One of many issues I see with fashionable coaching is the pursuit of perfection over precedence. With the ever-increasing vary of merchandise and theories on coaching, diet, restoration and different areas, some athletes get caught up within the minutia of perfecting each nuance of their coaching life. It turns into overwhelming and you’ll lose the sight of the massive image. When athletes are headed down this path – or are already all the best way down the rabbit gap – I attempt to shift their method to concentrate on prioritization over perfection. One method to perceive this in sensible phrases is to have a look at pre- and post-workout diet.
Your diet decisions earlier than and after coaching can considerably affect the standard of your exercise and your skill to get better and adapt. The straightforward reply to the query within the title of this submit is: Each. However that’s how athletes drive themselves loopy. There are innumerable pre-workout meals, dietary supplements, drinks, and methods that promise to optimize your exercise. And there are as many or extra that promise to reinforce your post-workout restoration. In excessive instances, athletes have pre-workout routines that stretch over 2+ hours earlier than coaching and 4+ hours after coaching. I respect the dedication to efficiency, however it’s simple to take it too far.
After I have a look at the larger image of pre- and post-workout diet, I place the next precedence on post-workout decisions. Right here’s why:
Pre-workout diet primarily impacts notion
For endurance athletes, beginning a exercise hydrated and with full glycogen shops are the largest determinants of whether or not your exercise will likely be profitable. It’s troublesome to considerably have an effect on both of those within the hour earlier than coaching. These are extra affected by your day-to-day habits. At greatest, your rapid pre-workout decisions will prime off the tanks, so to talk. However they gained’t repair systemic issues or giant deficits in both glycogen or hydration. Quite, good pre-workout decisions enable you to really feel energized and centered to your exercise. Poor decisions go away you feeling sluggish, bloated, or hazy. It is very important make good decisions that give you the results you want, but when the power and hydration are current, all you really want to do is preserve it easy and keep away from decisions that go away you feeling sluggish.
There’s extra time to work with after coaching
Submit-workout diet is a better precedence as a result of it units the stage for all the things that has to occur between in the present day’s exercise and your subsequent coaching session. That could possibly be simply 12 hours if you’re coaching within the night and once more tomorrow morning, or 48 hours when you’re coaching in the present day and taking a full day without work earlier than your subsequent exercise. On this interval it is advisable to replenish your glycogen shops, nutritionally help restoration and adaptation, and guarantee enough hydration. The shorter the time interval between exercises, the extra centered it is advisable to be on fast replenishment. The longer the time between coaching, the extra it is advisable to concentrate on avoiding errors.
Optimizing sub-24 hour restoration cycles
The shorter the time interval between exercises, the extra proactive it is advisable to be about restoration. As an illustration, athletes who practice or compete two or extra occasions in the identical day must prioritize the “glycogen window” greater than anybody else. Within the first 30-60 minutes after train your muscle groups open extra “gates” to maneuver carbohydrate from the blood into muscle cells quicker. The speed of glycogen replenishment is quickest throughout this era and step by step slows as time goes on (however it’s not an on/off change).
In case you solely have 12 hours (night to subsequent morning) between coaching periods and also you wish to have excessive carbohydrate availability to your subsequent exercise, then you definately wish to benefit from the glycogen window. This implies consuming both a carbohydrate-rich restoration drink and/or a carbohydrate-rich meal inside about 60 minutes after coaching. You must also concentrate on replenishing fluids misplaced by means of sweat, notably inside the 4 hours post-workout.
Optimizing 24-48 hour restoration cycles
In case you have 24 hours or extra between exercises, then you’ve gotten greater than sufficient time to replenish the power and fluids you depleted throughout your latest experience or run. Sustaining that replenished state is extra of drawback.
In years previous, the glycogen window was overhyped, and I overtly admit to taking part in a job in that. We used to push everybody to eat carbohydrate (and smaller quantities of protein and possibly caffeine) instantly after coaching as a way to velocity glycogen replenishment. The intentions have been good, however the science exhibits glycogen shops will likely be totally replenished by means of regular dietary decisions inside 24 hours no matter whether or not you prioritize carbohydrate consumption through the glycogen window or not. In recent times I’ve amended my suggestions to concentrate on specialised restoration drink consumption solely when power expenditure is prone to have considerably depleted glycogen shops (not less than 1500-2000 kilojoules of expenditure).
When you’ve gotten greater than sufficient time to attain full replenishment, your increased precedence must be sustaining that replenished standing till your subsequent coaching session. You don’t wish to concentrate on fluid replenishment within the first 12 hours after which develop into dehydrated once more within the 12-36 hours earlier than your subsequent coaching session, which is a major likelihood through the sizzling climate and/or at excessive elevations. Equally, considerably limiting carbohydrate consumption on the day between your exercises can cut back glycogen shops, even when they have been beforehand topped off.
Abstract – “pre workout and post workout”
You may have way more time between exercises than between your pre-workout snack/drink and your exercise. Meaning you’ve gotten extra time to make selections that can improve restoration and adaptation, and extra time to screw them up. Due to this fact, within the spirit of preserving issues easy – as a result of easy is much less disturbing and extra prone to really occur constantly – prioritize your post-workout diet habits over your rapid pre-workout decisions. What you do throughout these longer hours between coaching session can have a better influence in your subsequent exercise and your long-term progress than something you do or don’t do within the hour earlier than you begin coaching.
Chris Carmichael CEO/Head Coach of CTS
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