All About Pre and Post Workout Nutrition

Many people fail to ensure they are taking in the correct foods and macros when it comes to pre and post workout nutrition. This therefore can and will play an integral part of the overall training programme as you must ensure you are taking in the right nutrition both before and after working out.

LA Muscle have caught up with Mr Universe, LA Muscle TV presenter and winner of numerous bodybuilding titles Neale Cranwell who explains this in more depth and outlines what has worked and is working for him....

Pre Workout Nutrition:

Carbohydrates are the key to having adequate fuel in your tank for a hard workout. There are 2 types of carbohydrates, simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates (like dextrose mentioned above) are quickly converted into energy for use in the body.

Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest and process, but provide you with long lasting energy. Complex carbohydrates are your primary fuel source for your workouts.

What you eat throughout the day, and 1.5-3 hours before your workout is going to affect how much energy you have. You need to space your meals out evenly throughout the day. If you eat a big breakfast, a big lunch, then train after work, you’re probably going to feel tired and sluggish. What would be better a better approach would be to eat a small breakfast, mid morning meal, smaller lunch, afternoon meal, then train after work. This gives you about 2 hours between your last meal and training, which is ideal.

So what should you have in your pre workout meal? This meal should be well rounded, containing protein, complex carbohydrate and fats. The amount of calories in the meal depends on your personal diet plan. Try and keep the protein/carbs/fats (PCF) ratio to around 30/50/20. Here are some examples of quality sources of complex carbohydrates which can be eaten before your training:

• · Brown rice
  
• · Potatoes
  
• · Brown bread
  
• · Pasta
  
• · Oats
  
• · Pita bread
  
• · LA Muscle Possessed to ignite your energy levels
  
• · Vasculator for a pre-workout pump
  

Protein examples include:

• · Chicken breast
  
• · Tuna
  
• · Turkey
  
• · LA Whey Protein
  
• · Egg Whites
  

Mix your carbs and protein together to give your muscles the nutrition they need pre training!

Post Workout Nutrition: Your post workout shake/meal is arguably the most important meal of the day. When you finish your workout, your muscles are crying out for nutrients that were lost during training. Your protein levels are down, creatine levels are down, and glycogen is depleted. Most people think that a simple whey protein shake is all that’s needed after your workout. This is not true. While a protein shake is better than nothing, it still falls well short of a good post workout shake. Here’s what would be better:

Shake containing the following:

1. 30-40g of whey protein powder like LA Whey Protein

2. 5g of creatine

3. 60-70g of dextrose

4. LA Muscle Repo along with 311 BCASS

1 hour later: A well rounded meal containing protein, complex carbs and fats. This has always worked well for me and provided me with what I need pre and post training.