Tag: pre workout

Pre workout meals

Good nutrition can help your body perform better and recover faster after each workout.

Optimal nutrient intake prior to exercise will not only help you maximize your performance but also minimize muscle damage. Fueling your body with the right nutrients prior to exercise will give you the energy and strength you need to perform better.Each macronutrient has a specific role before a workout. However, the ratio in which you need to consume them varies by the individual and type of exercise

Below is a brief look at the role of each macronutrient.

Carbs

Your muscles use the glucose from carbs for fuel.

Glycogen is the way the body processes and stores glucose, mainly in the liver and muscles.

For short- and high-intensity exercise, your glycogen stores are your muscles’ main source of energy (3Trusted Source).

But for longer exercises, the degree to which carbs are used depends on several factors. These include the intensity, type of training and your overall diet (3Trusted Source).

Your muscles’ glycogen stores are limited. As these stores become depleted, your output and intensity diminish (4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source, 6).

Studies have consistently shown that carbs can increase glycogen stores and utilization while boosting carb oxidation during exercise (6, 7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source).

Carb loading, which involves consuming a high-carb diet for 1–7 days, is a well-known method to maximize glycogen stores (7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source).

Protein

Many studies have documented the potential of pre-workout protein consumption to improve athletic performance.

Eating protein (alone or with carbs) prior to exercise has been shown to increase muscle protein synthesis (9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source).

One study showed a positive anabolic response after participants consumed 20 grams of whey protein before exercise (9Trusted Source).

Other benefits of eating protein before exercise include:

Fat

While glycogen is used for short- and high-intensity bouts of exercise, fat is the source of fuel for longer and moderate-to-low-intensity exercise (14Trusted Source).

Some studies have investigated the effects of fat intake on athletic performance. However, these studies looked at high-fat diets over a long period, rather than prior to exercise (15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source).

For example, one study showed how a four-week diet consisting of 40% fat increased endurance running times in healthy, trained runners (15Trusted Source).

TIMING

To maximize the results of your training, try to eat a complete meal containing carbs, protein and fat 2–3 hours before you exercise.However, in some cases, you may not be able to get in a full meal 2–3 hours before working out.In that case, then you can still eat a decent pre-workout meal. However, keep in mind that the sooner you eat before your workout, the smaller and simpler the meal should be.If you eat 45–60 minutes prior to your workout, choose foods that are simple to digest and contain mainly carbs and some protein.This will help prevent any stomach discomfort during exercis

How caffeine boosts your workout

Studies have shown that Caffeine benefit endurance performance, high-intensity exercise and power sports. There have been enumerable researches on the effectivness and safety of caffeine. It is the most studied supplement out there. Caffeine has health benefits, but the performance benefits are discussed in this article.

4 reasons why caffeine makes workouts better

1 – MORE ENERGY – the first reason why caffeine makes your workouts better is, it increases your energy levels. Here, energy means alertness. The way caffeine works in your brain is as a central nervous stimulator, it blocks certain receptors to increase the levels of adernaline, dopamine, epinephrine. The increased levels of epinephrine, dopamine and adernaline give you the drive and a little bit of euphoria. The “drive” that you get makes a large difference between a good workout and a bad workout.

2. MORE STRENGTH – the second reason why caffeine makes your workouts better is, it increases your muscle strength. The research on caffeine shows that “one dose” of caffeine before workout can have an effect on your strength and increase your strength immediately. One dose implies a high enough amount of caffeine, i.e 300mg or more. The main way it does this is by stimulating the nervous system. The nerves which activate muscle fibres, with the intake of caffeine now activate those muscle fibre’s with even more force . More force on muscle fibre’s equals more strength.

3. MORE ENDURANCE – the third reason why caffeine makes your workouts better is, it increases your endurance during workouts. There are several ways through which caffeine increases your endurance. The first way is, by increasing fat burning levels during workouts. This means that when you train with caffeine, you burn more fat.That spears muscle glycogen which means you have more energy later on in the workout, when you need it. Another way by which caffeine increases your endurance is by boosting nitric oxide levels. Research actually shows that caffeine can enhance vessel dilation. It makes your blood vessel’s wider, which ensures in greater blood flowing through muscles. More blood flowing through muscles delivers more oxygen and more nutrients, which indeed increase endurance during workouts

4. LESS MUSCLE PAIN – the fourth and final reason why caffeine makes your workouts better is, it decreases muscle pain during workout. Research actually shows that caffeine works better than ibuprofen for blunting your muscle pain during workouts. With less muscle pain, you can go off limits with your workout and hit those extra reps which wouldn’t be possible without caffeine. More reps equals better results.

Performance benefits research

In a research conducted by National Library of Medicine with the purpose of studying the duration of caffeine’s ergogenic effect and whether it differs between users and non users of the drug, where Twenty-one subjects (13 caffeine users and 8 nonusers) completed six randomized exercise rides to exhaustion at 80% of maximal oxygen consumption after ingesting either a placebo or 5 mg/kg of caffeine. Exercise to exhaustion was completed once per week at either 1, 3, or 6 hours after placebo or drug ingestion. 

 Exercise time to exhaustion differed between users and nonusers with the ergogenic effect being greater and lasting longer in nonusers.

In conclusion, both the duration and magnitude of the ergogenic effect that followed a 5 mg/kg dose of caffeine were greater in the nonusers compared with the users.

*ibuprofen – Ibuprofen is a medication in the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug class that is used for treating pain, fever, and inflammation*