Optimize Your Nutrition to Maximize Your Workout
If you’re someone who is exercising for general health (resistance training, cardio, yoga, Pilates etc.) & finding your energy levels to be low during the days you workout…listen up!
I hear people say this all the time...
“I’m so tired on days I workout I feel like I need to go back to sleep”
“I can’t workout without taking pre-workout I have no energy!”
Our nutrition can enhance our workout performance by providing our bodies with the energy and essential nutrients needed for activity and recovery!
Energy demands are strongly influenced by intensity and duration of our exercise.
For example, if you're an endurance runner or biker and your workouts are longer than an hour, you will have different fueling strategies and energy requirements compared to someone weight lifting for an hour or going to a yoga class.
The point of this blog is to educate you on general fueling strategies for exercise. These are general guidelines, not specific to your individual needs, and should not be taken as medical advice. That being said, let’s dive in!
Pre-Workout
Carbs + Protein
Carbohydrates are our body’s preferred energy source and can be stored as glycogen for later use.
Protein helps build, repair and maintain our muscles.
Overtime, if we don’t consume enough carbohydrates to support our energy needs, we risk breaking down our muscles to use protein as energy, which is not preferred.
Generally, we should aim to consume a meal 1-4 hours before our exercise, depending on how well your body digests food. This meal should contain a complete protein and carbohydrate
Examples include: avocado toast with scrambled eggs, overnight oats with chia seeds & fruit, smoothie with protein & fruit, greek yogurt with granola
If you don’t have enough time to eat a meal before your workout, you should try to eat a small snack of easy to digest carbohydrates like fruit or fruit juice 30-60 minutes before.
Caffeine
Caffeine consumption prior to a workout has shown to
Improve endurance exercise performance
Improve high intensity training performance
Increase metabolism
Decrease fatigue
Rather than relying on a pre-workout supplement, try drinking coffee, espresso or tea for a boost of energy!
During
Hydration
If your workouts are an hour or less, sipping on water throughout will be enough for hydration. However, if you're exercising for longer periods of time or maybe exercising in the heat (outdoors or hot yoga) you may want to consider a sports drink to replenish electrolytes and prevent cramping.
Carbohydrates
If you're a long-distance runner, biker, hiker etc. and your exercise is longer than 60 minutes, you may want to consider replenishing your glycogen stores by consuming simple carbohydrates every hour after the first 60 minutes.
This will help improve your endurance and avoid the cramping feeling your muscles get!
Simple carbohydrate options include: fruit, granola bars or a sports drink with carbohydrates.
Post-Workout
Carbs + Protein
Replenish and repair! After exercise, it’s very important we consume quality carbohydrates and protein to replenish our glycogen stores and repair our muscle.
It is recommended to consume a meal within 30-120 minutes post workout.
Your post-workout meal should have a complete protein and quality carbohydrate.
Examples include: salmon + rice, turkey burger on a whole grain bun + sweet potatoes, protein shake with fruit, yogurt bowl with granola + fruit.
It’s also important to note that more doesn't mean better. As mentioned earlier, protein helps build and repair muscle. You’d think if protein is what builds muscle, then eating more will help build more muscle! Well, not necessarily. The extra dietary protein our body does not utilize gets stored as fat. So, more protein does not = more muscle 💪
Hydration
Another important part of your post-exercise nutrition is hydration! You need to replenish fluids that you lost from sweat by drinking water, or in some cases a sports drink.
An easy way you can determine if you’re dehydrated is to look at the color of your urine. It should be a pale yellow color. If it’s a dark yellow, that would indicate dehydration.
If you're exercising for longer periods of time, exercising in the heat (outdoors or hot yoga) or maybe just sweated a lot, you may want to consider a sports drink to replenish electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium).
You can also replenish electrolytes through food sources like salted crackers, avocados, bananas, coconut water, salted nuts, pretzels, etc.
Closing thoughts…
Consuming adequate calories to support your energy needs is important for performance and recovery
Try incorporating a pre and post workout meal into your routine if you haven’t already
If you are thinking about using a protein powder, make sure you read our blog on protein powders before you purchase anything!
If you have questions, feel free to contact Healthful Coaching
Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism, 7th Edition. Sareen S. Gropper, Jack L. Smith, Timothy P. Carr. ISBN-978-1305627857. 2018