Athletes Diet - Reason For Post Workout Nutrition

REASON FOR POST-WORKOUT NUTRITION

After training, even for relatively short times, muscle glycogen levels are depleted and liver glycogen levels fall, resulting in low blood sugar levels. Low blood sugar are terrible for mental concentration, clarity of thought, mood and energy levels. Chronic low blood sugar levels cause havoc in your system.

At the same time, training stimulates the adrenal system, which results in a range of catabolic hormones being present in the body. The consequence of which is that the body is in a net catabolic state, ie breaking itself down. So not only are you in a state of trauma from intense exercise, your body is drained, including the whole energy systems and of course the nervous system, and your body is primed for breaking its own muscle down.

However, so long as the training period has not been too long, both growth hormone levels and testosterone levels are elevated, so the body is well primed for repair and recovery. You will find that natural growth hormones and testosterone tend to elevate and reach a peak when your training lasts around 45mins. Any longer and they begin to decline, and the catabolic hormones begin to rise and place your body into a bad situation.

To make this rise of anabolic hormones happen, the body needs carbohydrates, and quite a lot of them. Immediately after a workout, simple carbohydrates are required to raise blood sugar levels. This will reduce cortisol levels, which will reduce the level of catabolic activity taking place in the body. It is ideal to raise blood sugar levels as fast and as efficiently as possible immediately post a training workout.

Fructose, which is a simple fruit sugar, will aid in replenishing liver glycogen. This maximises the amounts of carbohydrates available for muscle glycogen replenishment. In other words - once your liver is pull up with glycogen, the rest is going to be delivered directly into the skeletal muscle tissue (the storage site for glycogen). Fructose is a simple carbohydrate unit, but it's structurally different from glucose. Due to its structure, it can possibly cause GI problems and/or decrease fluid uptake with exercise. Fructose, unlike other simple carbs, has to be "treated" in the liver and it reaches the muscle slowly. Consume your fructose definitely post training.

Maltodextrin is a glucose polymer (a string of glucose units put together, similar to the protein peptide). It is therefore, by definition, a complex carbohydrate. However it's more complex nature does NOT slow digestion. Therefore, the GI and II remain high. Maltodextrin is the absolute best carbohydrate to consume during exercise for rapidly delivering blood glucose and for muscle glycogen recovery. It's also best for fluid uptake.

Dextrose (glucose) is a simple carbohydrate unit (similar to the amino acid). While it's good for exercise situations (malto is better), you're probably better off adding some dextrose to your maltodextrin formula. A little bit of dextrose may enhance the already excellent fluid uptake that occurs with maltodextrin during exercise.

Finally, sucrose consists of glucose and fructose units bonded together. Therefore, upon digestion, you get glucose and fructose in the GI (and the benefits and consequences of each).

Based on three studies reviewed (Blom et al 1987, ven Den Burgh et al 1996, Piehl et al 2000), it appears that dextrose is 72% faster than fructose for muscle glycogen resynthesis . As a result, at the end of 8 hours, muscle glycogen was 30% higher with dextrose ingestion. However, in another study, at the end of 4 hours, muscle glycogen was 15% higher with maltodextrin ingestion vs. dextrose. So bottomline is that dextrose is superior to fructose, although malto beats dextrose hands down generally..

Generally speaking, you need about 30% of your daily carbohydrates in the 4 hours after training, and because your body is producing a number of enzymes that inhibit fat storage, you are unlikely to store these calories as body fat. So, immediately after and for four hours after training eat plenty of carbohydrates, the majority of the days allowance, or at least 30%.

Similarly, immediately after a workout, rapidly absorbed whey protein is the first choice for muscle repair and growth. Whilst some of it will be oxidised and used as energy, most of it will be delivered straight to the muscle cells in response to the high levels of anabolic hormones circulating in the body. Whey protein itself has an amino acid profile that is very similar to that of human muscle and is the fastest absorbed protein you can get your hands on. This catapults your body straight back into a repair and grow state, as apposed to the state of being broken down. This is the aim of the post workout meal at all times.

If there is only one time in the day you want to use a liquid meal supplement, this is it!

Glutamine is the most prevalent amino acid in the muscle, and lots of it is lost during training, where it is released and converted into branch chain amino acids (BCAA's). Supplementing with glutamine after training is probably a good idea. Your muscle is made up of probably 70% glutamine. It is the first and most major amino to be broken down and used up by the body. Full replenishment of your glutamine reserves encourages rapid and improved recovery and muscle fullness.

Creatine is used to manufacture ATP during training. By replacing lost creatine immediately after training you will assist in re-hydrating muscle cellls and maximise anabolic processes. After whey protein, this is the second most popular supplement, as its results are extremely powerful and indeed don't go unnoticed.

Everything that you do in your post workout meal is probably the single biggest influencing factor over the results that you achieve. When you consume the correct ratios of food for you in this perfect window of opportunity for accelerated nutrient uptake you are going to maximise all that you can in terms of full recovery and growth. Eating the correct amounts and types of food during this post workout period will help you combat overtraining.