Maybe you’ve heard these terms before, maybe you haven’t: nutrient timing, the metabolic window, the anabolic window or the protein window.
Are these just catch phrases, or do they really matter?
As always, the fitness industry attaches a fancy name to a concept that is quite actually simple, to make one believe the concept is out of reach for us everyday folks.
Let’s start at the beginning: What to eat after you lift the weights.
This will address both concepts, nutrient timing and the anabolic window.
Between you and me, we try to keep things simple.
Take a second to think about your day.
Think about the specific points during your day when you must have energy.*
If you’re like me, I need energy when I first wake up.
The second time of day is before my workout.
The third, is after my workout.
Right now, let’s focus on the latter - What to eat after you work out!
Known by many different names, the meal you consume in the 30 minutes after you workout – addresses all the windows.
Think about your workout and what have you just done?
Let’s get something straight.
When you are in the gym - you are doing your best to exhaust your body.
You are not getting physically stronger in the gym.
When you lift the weights, with every set, and every rep you are giving your greatest effort to make yourself weaker - You are ripping and tearing muscle fibers.
When you are performing your cardio - You are giving your greatest effort to taxing and stressing your heart and cardiovascular system.
You are surely getting mentally stronger and building confidence. Absolutely.
But understand the difference.
Post–workout your muscles are like open wounds that need triage.
Your muscles need food, and quick!
The first step in post-workout muscle triage is a protein shake.
If you work out at gym, take the protein shake with you. Shake it up and carry on. If you work out at home, prep your shake and toss it in the refrigerator for consumption immediately.
Because this is a liquid meal, the body can quite literally soak up the nutrients into the ripped and torn muscle fibers for quick recovery and overnight repair (i.e. sleep ☺).
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Okay Rian, so what?
In the meal that directly follows your workout – the meal that you consume in the anabolic window - focus on getting in a protein and a carbohydrate, only.
This is most quicky and effectively done with a protein shake!
The second step in muscle triage is following your protein shake with your next meal 1-2 hours later.
For more information on why you want to be eating more frequently when you start working out, go read Fan You Flame (please attach link).
Weigh it. Eat it. Lift it.
*This does not apply to you if you have been given special instructions to act otherwise by a physician. This doesn’t apply to you if you have hired and are paying a Coach and that Coach has instructed you to do fasted cardio.
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