Sunday, October 12, 2014

Pre and Post Workout Nutrition



Pre and Post Workout Nutrition
            When working out you have to have an understanding of what you are going to do afterwards.  Are you going to eat a fried chicken dinner, are you going to take a nap, are you going to watch TV and eat a whole bag of Funyuns.  YOU SHOULDN’T!!!  After working out it is best to eat a good balance of food and drink to replace what you just lost through working out.  So, while exercising you are (hopefully) sweating a lot and losing sodium, vitamins, and basically energy.  If you finish working out and don’t replace these things, you are not going to see as good of results as you could be.
            Pre-Workout is mostly about energy for getting ready for working out.  Pre-workout could be anything from taking supplements to eating shortly before to just consuming a Gatorade or Powerade product.  Pre-workout is not as important as post-workout but it can help you with your performance while exercising and could help you with gains.  One example could be eating a meal with lots of carbohydrates in it like pasta or potatoes.  Carbs are what give you energy and eating carbs before a workout could help you with your performance in the gym.  There are also many different types of pre-workout supplements, this is a little more extreme but could really help with results.  Most of them have special chemicals that could help increase strength and muscle but they are not steroids.  One other thing that works well if you just want more energy to work out and not get so tired from doing it are these new Gatorade chews, they taste a bit odd but work great if you just want more energy.
            Post-workout is very important for exercising, you can not worry about pre-workout and be perfectly fine, but post-workout is vital.  After your workout you are so tired and sore and you are deprived of the vitamins, sodium, and protein in your muscle fibers.  So one of the most common things to do is to plan your workout just before a meal or to buy protein bars, powders, or other protein based workout supplement.  The best thing to do is to get about forty grams of protein after a workout.  Another major thing that you could do is to eat a type of treat or dessert after working out, because you have used your muscles so much and have burned glucose and sucrose and many other sugars in your body that it is best to get it back.  So yes after a hard workout you can go have your cake, frozen yogurt, or ice cream as long as its fat free.       

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