Bodybuilding nutrition is more than merely pounding down a lot of food. You have to know what to eat before, during and after your workouts to make the most of your training and get the best results. The food combos you choose can determine whether you’ll add fat-free muscle mass or just bulk muscle coupled with unwanted bodyfat.
On the fat-burning side of the equation, the foods and combos of foods you eat before and after you hit a cardio session can maximize your ability to cut up and retain hard-earned muscle mass. For weight-training nutrition, taking in the best combination and quantity of macronutrients will accelerate your muscle growth. Check out the nutrition prescriptions in this feature for ideal meal strategies for both cardio and weight training.
Cardio Nutrition
Bodybuilders should perform at least two 30- to 45-minute cardio sessions a week year-round for general conditioning. Keep in mind that cardio can impact your ability to grow, so you don’t want to go wild and do it every day.
When you’re trying to shed bodyfat, you can do considerably more, building up to as many as five sessions of up to one hour each week. Follow these nutrition recommendations for best results.
Before
Eating nothing before cardio has always been the ideal. Cardio uses bodyfat as fuel and the amount of carbohydrates in the bloodstream influences your body’s ability to maximize fat burning. If there are a lot of carbs in your bloodstream from a recent meal, then fat-burning decreases. If there’s but a scant amount of carbs in your blood, fat-burning skyrockets. That’s what makes cardio in the morning on an empty stomach so effective. No carbs in the blood especially after an overnight fast elevates your ability to melt away bodyfat.
Studies & Research
New research shows that fat burning can be enhanced even further if you take amino acids before your cardio workout. We recommend going with three to six grams (g) of an amino acid product that contains alanine, arginine, cysteine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine. Another option is to go with 10-20 g of pure whey protein isolate or hydrolysate. Just be sure the product contains no carbs or fat.
During Drink Water
Marathon runners often swig energy drinks such as Gatorade, which might make you think you should, too. Wrong. The calories from these drinks are quickly absorbed and decrease your body’s ability to burn bodyfat. Endurance athletes use these drinks to provide energy to keep the body from working so hard.
Water is the best thing for a bodybuilder to consume while doing cardio. It will help keep you hydrated, enhancing recovery and the flushing of harmful toxins.
After Consume Plenty Of Protein
Even cardio work can create a catabolic state, and protein can help put an end to that. Specifically, whey protein and egg whites top the list as premier postcardio protein sources. They hit the bloodstream faster than any other amino acid source, helping to prevent muscle loss. You need some carbohydrates after cardio, but it’s best to wait 90 minutes before ingesting them. That’s because carbs cause a rise in insulin, which may override the fat-burning hormones released from cardio. At the 90-minute mark, you may eat carbs. Specifically, go for slow-burning ones such as oatmeal, rye bread, yams or yogurt.
Take in 40-80 g of carbs and eat these with a whole-food protein source such as meat, steak or eggs. These carbs cause a more moderate release of insulin. Keeping insulin levels in check after cardio is important in burning as much fat as possible.
Weight Training Nutrition
Recent studies and years of anecdotal evidence from bodybuilders have dramatically improved our knowledge about weight-training nutrition.
Now, we can confidently tell you exactly what to eat before, during and after your weight workouts.
Before
Eat carbs and protein, and drink water. The crux here is the total amount of carbs as well as the type. If you have a very hard time gaining mass and you maintain a very low level of bodyfat it’s important to take in plenty of carbs, mostly from fast-digesting sources such as Cream of Rice cereal, white rice, bagels, bread or protein drinks with simple carbs such as dextrose and maltodextrin. Hardgainers should take in up to 100-150 g of carbs 45 minutes before training along with 20-40 g of protein. The total amount of carbs and protein in your blood during training plays a huge role in mass gains. Thinner bodybuilders with a fast metabolism fail to gain mass because their bodies fall hard during training. Although everyone slips into a catabolic state from hitting the iron, hardgainers crash.
Maintaining a surplus of carbs and protein in the blood during training can prevent such a crash. The fast-digesting carbs are easily processed, making it more comfortable to digest such a large quantity.
