Pre and Post Workout Nutrition for Athletic Performance
Pre and post workout nutrition has been a hot topic for ages and for good reason, it’s essential to optimal recovery and top athletic performance! Realistically it’s not that complicated of a process, it’s mostly just about proper planning and consistency! What you’re eating and the timing of those things are really what’s going to make or break your nutrition results!
Pre-Workout
Everyone is focused on what pre-workout supplements to take when realistically a proper pre-workout meal or snack is what is going to give you optimal energy for a beast workout! The timing and what to eat are the two main questions that will dictate how you attack your pre-workout nutrition. Have less than an hour before working out? You’ll want to plan to eat something different than if you are eating 3 hours before a workout. So let’s dive into some timing scenarios and how to eat for each!
Timing and What to Eat
The timing of your food/snack is going to be a huge factor in either feeling great during your workout or feeling lethargic and having no energy. Small snack or something with
quick absorbing carbs should be within 45min to 1 hour of the workout. Having a big meal or a high protein, high fat meal aim for 2-3 hours before a workout and/or game.
1 Hour Before – small snack usually high in simple quick acting carbs. Options – A cup of fruit or banana, Rice cake with honey. These can be a great quick energy boost just before workout. Having something small like this multiple hours before a workout will probably leave you lacking energy as feeling tired as the energy from the food has probably already been utilized.
2-3 Hours before – A complete meal, this could be pasta with meatballs or grilled chicken rice and veggies. Meals higher in protein and fat take much longer to digest and breakdown to readily be available for energy. Having something like this too close to a workout will make you extremely lethargic as the body is competing to use energy to digest your food and energy for the workout.
Post-Workout
There is just as many post workout supplements as there pre workout supplements if not more…so how do I know what to take? Your post workout plan should be pretty simple, the main focus should be getting in quick absorbing protein and carbs right after a workout followed by a full complete meal. Let’s break this down a little further.
Timing and What to Eat
As we learned before timing is almost everything when it comes to pre and post workout nutrition! Having a protein shake right after a workout is great but if you don’t eat a meal until 5 hours later you might be doing a big disservice to your results!
Within 45 min post workout – Here is where you want to have a protein shake with some quick absorbing crabs and electrolytes. The protein helps start the muscle recovery process, the carbs help shuttle the protein to the muscles quicker as well as replenishes muscle glycogen and the electrolytes help replenish essential minerals lost from sweating.
1-2 Hours after Workout – Then you want to follow up your protein shake with a complete meal including protein, healthy fats, and carbs. This could be a steak, with a sweet potato and some asparagus.
This can sound complicated at first but once you build the habits it’s just another thing in your day like brushing your teeth. Remember your body is like a lambo or a bugatti, eat to fuel for high performance!
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Written by:
Rob Jost – ACE-CPT, NSCA-CPT
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Voorhees Flyers Training center.
The Hollydell ice arena, in the main building.
