An important question for every athlete is what you can eat after training. Sports activities are different. Exercises for muscle growth, mass gain, weight loss, strength sports, and gym sessions can transform an athlete in different ways. Different goals require different means. And nutrition, with different efforts, based on the same principles, is adjusted to specific tasks. The standard nutrition for intensive and regular training in the gym is fractional. Here we'll look at what's best to eat as a post-workout snack, without touching the main meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner.
In the morning
Breakfast, lunch and dinner constitute three meals a day - this is not enough to cover the body's daily energy expenditure during regular exercise. The rational nutrition regimen provides two more snacks for the correct nutritional load during the day - in the morning and in the evening.
After breakfast and morning exercises, it is important for an athlete to eat. The concept itself implies a small amount of food necessary to maintain energy growth and its expenditure during exercise.
In the first 20 minutes after charging, when the body continues to burn calories, food is completely processed and nothing is stored as fat. This is the optimal time to consume proteins and carbohydrates, but not fat. Food is used to restore energy and for muscle growth.
Carbohydrates are better absorbed in liquid form. It can be grape or apple natural juice. You can eat fruits, vegetables, cereals. The norm is 1 g of carbohydrates per 1 kg of weight. You cannot drink sweet soda, eat sweets, or sweet curd cheeses. To provide your body with proteins, drink a whey shake. You can dilute protein powder in juice before exercise and drink it after your workout. Normal protein weight is 0.6 g per 1 kg of weight. Instead of a cocktail, you can drink milk or, best of all, eat egg whites.
Drinking a glass of milk and snacking on a banana is a classic morning snack after a gym workout.
Eating after exercise is necessary for only one purpose - the fastest possible muscle recovery. Fat in foods slows down the absorption of proteins and carbohydrates, so it should not be there.
TOP 5 pre-workout breakfast foods
1. Oatmeal . It has a low glycemic index, perfectly saturates the body with complex carbohydrates, and does not contain fat. Whole grain oatmeal is especially healthy.
On the subject: Is it possible to drink cognac after training?
2. Chicken eggs . A familiar product for a morning meal. Contains easily digestible natural protein. A classic omelet with garden herbs is an excellent breakfast option for a bodybuilder.
3. Turkey meat . It is low in cholesterol and fat. A good supplier of protein for muscle building.
4. Fruits and nuts . Particularly noteworthy are bananas, apples, pears, pineapple, and citrus fruits. Rich in fiber, complex carbohydrates, microelements. Nuts are a source of unsaturated fats, folic and omega-6 acids.
5. Cottage cheese and natural yogurt . Indispensable for replenishing protein and calcium reserves. In combination with fruits and berries they are a complete breakfast.
In the evening
How to eat if training in the evening? Here we are not talking about dinner, but about a snack 20 minutes after the end of class. And about a snack at night before bed. Such meals are necessary not to maintain vitality in the body, but to prevent the destruction of muscle tissue, lethargy and weakness in the mornings after working out in the gym.
Bodybuilder nutrition can be natural, mixed and sports. It’s easier to use sports nutrition and drink suitable cocktails for snacks. However, the principles of rational nutrition do not encourage the replacement of natural products with active additives. Therefore, it is better to use a mixed type of nutrition.
- If you are exercising to increase body weight, then eat foods containing proteins and carbohydrates.
- If classes are conducted for muscle growth and to remove fat, then you can only snack on proteins. Whey protein will do. From products, choose those in which protein is absorbed faster - eggs instead of cottage cheese.
Eating protein before bed is good. Eating this way at night will help the body build muscles. Cottage cheese, egg whites, kefir - all this can be eaten both when losing weight and for gaining weight. Carbohydrates and fat should not be part of foods eaten before bed. An ideal product for a snack before bed is low-fat cottage cheese.
It is not recommended to go to bed immediately after a snack. You can just sit or do something easy: read, watch TV. And after half an hour you can already go to bed. Then your sleep will be light and restful.
Don't forget to have snacks on non-workout days. After all, fractional meals are necessary not only for gaining or losing body weight, but also for the absence of hunger, complete digestion and assimilation of all consumed foods.
Don't be afraid to have a light snack after finishing your exercise. Fat does not burn for a long time, and if you do not feed a hungry body, the muscles will begin to weaken.
The laws of rational nutrition have not been repealed. And violating them will only stop you in development and slow down the achievement of your goal.
- We advise you to read about: diet after six in the evening
How long before training should you eat?
A full breakfast should be eaten 2-2.5 hours before training. During this time, the food will already be partially digested, and the stomach will not be overloaded. During exercise, the body will receive a constant flow of energy due to the decomposition of slow carbohydrates.
If it suddenly happens that you did not have time to have breakfast, you should definitely have a snack an hour and a half before the start of classes. You can drink a glass of kefir with grain bread or eat some low-fat cottage cheese. If the workout starts early in the morning, you need to eat a banana or an apple 40-45 minutes before (the key word in this aspect is necessary).
To lose weight
What should a girl eat after training to lose weight? The main rule is to eat little and often. By refusing to eat in the evening, you can quickly lose weight. But the intensity of your exercise will decrease, your metabolism will slow down, and hunger will prevent you from losing weight. Therefore, a snack after exercise in the gym is necessary - it is advisable to eat within half an hour.
