{"id":5096,"date":"2020-02-24T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/?p=5096"},"modified":"2020-02-24T10:56:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T15:56:36","slug":"nutrient-timing-for-athletes-does-it-really-matter-when-we-eat-post-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sst.training\/blog\/uncategorized\/nutrient-timing-for-athletes-does-it-really-matter-when-we-eat-post-exercise\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutrient Timing for Athletes: Does It Really Matter When We Eat Post-Exercise?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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            People\nhave recently started to question the idea of an \u2018anabolic window\u2019\npost-exercise and whether we really need to eat or have that protein shake\nafter our work-out. But where these opinions fall short is in the\ninterpretations of the current research and literature to an athletic\npopulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The\nidea is that a recent meta-analysis found that our total protein intake over a\nday is more important than the amount of protein we eat after our workout for\nbuilding muscle mass, and while this is great information it largely gets\nmis-interpreted in the media. This is because while total protein intake during\nthe day is more important than the amount we eat during the anabolic window\n(time after exercise where our ability to absorb nutrients is increased). If we\nare an athlete why wouldn\u2019t we want to take advantage of this time of increased\nnutrient absorption? Even if the advantage of eating post-workout is smaller\nthan we originally thought, most sporting events are decided a fraction of a\nsecond or a very small percentage, so if we aren\u2019t taking advantage of this\nwindow (when our competitors are) then we are sure to fall short in competition.\nAs athletes we must remember that we are in the performance business and not\nthe physique business. While having a low body-fat percentage a key contributor\nto athletic performance, if we are not fueling our bodies properly than we will\nnot be able to perform no matter how low our body fat percentage is. Also\nremember that protein does A LOT MORE for our bodies than just build muscle,\nand helps other bodily tissues recover, repair, and regenerate post-exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Furthermore,\nfor a lot of our athletes they are partaking in two training sessions on most\ndays (one sport session; one lifting session), so in this scenario is it really\npractical to post-pone eating after one session and not re-fuel before the next\none? Does it ever make sense to not fuel before a session when we are in the\nperformance business? Athletes who fuel better, perform better. Athletes who\neat breakfast perform better. Therefore, we don\u2019t usually recommend\nintermittent fasting to our athletes either. While it is totally possible to\ntrain after an overnight fast or a prolonged fast period (cue fasted cardio\nproponents), if it is going to affect our performance in that workout or\ntraining session is the small advantage we might get in body composition going\nto be worth it? This is like popular ketogenic diets (as we don\u2019t generally\nrecommend these to our athletes), as most studies have found performance isn\u2019t\nimproved with these diets (even though body composition might). This doesn\u2019t\nmake us promoters of high carbohydrate diets, but we do need to refuel the\nglycogen stores in our muscle that our athletes exhaust with high-intensity\nexercise bouts, especially following competition.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bottom Line: If you are not taking\nadvantage of nutrient timing and the post-exercise window as an athlete you are\nmissing out on important opportunity to fuel, regenerate, and repair your body\nfor optimal performance. For athlete\u2019s there is really no situation where it is\na good idea to delaying feeding after exercise no matter what you\u2019ve heard on\nsocial media.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some guidelines to help maximize your post-exercise nutrition:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Post-Exercise Maximize Glycogen Re-Synthesis (within 30 min):

HIGH GLYCEMIC CARBOHYDRATES 1-1.5g\/kg\/hr<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADD PROTEIN!\n0.25-0.5g\/kg\/hr enhances effect; as long as <1.2g\/kg\/hr<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example (70kg individual) ***individual\nneeds may vary***<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n