Nutrition after exercise

There is a need right after the workout, preferably in the first 20 minutes. If you refrain from food for 2 hours after the end of training, then the training loses all meaning - as a result, nothing is trained, a little fat will burn, and everything, but there will be no gain in strength, muscle density, slenderness and metabolic rate. In the first 20 minutes after training, a so-called post-training (anabolic) window is opened in the body for the consumption of proteins and carbohydrates (but not fats). All that will be eaten in this period, will go to muscle recovery and muscle mass gain, not one calorie of food will go to fat. It is very important. Carbohydrates after exercise are best consumed in liquid form from simple, high-glycemic sources. You need to achieve a sharp jump in the level of insulin, with its anabolic and anti-catabolic (help build up a clean muscle tissue) properties. The best are cranberry and grape juice, because they have a high ratio of glucose to fructose. Consume about 1 g of carbohydrates from the juice for each kilogram of IDEAL weight. A glass of grape juice contains 38 grams of carbohydrates (155 kcal), and a glass of cranberry juice - 31 grams of carbohydrates (115 kcal). You can also eat any carbohydrate food that does not contain fat (bread, jam, sugar, potatoes, rice, pasta, fruit, vegetables, etc.).

In addition, immediately after training, you need to boot up with proteins. It is best in the form of a protein drink made from powder. In this way, protein synthesis in muscles after exercise will increase 3 times (compared to fasting). So take a bottle of cocktail of protein powder and juice with you, if you are training outside the house, and drink it all as soon as you stop exercising. The amount of protein from the powder should be 0.55 g per kilogram of ideal weight. If you can not drink protein shakes for some reason, rely on the egg whites.

If you can eat within an hour of training, then choose any protein food, just calculate the right amount of protein. Its dose of protein food can be defined very simply: it should fit on your palm. Since there is only one important goal after a workout is to maximize the growth of muscle mass as quickly and effectively as possible, then the fat in this meal should not be contained at all. Fat will slow the intake of carbohydrates and proteins from the stomach into the blood.

Protein food should be lean, that is, if the chicken is the breast, not the legs. If the eggs, then only proteins. Beef and pork should be avoided, since they are always very greasy, give preference to veal. You also need to be careful with cheese, milk, yogurt and cottage cheese - as a rule, they contain at least 5% fat. The exception is only fatty fish (not fried!). It can and should be eat as often as possible.

After training, within two hours, it is desirable to exclude everything that contains caffeine: coffee, tea, cocoa and all chocolate (even protein powders with chocolate taste). The fact that caffeine interferes with the work of insulin and thus prevents your body from reloading glycogen into muscles and liver and using protein to repair the muscles. So if you train in the morning, endure 2 hours, and then drink real strong coffee. A cup of coffee, when drunk before exercise, should help you stay alert and energetic. If you can not refuse coffee or tea at all, choose their decaffined analogues.