Pre and post workout | powerbuilding

Time for the pre-workout!

The pre-workout is just as important as the post-workout.
This is all dependent on what you want out of training. Here is why:

If you goal is muscle growth and strength, then you want to give your body energy, store it gradually so it gets full and strong and ready to tackle the workout to lift the most you can.

If you goal is weight loss however I would recommend not eating anywhere from 2 1/2 -4 hours before the workout. The more fasted you are (the longer since you ate) the more likely the energy used for the workout will come from your fat stores.

Bulking pre-workout:

My way which i found to work best is have a blanced small meal 2 1/2 hours before your workout with a nice amount of fat. I have a tin of mackerel with 2 slices of wholemeal toast. Once that has settled i eat a small portion of complex carbs ad have a coffee 45-60 minutes before the workout. This gives my body a nice amount of energy to be released to keep me going, muscles full and strength at it's peak.

Cutting pre-workout:
Best way I found: don't.... Say what?!
Yep, I workout in the morning before I eat, my breakfast is my post-workout. This is a fantastic method to shed a tonne of fat. It isn't the only way however. I am currently cutting at the moment, in 5 weeks I have dropped 3.5 kilograms of fat. For the first month I DIDN'T do fasted training. I made sure i ate anywhere from 2/12 hours - 4 hours before my workout. The pre-workout meal was the same, balanced meal of protein, carbs and a nice amount of fat. My pre-workout of mackerel and wholemeal toast doesn't change from bulk to cut, it's just the timing that does.

Examples of good pre-workout meals

2-4 hours before the workout:

Small meal of even macro nutrients

1 Sweet potato, 1 can tuna, 15g butter

2 tins of mackerel, 2 slices of wholemeal bread
Bowl of oatmeal, 1 scoop of whey, handful of nuts

1/2 can of herricot beans, wholewheat wrap, spicy chicken

200g lean steak mince, 50g wholemeal pasta

45 mins - 1 hour before

Cup of coffee, 2 slices of wholemeal bread
Small bowl of oats, 25g nuts
1/2 sweet potato
25g dessicated coconut, small bowl of museli
Cup of green tea, 1 piece of fruit

Ok as far as timing your post workout, there is no set in stone best time. I personally take it anywhere from 20-60 minutes after my workout. In my time exercising I have found that it isn't as important as people think. If you have a good post workout meal or shake and you get it within the hour, there's no problem!

What do we need in our shake? (if a shake be your choice sir)

-Loads of protein to start repairing the muscles, whey all the way!

-Fast acting carbs & sugars to shuttle the nutrients into the muscle, replace lost muscle glycogen and start the recovery process.

-Fats, untill extremely recently, I thought that fats had to be minimal post-workout. Turns out that this is yet another myth by the supplement companies with no real backbone to it. Don't worry about it.

My post workout shake:
Enough whey for 50 grams of protein

300 ish ml of water

a handful of blueberries

1 banana

5g creatine

pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon

This shake shuttles energy and protein into your muscles, gives you the creatine to refuel your ATP (Adonsine tri-phospahte) stores (explosive muscle contractions use this), gets you the anti-oxidants of the berries, the nutrients of the fruit, the anti-inflammatory recovery aspects of the berries and the taste and fat burning, anti-inflammatory recovery properties of the 2 spices nutmeg and cinnamon which will also raise your bodies internal temperature, burning more calories, helping fat burning. All in 1 shake, woot!

For a whole food post workout:
You want a lean protein like chicken breast, tuna or turkey, something with high quality protein and almost no fat.
Next thing you need is about 50-60 grams of carbs worth of fast digesting carbs like white rice, fruit juice and breakfast cereals with sugar in them like sugar puffs and coco pops.
Again, avoid fat in this meal. Be creative, add some fruit, and a supplement if you want that extra help. That''s it!

Too much? Just have a double scoop of whey! One golden rule: GET SOME PROTEIN!

Pre-workout

Post-workout