist and experiment on yourself. It's fun!

    *A great crossfit journal video dealing with post-workout nutrition with some of crossfit's best athletes can be found in the link below. I know for a fact Miranda Oldroyd prefers the chocolate milk. Her take...."delicious".

    http://journal.crossfit.com/2010/08/post-wod1.tpl#_login

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  3. Just wanted to put my $0.02 in about this topic.... I started bumping up my training without increasing my attention to recovery food and definitely felt the effects of that. I was suffering from injuries for awhile and kept making myself sore day after day...

    PWO nutrition is where it's at. I eat a few ounces of round steak or cold chicken and a helping of baked sweet potatoes and I feel Oh-so-much better. I do the liquid replenishing like Aja does if I'm stuck without food.

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  4. I've had good success with coconut water and whey protein. When I do use this combination I am definately not as sore the next day. The coconut water can get expensive though. Has anyone seen coconut water at Costco? I keep forgetting to look.

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  5. Awesome stuff here, I have heard about the chocolate milk thing too.

    Also, I hate to consistently be Captain Snarky, but can we do something about this eye-raping font? Gracias.

    BP

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  7. Reese,

    Unfortunately I don't know where to get cheap coconut water. It's probably best if we don't find it cheap, with correct nutrition and good products you kind of pay for what you get.

    As for coconut water, I have tried it and it is awesome. I'm a bit uneasy with the taste but it is said to have more electrolytes in one cup than one full sports drink (Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) and more potassium than a full banana! Taste aside, that is some potent stuff.

    It's excellent for re-hydration and post-workout due to it's mineral content.

    Drink up!

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  8. This font is terrible.

    -Captain Snarky's sidekick.

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  9. i would get a protein powder and use it *if* i could find one that was soy/dairy free... whey is dairy............ anyone?

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