Friday, June 26, 2009

Eating to Make your Workouts Better & Body to Look Fantastic - Part 1

Pre-Workout
Number one issue to address is fluids. It is critically important to insure that we don’t go into a hard training session in a dehydrated state. Whether we workout early in the morning, lunch hour, after work or late night- we need to make sure we are well hydrated by drinking 10-20oz of water every hour leading up to the workout session. Training while dehydrated has been shown decrease strength levels as much as 30%. Given this statistic, who wants to start a workout feeling weak?

Hardcore workout enthusiast should consider a more scientific approach. 30 minutes before exercise drink 20oz of water or diluted drink of carbohydrate and protein in a 4:1 ratio. Whey has been repeatedly chosen as the quickest protein to digest. Sugar is the quickest carbohydrate source to be absorbed by the body.

Combine the two together and we get a super supplement. Why? Combined together in a shake, these two ingredients stimulate insulin to fuel the muscles. Diluting the drink delays the development of dehydration, hastens the onset of sweating and moderates the rise in body temperature.

Eating “heavy food” before a workout can cause deleterious effect: nausea, cramping and fatigue. Reason being that blood flow is directed primarily to the gut in order to support the digestion process meaning the muscles we are working aren’t adequately supplied with blood flow that would normally carry in nutrients, oxygen and carrying the waste by-products associated with working out.

A “light food” such as fruit can suffice for those who need something in their stomach.

I personally like to be a little hungry during a workout, it gives me that edginess to take out any frustrations on the weights, tires or running workouts.

Workout
Continue drinking fluids (water primarily) every 15-20 minutes. Depending on how well we keep our bodies hydrated throughout the day leading up to the workout, water consumption will vary. Some of us will only sip water throughout the workout, while the majority will drink 10-20oz of every 20 minutes.

Once again, serious individuals will incorporate an additional boost by slowly consuming a drink containing carbohydrate and protein in a 4:1 ratio.

By doing this, studies have shown improved endurance 57 percent compared with water and 24 percent compared with a carbohydrate drink.

Common sense says don’t set up a picnic in the middle of workout.

Remember the term workout is short for Work your butt off and get Out.

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