Post workout nutrition

So, we’ve worked out what to eat before we train, what about afterwards?

During exercise a couple of things happen to the body.  First, there’s the obvious use of energy.  The energy used comes in the form of glucose and fatty acids and, if you’re going for a day or 2 (think ultra marathons), there’s going to be some protein being used as well.  Secondly, during exercise there’s a hormonal response which  depends on the type of exercise you’re doing.  If you’re on a strength day, you’ll primarily be releasing growth hormone and adrenalin.  The same goes for short intervals or workouts under about 20 mins in length.  After this time, your body starts going into a distressed state and starts releasing cortisol to combat the stress.  Cortisol causes an increase in blood glucose concentration and blood fatty acid concentration like adrenalin.  This is a good thing if we’re exposed to it every so often however if we’re chronically stressed and there’s a slow steady release of cortisol, there’s also a slow steady increase in insulin resistance along with it due to the increased blood glucose that the body needs to deal with.  That’s for another post however.

So, you’ve finished your workout, peel yourself up of the floor... now what?

It depends what you want to achieve.  Once your body stops exercising, it is depleted of energy stores and in a bad hormonal position.  It is crying out for some form of energy and starts pumping out growth hormone in an attempt to once again raise the blood concentrations of either glucose or fatty acids.  GH increases the availability of fatty acids for use straight after exercise, which is a good thing if you’re on the larger side of the bell curve.  Basically, if you’re fat, wait a while before your post workout meal.

If you’re a lean sort of person however (think four or six pack showing), your first thought should be to getting something easily digestible into your system as fast as possible.  After exercise, your body is uniquely sensitive to insulin.  This is a good thing for a body that has just used up its stores of energy, as insulin is a storage hormone that sends glucose from the circulation to where it’s needed most.  Again, more on insulin later but in a post workout state, more insulin is better for a short time. 

But what do you need to eat straight after a workout?  Something that is easily digestible and is going to spike your insulin but not leave it high.  For this meal, some protein and carbohydrate is what your body wants.  A protein shake is going to be a good choice as long as it’s low fat.  No, fat isn’t bad, but it will slow your gastric emptying and we want our post workout meal to be absorbed as fast as possible.  Some chicken and sweet potato will be a good choice as well.  If you’ve just done 25 rounds of Cindy or something similar, it’s not going to matter too much what you eat, as long as it’s fast digesting. 

The meal is the same for everyone, just remember if you’re a bigger person, leave the meal for half an hour or so to make use of the hormonal response to exercise.