Working out is easy. Well, let’s not say that. If you do it correctly, it’s extremely grueling and taxing on the body. However, in comparison to how disciplined one has to be with regards to nutrition, it’s a bit easier. Lifting weights should be the fun part of our day. It’s when we can forget about everything, chase the pump, experience the release and flush of all those good endorphins.
We look and feel bigger than we do at any other time of the day and leave the stress in our lives behind. It’s the one or two hours a day when we’re ‘free’.When it comes to our nutrition, however, we’re never free from that as this is a constant thought process all throughout the day.
Questions such as how many calories do I need, how much protein should I consume post workout, should I cut carbs in meal 2 or 5, and many more are always looming. This sort of thinking can also take its toll psychologically. To give you some relief in your day with regards to nutrition, here are three very important strategies you may want to incorporate or pay more attention to for the purposes of improving upon your physique.
The Anabolic Window
Much attention should be given to the hour or so right after you’re done your training for the day with respect to nutrition. Years ago the phrase ‘Anabolic Window‘ came to my attention. More specifically, the importance of eating within this time frame was of the utmost importance if you were to capitalize upon the workout you just completed.
This period of time was described as an opportunity when your muscles were compared to a sponge in that they were ready to soak up everything and anything you fed them because of their depleted state in the post workout hour.So in accordance with that analogy, we all fixated ourselves on the importance of the post workout meal so that we didn’t waste a workout and a chance to grow.
Today, however, we’ve since learned that this may not be exactly true anymore with the advent and inception of the intra-workout drink (more on that below). Despite that, the post workout meal is still a highly important meal and one you certainly do not want to take lightly. It’s now that case that it may not have to occur as immediately in the post workout as we had previously thought.
That said, make sure you consume quality and fast digesting carbohydrates and proteins roughly an hour to an hour and a half or so after training has been concluded.
This strategy is when things really changed for us as far as speeding up the healing process from training goes and got us thinking about the chances of that Anabolic Window actually not being as open as we had previously assumed. The Anabolic Window was so important because of the fact that our bodies are in a depleted state after training. Generally, there are little to no nutrients or calories consumed for the duration of the workout as well as little to no nutrients consumed an hour or so before that to avoid an upset stomach during training.
That meant for some, going three hours without food. This is why so many people rushed to eat as soon as the workout was finished. We wanted to leap through the Anabolic Window and start healing and growing. Fast forward to today and we have many people now taking advantage of an Intra-Workout drink which provides our body with nutrition as we train. With this drink, we’re never really in a depleted state anymore and we’re feeding our body with muscle building nutrients after and between every single set we do.
The thought process behind this is why wait to feed and grow when we can feed right now and grow. Coming from someone who uses this strategy daily, I can tell you first hand it works and definitely cuts down on the amount of time it takes for damaged muscles to heal and feel ready to work again. I still eat within an hour of training (probably because I still believe that if that window is open even a little bit I want to take advantage of it) but the intra-workout shake can certainly buy you some time in the post workout if eating right away isn’t convenient for you.
Energy Loading
Energy loading is nothing new and many athletes have been using this strategy very effectively for a long time now. I think it’s important to mention because the new breed of bodybuilders seem to be so consumed with staying ripped all the time that they neglect the importance of eating lots of healthy and energy storing foods to help propel them through their workouts. They often think that doing so will affect their condition. The reality is that eating healthy and energy storing foods won’t affect this it won’t and here’s how you should use energy loading as a growing bodybuilder.
We all have lagging muscle groups that just don’t seem to respond to the training stimulus as effectively as other muscles do. As a result, you should train those muscle groups even harder on the days they are scheduled. That means having lots and lots of extra energy to put into those workouts to force those lagging muscle groups to grow. The only way to do that effectively is to energy load the day before those training sessions.
If your legs are weak and you know you’ll be working them extra hard, the day before you should be loading yourself up with high quality, slow burning carbohydrates that can be stored and later released as immediate energy in the form of muscle glycogen. This will be extremely helpful when it comes time to dig deep during that leg day session and squeeze out as much muscle energy as you possibly can in order to get in those extra sets and reps.
The same is true for any other body part you need to bring up. So quit worrying about the possibility of this type of strategy blurring your physique a little and instead use it to grow quality muscle. You’ll be thankful for it sooner than later, I guarantee it.
Hopefully by reading this article I’ve either reminded you of the importance of these strategies which you’ll put back in play for yourself or I’ve introduced a new concept to you that you’ve never seen or heard of before. Either way, all that matters is you start doing something to get yourself growing at a rate which you can be happy with.
Active Duty US Army soldier and Personal Trainer. Owner/Operator of a small PT business, also avid traveler and foodie with a taste for adventure.