- After your morning workout, snack on a salad of lean meat and cottage cheese or cottage cheese.
- After your evening classes, eat a piece of cheese or drink a glass of milk. It's even easier to drink a protein shake.
Carbohydrates are excluded from snacks. The fat released during training is released back into muscle tissue when carbohydrates are consumed.
The calorie content of food should be 2 times less than the energy spent in the gym during classes. Then the rule - not to eat for 2 hours after working out in the gym in order to lose weight - does not need to be followed. It's very difficult to stick to and doesn't have much benefit. The ratio of carbohydrates to protein in a post-workout snack is 3:2.
Breakfast while drying
Drying is a set of measures aimed at forming beautiful, sculpted muscles. Particular attention is paid to the diet, the main principle of which is a gradual reduction in carbohydrates in the diet to zero and the same gradual release. We are also talking about limiting the amount of food consumed while maintaining physical activity.
A standard breakfast during drying will look like this;
- salad of fresh vegetables (cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes) with vegetable oil;
- boiled or baked chicken breast – 100 grams, can be replaced with two boiled eggs;
- bread with sunflower grains – within 23-25 grams;
- Drinks: coffee or tea with milk without sugar, 200 ml.
The calorie content of such a breakfast is 330 kcal.
Important. You should not suddenly remove carbohydrates from your diet, as a lack of glucose can lead to a diabetic coma.
After strength training
What should you eat after strength training? Strength training combines exercise in the gym, weight training, CrossFit exercises and other activities necessary for gaining mass and growing muscles. Strength sports involve heavy loads and energy consumption. Snacks can feel like a full meal. Regulate the amount of food you eat so that excess does not turn into fat.
In the morning, after class, make a snack of protein foods with carbohydrate porridges:
- Veal with buckwheat porridge;
- Rabbit meat with rice;
- Turkey with oatmeal.
In the evening, proteins should predominate in the menu to strengthen muscles:
- Chicken with zucchini;
- Meat with cucumbers and tomatoes;
- Squid with carrots.
During the first 10-20 minutes after completing the exercises, when having a snack, in addition to protein foods, fast carbohydrates are added: fruits, honey.
If you are gaining weight, eat 2 times more carbohydrates than protein. If you are losing weight, snack only on protein foods. If your weight is normal, there is as much protein in your diet as carbohydrates. If the goal is not to grow muscles, then snacks have a small portion size. Nuts, milk, cheese and protein shakes are used.
Dinner
Your lunch meal depends on your goals. For those who burn excess fat, protein foods and some healthy fats are suitable. To add some low-calorie food to the mix, eat an extra serving of vegetables.
If you're trying to gain weight, add a moderate amount of complex carbohydrates. Even during this period, it is advisable to eat most of your carbohydrates before your workout. Then all of them will be used by the body as energy.
What not to eat
What you should never eat after training:
- You cannot eat anything that is not allowed during any sports activities: sweets, alcohol, fatty, fried, spicy and smoked foods.
- Instant soups, sausages, GMO products, factory-made semi-finished products.
- Products containing fat, which prevents carbohydrates and proteins from being fully absorbed.
- Consume caffeine, which is found in coffee, tea, chocolate, and cocoa. It interferes with muscle recovery and carbohydrate absorption.
- Before going to bed, it is not advisable to eat eggs, mushrooms, high-calorie and fatty foods.
For weight gain
What to eat before training to gain weight? To speed up muscle gain, you need to gradually increase the amount of proteins and carbohydrates in your diet as the frequency and duration of your workouts in the gym increases. To gain muscle mass, the ratio of proteins to carbohydrates is 3:7. At breakfast, fat should be absent from the food, as it slows down metabolic processes and the rate of absorption of nutrients.
The set of products for weight gain does not differ from the composition of a regular breakfast. The main thing is to get enough calories. To increase muscle mass, you need to steam foods so that fat is not present in the food. Half an hour before class, eat an apple or pear and drink a protein shake to generate energy during your workout.
Pre-workout carbohydrates are a source of energy
It's no secret that carbohydrates are the main source of energy, which is subsequently broken down into glucose, which is used as fuel for the good performance of the whole body.
Even when we sleep, our brain, internal organs and nervous system use energy to maintain the functioning of the entire body in normal condition.
Next, glucose is broken down into glycogen - this is a fuel reservoir that releases energy as needed and is stored to a greater extent in the liver and to a lesser extent in the muscles.
Therefore, going to a workout without consuming carbohydrates is a bad idea, the workout will not be complete, the working weights will be less, fatigue and muscle flaccidity will be more than usual, which will ultimately lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of the morning workout.
What should you eat?
We assume that there is very little free time in the morning, so refueling yourself with cereals with a low glycemic level and vegetables with a high fiber content will not work quickly, so choose quickly digestible carbohydrates with a low % of dietary fiber.
These include - drying, bananas, peaches, a variety of dried fruits, bread - mix these ingredients with a milkshake, adding a little BCAA and drink this cocktail in small portions throughout the workout, thus ensuring a smooth flow of energy into the body.
The functioning of the stomach and intestines is different for everyone; for some, eating a glass of oatmeal is no problem, but for others, eating a banana in the morning is a big problem. Try different nutrition plans and find the most optimal and convenient option for yourself.
