I hear a lot of questions from people asking about what they should be consuming before a workout, during their workout, and after their work out, so today I am going to answer that for everybody.

PRE

Before a work out, you should do one of two things. One of your choices is that you could eat a balanced full sized meal consisting anywhere from 25g-50g of protein, and 30g-60g of carbohydrates. To do this my meal plan is usually as followed:

*5-8oz of salmon or chicken breast
*About 1 1/2 cups of starchy vegetables- usually corn, but you can also use peas, or sweet potatoes.
*2 cups of vegetables such as carrots, lettuce(salad), or spinach

If you go this route, make sure that consumption is approximately an hour before you train.

Then the other option you have, the one that I use 90% of the time is that you can have a protein shake. Whey protein works the best, 2 scoops of that should do you justice, however, some people prefer muscle milk. Personally, I prefer muscle milk because I don’t like the taste of the Whey powder, but if you are looking for optimal results, go with the Whey. Along with the shake you should also have some sort of fruit for your carbohydrate intake. You can pick any fruit of your choice.

Note: if you are going to go this route, your consumption should be approximately a half a hour prior to workout.

During

During your workout, all you really need is water. The human body can loose up to a liter of water for every 15 minutes of exercise, that is why it is important to have at least a cup of water every 15 minutes. However, it is important to note that if you are going to be training for over an hour and a half doing some sort of cardio, then you should be sipping on some sort of gatorade or something along those lines, so that you minimize muscle catabolism.

After

After your work out, again I would recommend another protein shake, however, for your post workout I would recommend that you stick to the whey protein powder, specifically because it has less fat in there and it also is a better insulin generating protein than others. You want to have this shake immediately after your work out, or as soon as you possibly can. Along with this, you also want to have another piece of fruit and about a cup of dried oats, bannanas are a really good choice, but you can choose which ever one you like best.

I know a lot of people out there are probably really carb conscious, but if your goal is to preserve/gain muscle mass while eliminating fat, you need it. The carbs you intake serve as muscle catabolism protection mechanisms. Your body looks to take these in before they start dipping into your muscle reserve, which is what you want to avoid at all cost. With that said, intake the proper amount of carbs, just make sure that you don’t go crazy with it.

Hope this helps…