Pre and Post Training Nutrition

Your nutrition in the hour before and after training is critical to your success. By using good pre-training nutritional practices you are not only preparing yourself well for the session, you are also getting a head start on recovering well from the session.

Choosing what to eat isn't too hard, anything you would eat post-training is a good place to start. Keep it simple and easy to digest and make sure you don't overeat. There is nothing worse than training with an overfull stomach. If you experience any sort of nausea you have probably eaten to much or eaten the wrong type of food. Some of you who have been training for a while may be used to training on an empty stomach and may experience some discomfort initially. Start with very small meals and gradually increase them. Making sure you're muscles are full and ready to go before training provides a huge performance boost.

Post-training nutrition is so obviously important it's surprising that more people don't take it seriously. The post-training period is when our bodies are most receptive to anything we eat and therefore the time when most gains can be made. Even for those on low carb plans should be sure to include some, if not most of their daily carb allotment into this period. Your muscle glycogen stores are depleted by training and you will be at your most insulin sensitive, so any carbs eaten post training will be used to replenish muscle glycogen and won't be stored as fat. Protein is also very important as your muscles have been broken down and ingestion of protein creates the amino acid building blocks of your muscles.

How much protein and carbs to ingest depends on your size and weight but a 50:50 protein:carb ratio is often suggested. Convenience is often a factor in post-training nutrition and a large portion of the enormous supplement industry is devoted to products catering to post-training nutrition. Everyone has different requirements and tastes so I don't want to recommend any one product. Don't always choose the cheapest though as the quality can vary substantially and remember there are plenty of real food options for this important meal as well.