Post Workout Nutrition: What to Eat After Exercising

What to eat after exercising is a big concern for many individuals. If you’ve ever read bodybuilding literature, you’ve heard that the requirement for post workout nutrition is to have protein and carbs as soon as possible after you finish lifting. Why? So that you can take advantage of an optimal time in which your body turns everything into muscle. As usual, bodybuilding literature doesn’t exactly tell the whole story.

Before going into more details, I’ll cut right to the chase. Having protein and carbs after lifting is somewhat important, but it’s not absolutely critical immediately after exercising or even within one hour of exercising. The studies that bodybuilding literature reference to justify this are full of holes. The bottom line advice is that you should probably have a healthy mix of carbs and protein 1-2
hours after exercising, but it doesn’t have to be some fancy protein shake or energy drink. Chocolate milk is just as good as anything on the market.

Post Workout Nutrition: The Most Important Meal of the Day?
Bodybuilding literature would have you believe that your body is in an anabolic state after exercising in which your muscles absorb nutrients at a higher rate than normal. The argument is that you eat, or preferably drink protein to help rebuild the muscles. Just as important, you need high glycemic carbs to replenish glycogen levels. According to some bodybuilding “experts,” if you don’t do this within 30-60 minutes, you’ll lose energy and muscle and your metabolism will slow down.

Eating Immediately After Exercising
During my days of utilizing the bodybuilder approach, I was adamant about following the above advice on post workout nutrition. Immediately after lifting, I would have Gatorade with Any Whey. It wasn’t just regular Gatorade either, it was dextrose-based. I thought using this type of sugar would cause my body to absorb nutrients even faster than a regular carb drink due to a greater insulin spike. To top it off, 1-2 hours later I would have Muscle Milk which provided a lighter load of carbs and slow digesting casein protein. I can tell you that I certainly gained muscle but just as much, if not more, fat as well.

If you’re confused by high glycemic carbs, insulin levls, and whey vs. casein protein, don’t bother looking into them any more. I wasted enough time with nutrients to know that there are only marginal effects associated with these different carbs and protein types on post workout nutrition. More importantly, eating after exercising is built around a “mythical” study. The famous study showed there was an optimal “window” of eating after exercising that would help you build muscle.

The Telephone Game
Do you remember when you were younger and you’d play the telephone game in school? Everyone would sit in a circle and a phrase would be whispered from person to person. When the game ended, you had a completely different phrase than the one you started with. Welcome to the post workout nutrition “window” myth. The word myth is really an exaggeration since there was an actual study
done on the effects of protein post workout. However, the study was done on 70 year old men! If you really think 70 year old men are representative of the rest of the population, then keep drinking your post workout shakes 5 minutes after exercising.

A full evaluation of research studies was done by Brad Pilon in his book, How Much Protein. I’d highly recommend reading it since it will change your outlook on post workout nutrition and the amount of protein you really need on a daily basis. The bottom line is that Brad analyzed a lot of studies and found that creatine was the only real difference maker when it came to post workout nutrition and muscle growth.

More importantly, when you exercise intensely, you release HGH which helps burn fat while preserving muscle. When you eat after a workout (and generate an insulin spike), the HGH release stops. Why not keep those HGH levels elevated for a longer period of time? You won’t have to worry about losing muscle since HGH helps preserve muscle. This makes the case to wait 1-2 hours before eating.

Not Eating At All After Exercising
I hope I’ve convinced you to think twice about eating immediately after exercising. However, do you have to eat at all after exercising? My answer is a resounding yes. Because my weight skyrocketed from bulking like a bodybuilder, I aggressively tried to cut weight. I would workout at night and not eat anything after. I would perform cardio first thing the next morning as well. I skipped breakfast and didn’t eat until lunch. I did lose fat, but a lot of muscle mass as well. This is an extreme approach, but your body does eventually need nutrients to prevent muscle loss (especially if you exercise daily or multiple times daily).

