Post Workout Nutrition

Post workout nutrition is the one time that will make or break your efforts when it comes to making real progress in your fitness and bodybuilding goals. Catabolic hormones are surging and anabolic hormones are surpressed, you're fatigued and need energy, so how do you reverse these variables? With a post workout shake, that's how! There are a couple of different methods, but the main concept is the same - simple carbohydrates and a fast digesting whey protein to begin with. Glucose is recommended (over sucrose, fructose etc) for the carb source and Whey protein for the protein. Whey protein isolate that is hydrolyzed would be optimal as far as quality and speed of digestion. Along with these mainstays, taking other supplements after your workout will faciliate their uptake and usage because the body has been depleted. So, a multivitamin, creatine, glutamine, BCAA's etc can all be taken with the shake and shuttled into the muscles with the help of the simple carbohydrates. Now, most people have never heard of having something like this after a workout and many think it is unnecessary. However, if you invest the effort, this way pay off more than anything else. However, there slightly different variation of this that I have found to work even better and here it is with exact product recommendations as well. An hour before your workout, eat a complex carbohydrate and lean protein (no fat) source. (oatmeal and can of tuna is a great example). Then, 15 minutes before you hit the weights, take some Essential Amino Acids (EAA's). I recommend Champion Nutrition's Amino Acid Shooter for this, and it tastes fantastic to boot! During your workout, drink only water. Immediately when you are done, have a shake with 60g Waxy Maize Starch with glutamine and creatine. (Waxy Maize is sold under the name "Vitargo" however it is expensive, so I recommend buying from trueprotein.com, it is exactly the same and much much less expensive.) Wait 20 minutes, then consume a whey protein isolate shake. (I prefer Isoflex by Allmax Nutrition) 1 hour after finishing that, eat a whole food meal consisting of a quality protein, complex carbohydrate, vegetable and healthy fat source. (Chicken, broccoli, flax oil and sweet potato) Do that after your next intense weight training workout and I guarantee you will recover and grow faster than you ever thought was possible!