Your Post-Workout Meal Isn’t As Important As You Think.
A good post-workout carbohydrate and protein intake is a great way to energize and support your goals , whether you’re training strength, endurance, or both. But what if you don’t have the perfect post-workout lunch? Is your workout wasted?
You can’t “skip” a workout
Before we get to the question of whether the “anabolic window” is real, we need to clear up a widespread myth: serious-looking people will tell you that you are “wasting” your workout if you don’t fuel up properly before or after.
There is no such thing as a wasted workout . I literally can’t imagine a way to negate the effect of training. Exercise triggers many adaptations in our body: it kickstarts the processes that build muscle, regulate our cells’ insulin sensitivity, help manage our mental health, and more. Exercising without proper nutrition is like Christmas when the Grinch stole some presents – maybe not all that could be, but important things do happen.
But is skipping a post-workout meal (or even eating what you would call junk food instead of something “optimal”) really a bad diet? Not really.
What happens in this window after a workout
30 minutes after a workout (or 15 minutes or two hours, depending on who you ask) is sometimes referred to as the “anabolic window” or “metabolic window.” You’ll also hear different versions of this idea depending on whether you’re talking to weightlifters (who are interested in consuming protein and building muscle) or endurance athletes (who are most interested in consuming carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen). However, the two ideas are related, and most of us would be better off eating a meal or snack that includes both protein and carbohydrates.
The “anabolic window” is probably a myth.
It’s not a crazy idea to think that you can build more muscle if you eat protein after your workout. Strength training causes a surge in muscle protein synthesis (MPS), as does protein intake. If we combine these two events, perhaps we will send an even greater signal to the body to build muscle.
There are a few studies that seem to support this idea, but research over the last few decades has failed to prove that an anabolic window even exists. Nutrition research can be a bit odd because it tries to separate the influence of different factors. You will have people who drink certain cocktails and not eat anything else, and then the researchers will look for signs of SMP at certain points in time. This is very different from the real question: “If I always have a post-workout shake, will I be more energized in a year than if I didn’t?”
In a 2018 review of the data , physiologist Brad Schoenfeld wrote that “any effect of protein timing on muscle hypertrophy, if it does exist, is relatively small. Total daily protein intake is by far the most important factor in promoting exercise-induced muscle growth.” He adds that if you ate three to four hours before your workout, then when you eat after it doesn’t matter.
If you want a specific recipe, he gives some numbers: Ideally, you should have a pre-workout meal and a post-workout meal, each containing 0.4 to 0.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (i.e., 30 grams if you weigh 130 pounds). pounds, 45 grams if you weigh 200 pounds), and make sure you don’t exceed six hours between meals. In other words, you can have lunch at noon, work out in the afternoon, and have dinner at six. No special shaking is required.
The Glycogen Window Is Real, But Most of Us Can Ignore It
What about carbohydrates for endurance athletes? There is a slight time effect here, but you don’t need to worry about that unless you plan on doing a second workout in less than 24 hours. There are several other factors, but we will return to them.
The problem here is glycogen, the storage of carbohydrates in our body. We use glucose to fuel high-intensity workouts and to burn extra fat for low-intensity workouts. If you eat before a workout — say, have breakfast before a run — your body simply uses the glucose that comes from the intestines through the blood. In other words, blood sugar is your fuel.
But each of our muscles has its own store of glycogen, which is a form of carbohydrate storage. We don’t have much glycogen and our stores can be burned in one very long workout or in a series of workouts where we don’t replenish in between. When you run out of glycogen and low blood sugar, you may feel tired. That’s why marathon runners eat snacks and sports drinks (and suck up those disgusting little bags of gel) while they’re on the run. This is the same reason powerlifters bring candy to the gym. Well, that and the fact that you just can’t have a bad day while eating Sour Patch Kids.
Immediately after a workout, our muscles need glycogen, and we can quickly replenish these reserves by snacking immediately after a workout. Anything sweet or starchy will do.
But if you don’t replenish your glycogen stores right away, what will happen? Here’s the good news: it replenishes anyway when you eat regular meals throughout the day. Eating after a workout is a shortcut, not a one-time opportunity.
So is it necessary to replenish glycogen stores after a workout? Yes, if you are planning to do another workout soon (e.g. later in the day), and if you are unable to eat right before or during that other workout, and if you are very concerned about your performance and your level of fatigue during the time of this workout is the next workout. If you’re an athlete who trains regularly twice a day, you’ll probably want to get in the habit of eating some carbs after every workout. The rest of us don’t need to worry so much about it.
If you don’t have healthy options, is it better to eat unhealthy food or nothing?
So we’ve found that post-workout meals are good for endurance sports and maybe a little good for strength training, but they’re not critical to your performance anyway if you’re eating well throughout the day. . But there is another question that I have heard several times: if I want to eat after a workout, but I don’t have the perfect meal, is it better to eat cookies, fast food or something like that, or nothing? generally?
In this case, I would say: eat what is convenient, unless it ruins your meals for the day. The burger will still provide plenty of protein (from the meat) and carbs (from the bun). Tasty doesn’t automatically mean unhealthy.
If all you have is cookies or candy, they’re great for replenishing your glycogen, but you should be aware that they don’t do anything for your protein needs. In fact, chocolate milk has a reputation for being a recovery drink because it’s a convenient source of protein and carbohydrates. (Otherwise, there’s nothing special about it.)
Ultimately, what matters is whether you get enough protein throughout the day and whether you have carbohydrates when you need them—either by eating them before or during your workout, or by having muscle glycogen ready. Whether the food is “healthy” doesn’t really matter in terms of performance. You should still eat vegetables, but they can wait until your next meal.