Intra-workout and peri-workout fueling practices are quite valuable for The Lifetime Athlete. We can briefly discuss the before, during and after options which will be of use for performance as well as bodcompopp.
Pre-workout fueling can be advantageous when you know you’ve got a big, high-output session coming up. This could be a workout that has a lot of heavy lifts or intense intervals in it. Or it might be a long run or bike ride. Getting in some calories, mostly carbs and possibly a little protein, is the way to go. If you time it right, this can elevate your blood glucose levels at just the right moment (when you begin your session), and temporarily preserve (stave off the burning) of your precious glycogen stores.
But there’s a trick to pre-workout fueling. You need to ingest food that is easily digestible, relatively low in fiber and fat (both slow down absorption and don’t agree with the exercising gut which gets less blood flow), and you need to avoid the 30-60 minute window before your workout or competition. This is because food, especially carbs, eaten in that window, will usually raise, then lower your blood sugar level. You could end up hitting the “start line” of your session or competition feeling a low-energy crash, or even a little dizzy. You can avoid this by having a larger pre-workout bolus of about 400 calories in a 4:1 carb:protein ratio about 90 minutes prior to your bout of movement. Or have ¼ to ½ that size 15 minutes before you start.
Here are some examples of pre-workout options and some of them include processed foods, which have a place in this instance. You could use a commercial shake mix or blend your own with the usual items (more carb and less pro in this instance and make sure it agrees with you). Be aware of caffeine in some products. It works but you have to be used to it. You can also eat a banana and a piece of cheese or even a few figs and a small piece of lean meat.
I like to reserve the pre-workout snack for those somewhat rare and special occasions when you know you are going to go big and you absolutely want every iota of output you can possibly muster. Otherwise, don’t worry too much about pre-workout fueling.
Intra-workout fueling is very useful in long workouts and competitions. This could obviously look like long-distance running, cycling, skiing, rowing, etc. But it can also be a long day in the gym doing many sets or a session of multiple sprints or intervals at the track. I tend to lean toward the liquid options in these cases. Most of the time that’s a diluted sports drink which has some carbohydrate and electrolytes in it. Or gels or blocks with extra water to drink. In certain situations, like cycling, you can usually tolerate solid food as well if you prefer it. Fig Newtons, pretzels, orange slices…those have always been popular. However, be careful using traditional sports bars, because many of them are super dense gut bombs that can draw water out of your bloodstream and “lock you up.” Definitely experiment with what works best for you and don’t wait til the day of the competition to test something new. That can lead to “disaster pants.”
With intra-workout fueling, you’re looking for only carbs. Trickle them in at a rate of 30-60 grams per hour. The unique thing about intra-exercise feeding is that your muscle cells have receptors which can take up circulating glucose (and fructose) rapidly. It’s as though they know how to take advantage of this readily available fuel, because they do.
Here are a couple of final points. If you’re doing things at less than near-max intensity, for less than about 45 minutes…you don’t need anything during your session. But when you go hard, for over an hour…mild carb ingestion is outstanding.
The keto crowd will say you’ll become a diabetic if you even think about these practices. They’ll say you should have only salt water, or maybe drink a little olive oil. I’ve tested all that. It only works if you are on a high fat/low carb diet and you are going really slow. Please consider doing all your own experiments.
Before we get to post-workout nutrition, let’s revisit protein for just a moment. For the most part, if you’re getting that 1gpro/lbLBM from animal products throughout the day, you have plenty of circulating amino acids in your system and there’s less of a proven benefit of high protein ingestion before or during your workout.
However, there is at least some data to suggest that throwing in one of your protein servings fairly soon post-workout may provide a very small increase in training-mediated muscle protein synthesis. I usually don’t push this but if someone is a “hard gainer,” we might give it consideration.
The real magic that happens with post-workout nutrition, is in recovery. There is a well-substantiated window for glycogen resynthesis which spans the immediate post-workout period and then drops off quickly by 30-60 minutes later. If you do one of those long, hard workouts we’ve been discussing, and your training pattern has those occurring on multiple back to back days, you are incredibly well served to slam a shake or small meal as soon as you can. Depending on your appetite and expenditure, 400-600 calories with that 4:1 carb:protein ratio is excellent. You’ll bounce back quicker and it’s quite noticeable.