Fast & Slow Digesting carbs
Bodybuilders who struggle to stay lean should take in 70-90 g of carbs with 20-40 g of protein. Focus on a mix of fast-and slow-digesting carbs such as oatmeal with raisins or rye bread with low-sugar jam. Moderation will balance your impending catabolic state against your body’s tendency to add bodyfat. The fast-digesting carbs will hit your body quickly, helping you stay anabolic, while the slow burners will help keep you anabolic at the end of your training session. If this applies to you, because you take in fewer carbs than hardgainers, the slow-burning sources will help keep carbs in your system through the end of your workout and beyond.
All bodybuilders can benefit from drinking 16 or more ounces of water before training. This helps to pump up your blood volume and to prevent dehydration.
During
Keep drinking water, and feel free to sip a protein and simple-carb drink. The ratio should be about 2:1 of carbs to protein, and keep your drink watered. You don’t want an abundance of calories while you work out. A nice steady intake will keep you anabolic through and beyond your workout.
After
Plan for a meal loaded with protein, carbs and healthy fats later on. Whether you have a fast metabolism or slow one, you need to eat really eat after the gym. You need sufficient carbs, plenty of protein and an appropriate amount of dietary fat. The amount and type of carb content consumed in your pretraining meal will impact your postexercise carb intake, as will the length of your workout. When muscles are worked and glycogen stores fall from gut-busting training, nearly any carb will suffice fast or slow to replenish glycogen stores. If your pretraining meal includes plenty of fast-acting simple carbs, this helps kick up insulin levels a bit, priming your muscles to store and quickly utilize posttraining carbs. The addition of slower carbs ensures that you are still receiving a supply of carbs, assuming that the workout lasted less than an hour. With this, you can eat a mix of both fast and complex carbs with the emphasis on complex. Eating exclusively fast-digesting carbs can often leave your blood sugar levels too low after training, compromising your anabolic drive.
To stay anabolic after training, you need the sustained release of carbs to maintain your blood sugar levels rather than ratcheting them through the roof, leading to a crash soon after. Shoot for 40-100 g of carbs; hardgainers can even push it closer to 150 g.
Optimal Recovery
Easily digested protein sources such as whey protein, egg whites and fish are definitely important for immediate recovery. The best approach is to consume 30-50 g immediately, and then include slower-digesting protein sources such as chicken, meat, whole eggs or casein powders about an hour or so later. This is an ideal time to include a protein powder containing both whey and casein for the mix of fast-and slow-digesting proteins. This time is also perfect for fats of any kind. Fats consumed after a stressful situation such as training are used to support immunity, to support testosterone levels which wane toward the end of a workout and to upgrade insulin sensitivity; they will not go toward bodyfat storage. Emphasize healthy-fat food sources such as avocados, olives, fatty fish and oils such as canola and olive. But don’t fear other fats, such as those found in meat or eggs. These fats can be beneficial at this time, despite their bad reputation.
Carbs with fat following training create an ideal anabolic environment: Carbs initiate the release of insulin, which is anabolic, and dietary fats improve insulin’s ability to “lock up” with the muscles, creating a growth state.
Food For Thought And Growth
Knowing which foods to eat and when to eat them are the keys to training nutrition. Sure, training is important, but if you don’t know how to adequately support it with nutrition, you won’t get the most from it.
Follow these guidelines for cardio and weight-training nutrition to maximize your muscle gains and your physique.
Nutrition Timetable
Author: Chris Aceto
Websites: Procardnutrition.com & Flexonline.com
COPYRIGHT 2010 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2010 Gale, Cengage Learning
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A calorie ratio of 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent proteins, and 30 percent fat minimizes your glycemic load (insulin) and thus the fat you retain. This balance also provides the three key macro nutrients needed to keep a body in hormonal balance.
Firstly I can say I finallllyyy found the article I’ve been looking for!! this explains everything
Now pre workout (Weights) I have 10g BCAA, 5g Glutamine and 70g of simple carbs. Is this fine?
I train first thing in the morning and protein drinks doesn’t settle too well with me when i get into training
Also on cardio days if I do some HIIT cardio (15 minute walk + 15 min short sprints) would that change what I have immediately after?
Cheers
Baz