There’s just no proof that getting those nutrients 2, 24, or even 48 hours later causes you to gain more or less muscle mass. In fact, one study showed that as long as you replenished nutrients within 24 hours, you received a muscle building benefit. Another showed that there was still some benefit, albeit lesser, even after 48 hours. You just need to replenish the nutrients at some point in time. For my body, 2 hours feels like the right amount of time for my muscles.

What To Eat After Execising
Now that you know the benefits associated with not eating immediately and not waiting forever to ingest a post workout meal, the obvious question is what you should eat. Your body is primed to quickly digest what you give it, so you should try to avoid fat as it slows down the digestion process. A nice mix of carbs and protein is ideal. If you’re looking for specifics, bodybuilders will tell you a
carb/protein ratio between 2:1 and 4:1 is ideal with protein equal to 0.15-0.25 grams per pound of bodyweight (weighing 136lbs, I would have approximately 27g of protein and 54g of carbs for a post workout meal).

If you enjoy spending money on post workout shakes, that’s fine, but you can get the ratio you need from a simple glass of fat free chocolate milk. One glass of Over the Moon chocolate milk contains 150 calories, 11g protein, 25g sugar, and of course 0g fat. If you believe bodybuilding literature, 2 glasses would be ideal. I usually settle for just one glass. Alternatively, exercise a couple hours before
breakfast, lunch, or dinner and replenish your nutrients with a healthy meal made up of solid foods, rather than liquids. Yes, whole foods won’t be absorbed as fast, but that may or may not be important.

I think the key takeaway from all this is that you have to question the research about post workout nutrition. No study has unequivocally proven that you need a certain carb/protein ratio within a certain amount of time after exercising. My best advice on post workout nutrition is that you should drink a glass of chocolate milk about 2 hours after exercising.

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Fitness Levels – Important Things You Need to Know

One of the most important concepts that you must understand before and even during your exercise program is your current level of bodily fitness. What exactly is meant by your “current level of bodily fitness?” Fitness level simply refers to your body’s capacity to endure an exercise program or any physical work and its ability to recuperate in the time it would normally take the rest of the people of the same sex and age to recover from the activity.

As more and more people understand the benefits of exercise for overall health and weight loss, many have set themselves up to adhering to a regular fitness regimen. Some walk for health while others engage in weight training or bodyweight exercises to lose weight, tone muscle and develop strength.
The problem with most individuals, especially those who are still beginning their workouts is that they go to it blindly not knowing what their fitness level is before they engage in a workout program. Most often, they overdo or underdo their sets and reps or worse, suffer strain or injury as it shown in our P90X results.

The importance of understanding your level of bodily fitness cannot be underestimated. First, it enables you to exercise efficiently. When you know where your stamina stands, you are able to gauge the kind of intensity with which to do your workouts. Obviously, those who are classified as advanced-level practitioners won’t be able to maximize their workouts if they stay exercising in the level of the beginner. Another reason why you need to know your fitness level is that it prevents injury and strain. You see this often in the gym.

Neophytes, who overestimate their abilities, head to the heaviest weight around and struggle with all their might to lift it from the rack. Naturally, they couldn’t since they’re still beginning and if not for the foresight of more seasoned gym buddies, the showoffs would have been rushed to the emergency room struggling for their lives (the more unfortunate ones really do have to make unprepared visits to the ER). Accidents like this could be prevented if a person had sufficient knowledge of his level of fitness (and actually had the humility to admit that he is really just beginning) and that’s when Shakeology benefits appear.

Your current level of fitness can be measured by your doctor whom you should pay a visit to if you want to begin working out. A simpler way of gauging your fitness level is by determining how much activity you usually do. Thus, if this is your first time to exercise or you have just started to get moving again after a certain period of time either because of injury or illness, then you are said to be a beginner. Choose beginner routines and never over-do your exercises.

You are said to possess an intermediate level of fitness if you have exercised regularly for the past six months– even if it’s just a couple of workouts every week. You can also be called an intermediate level practitioner if you workout two to three times per week for the past six months.
An individual who has advanced fitness level works out more than three times per week for the past six months or attends more than two fitness classes on a weekly basis. Those who belong in this category can engage in exercises without tiring easily and are said to be in the peak of health.

Fitness Levels – Important Things You Need to Know

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Understanding The Different Types Of Yoga

Yoga is one of the oldest practices that people use to unite the mind and body to obtain peace and stress free life. This kind of

practice has been used for more than two thousand years. This is also the reason why a lot of variations and divergences occurred in yoga. Today, there are a lot of yoga practices and different branches that you can choose from.

The different practices of yoga consist of different purpose and needs but they all have the same quality to harmonize and to balance the mind and body to obtain peace. Here are some of the most common branches of yoga used today.

First is Karma Yoga. Maybe, you already know about the word Karma. It is the term used to describe something that happened as a result of your previous actions. There are good karma and bad karma depending on the action that you made. The main purpose of this type of yoga is to remove all the selfishness and negativity in your body so you will not have to experience bad karma in the future.

Second is Hatha Yoga. People who want to focus on their well being and health can consider this kind of yoga. It is known as the oldest form of physical therapy today.

Third is Raja Yoga. This is the classic type of yoga since the focus of this practice is meditation. This is also a complex kind of yoga since most of the instructors require people to start with hatha yoga before continuing to more advanced training in raja yoga. It is consist of profound meditation and you need to have a lot of focus and discipline.

Fourth is Jnana Yoga. This is the type of yoga that gained a lot of interest to scholars because it focuses on the improvement of the intellect. You can gain knowledge by studying some of the yoga scripts and texts. It is known as the most difficult type of yoga and the most challenging as well.

If you already know the type of yoga that you want to try, the next move is to look for a yoga teaching class. You can try out Houston Yoga where you can find a professional Houston Yoga instructor.

Always remember that yoga needs a lot of discipline and focus and you need to convince yourself that this kind of practice can work
for you.

Understanding The Different Types Of Yoga

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Weight Loss Drugs And Surgery

Weight Loss Drugs:

In my opinion, no weight loss drug that has been on the market at the time of this writing has a risk to benefit ratio that is acceptable. Yes, severely overweight and obese individuals are at risk for a variety of health problems. Unfortunately, the short and long-term risks of every weight loss drug that has been produced to date outweigh their potential benefits. My recommendation is to avoid the use of all over the counter and prescription weight loss drugs.

Weight Loss Surgery:

For the vast majority of people trying to lose weight, weight loss surgery is inappropriate in my opinion. I do feel that for the extremely obese, weight loss surgery may be a reasonable option, but I strongly recommend trying the approach presented in this book first. Weight loss surgery is nothing magical. It merely shrinks your stomach to the point where you are absolutely forced to abide by an extremely restricted food and liquid intake – or face some rather unpleasant reactions. If you can find a way to control your food intake without surgery, you will get the same benefits of weight loss surgery without the risks and without the social challenges related to the radically restricted eating plan that follows such surgery.

I have met several people who have the idea that they just have the surgery and then lose weight quickly and easily. They have no concept that following such a surgery, they won’t be able to eat and drink as they used to. They don’t realize that they will only be able to eat a few bites of food per meal, they’ll have to be very careful about what they eat, and that they’ll only be able to drink a few ounces of liquid at one sitting. Yes, they will be informed of these radical changes before they are
accepted for surgery, but some people are so anxious for the surgery they may not fully accept what they are being told until after they’ve had the surgery and it is too late. Fortunately, most of the currently popular weight loss surgeries are reversible if necessary, but anyone considering such a procedure needs to think very carefully before going forward.

Weight Loss Drugs And Surgery

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What Can You Get Out Of Crossfit

By Gloria Mason

With so many exercise regimes out in the market nowadays, so many say that they are the best and many of the enthusiasts get confused in what to pick. Some of those even needs a lot of equipment that are very expensive just to achieve fitness, but CrossFit Bayonne NJ is different. It combines, aerobics, gymnastics and weight training all in one so that you become fit in all areas.

This program is a combination of wight training, aerobics and gymnastics which was founded by Lauren and Greg Glassman in 2000s, which is now used all over the US. This fitness program is designed to develop their strength and so that they can gain a broad, general fitness. This is made up of a variety of functional movements that are performed at a high intensity so that you can achieve whole body fitness and you will be prepared for physical challenges.

The individuals also complete daily workouts posted on the website of the company or the workouts prescribed by a coach at the local affiliate. Their goal is to be functionally fit and to push you to your whole body to its limits so that you will be strong, healthy and in shape. Other than that, you will be trained to be fit at anything that life will throw at you and not just you can lift a ton of weight.

This can be very beneficial especially with their kind of regime such as its intensity. This fitness program is not light, rather it is made of fast paced, very intense, and very short, which only runs for 15 minutes every day. Every routine is nonstop or has no breaks and condensed with different movements.

It may only be three or four routines, such as jogs, squats, or burpees, but the idea is that keep doing each one over the set time. This concentrated shot of exercise burns the system in a good way. The key might be the intensity, but another fact is that you are inherently pushing yourself to do the most you can through each exercise in the workout.

Although everyone of you will want results, this will not mean that everyone are giving their best and this is quite true in conventional gyms where members cheat reps or sneak in longer times during breaks. Effort is essential to any exercise regime since this will help you get better results quicker. Another great thing about this is that you have will have short workouts for each day and can be finished within minutes.

You can easily finish many rounds of the daily workout given in fifteen to twenty minutes. You will still burn more calories by the end of the routine due to the intensity and effort given. This makes it burning calories and developing the body more effective and faster.

A big difference from conventional gyms is that rather than treating other members as random people who have their own exercise set, everyone are treated as part of the community. The objective is to compete not against other people, but against yourself. Most of the regimen are done in groups so there are people who can encourage you to push past your boundaries.

This is because everyone has one goal in their minds and that goal is to be in the best possible shape they can. This creates a camaraderie among the individuals and makes it more enjoyable and unique. These are a few of the advantages of a CrossFit Bayonne NJ, though there are still a lot more you can have from this program.

About the Author:

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The Real Truth About Health And Fitness

By Wilson Resturbee

Just like all other rumors that you might hear there are truths and fictions about health and fitness too. Myths often occur when the person doesn’t get the whole tip before sharing with someone else on and on and on it goes truthful or not it’s still a rumor. Maybe they even didn’t hear it right. But they innocently tell something they know, and another myth is born, again.

It may surprise you to learn that even the treadmill has myths that have to do with your knees. Some believe that running on a treadmill is easier on your knees than running on a hard surface outdoors. Let’s kill this rumor here and now. Running forces your knees to take the full impact of your weight. Surface has nothing to do with it.

While a treadmill may have some give to it, your knees still absorb the eventual impact. You can helpful yourself and your knees by wearing high quality foot wear that has good absorbing material.

Treadmills may offer some give but they are not going to offer extra support to your knees. Your shoes can help absorb some of this impact.

If you want relieve your feeling of stress, do some exercises. You may be wondering how exercising or working out can be stressful. Performing exercises causes your body to produce a relaxation response. Granted, you may not necessarily feel it if you’re running or sweating all over the place in the gym. To get your body and mind distracted from any stress you may be feeling do some exercises. Endorphins released create a natural feeling of euphoria.

You really do not have to go far to hear some health and fitness advice that is either truth or something else. In fact, you could have a few good ones of your own. The best thing to do when you hear something doubtful you need to research it to find some credible information to support or refute it.

About the Author:

Wilson Resturbee is a expert blogger known for writing on a variety of subjects. His high-quality work can be seen at mlm online and on Nuskin

The Real Truth About Health And Fitness

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