The Ulimate Guide to Your Post Workout Nutrition

I think it is time to put an end to the craziness. I think it is time to put out of misery once and for all those caught up in the controversy of Post Workout Nutrition.

What is being said right now in the aspect of post workout nutrition? What is the common law to be followed?

Optimal Post Workout Nutrition (after an aggressive resistance training routine) - 2:1 ratio of a high glycemic simple carb (2) and a fast acting protein like whey (1) in a shake immediately following workout. No Fat.

Now recently in my last rant about post workout nutrition I went off about how hard your workout is and how it is relative to what you take in post workout. Allow me to repeat myself on that issue. Aggressive training is relative to what your post workout nutrition is going to be. The amount of glycogen you deplete to the amount of tissue you breakdown is relative to the amount you have to repair, it all matters. Are you doing 5 days a week body part splits or 3 days vicious full body training? It makes a difference.

I did forget to mention a few things that matter and things that we have all been to casual about generalizing, myself included.

Are you in a Surplus or are you in a Deficit?
Are you a bodybuilding or training for a triathlon? Are you a Swimmer or Baseball Player?
Eating Low carb or High Carb?
Are you Male of Female?
Is your level of lean body mass high or Low?
Are you average Joe or are you buff Moe?

Ahh didn't see all that coming did you. Well it matters quite a bit.

See if you are newer to lifting, in a cut phase, trying to get sick lean, doing 3 full body workouts, HIIT, and taking the new Coscrove fat burn programs for a spin, then you are damn right, you need fasting acting post workout nutrition. You need this staple post workout nutrition. 2:1 ratio of a high glycemic simple carb (2) and a fasting acting protein like whey (1) in a shake form immediately following workout. No Fat.

Now flip the script.

If you are pretty known to training, in a caloric surplus to pack on some muscle, have a good amount of lean mass already and follow a healthy guidelines for eating day in a day out with extra calories all around and just knocked out the Dave Tate Cheat meal...You are going to be alright to just live and let live. Does this mean you won't benefit from quick repair, no! Does this mean that having a quick post workout shake is a ridiculous notion? No, there is nothing bad about that at all. Does not having a "slam down the weight, slam down shake" routine effect your growth and repair on any large scale or at all? You will be fine.

The variables of a training program matter, as do the variables of a nutrition program.

If you are overfilling the tank, you don't need to be so concerned.

If you are running on empty for most of the day then yeah, you need to keep it in check.

Let's take another look towards athletic training.

During the course of any training you should have your nutrition goals tied and locked in perfectly with your performance goals. You can drive your performance as hard as you want and train your ass off but if you aren't feeding then, chances are, you are halting your progress big time. Most people think train harder, but they don't think eat harder. In the movies you never see an eating montage, the best you usually get is raw eggs, or while being iced down from the 5 hour training session they may be eating some sort of meat and rice combo.

So the point is here that if you are training for better performance but not necessarily size (so your maintaining body mass) then yes, your post workout nutrition matters as well. What you take in though should be a little different. If your training is endurance aerobic conditioning lasting more than 60 minutes then you need constant fuel during and following that workout program of simple and complex carbohydrate sources. Protein and good fats are added perks. Keeping constant hydration and carbohydrate fuel up is the key to an endurance athlete.

Okay didn't I say something about Male/Female? I did. Shouldn't males and females train the same and therefore repair the same?
Yes...and No.

Please follow me here and allow me to completely generalize. Athletic women, average Jane Doe, fitness models...all want to in general maintain a lower level of body fat and low level "bulk" of muscle. Their bulks IN GENERAL are not the same as male bulks, as far as excess calories. They are not overloading the tanks and in general are toting the line of maintenance even in a bulk. In a cut, well while I don't agree, they usually take it to the extreme as far as deficits go living off of 1200-1500 calories a day with little to no attention to re-feeds.

Now you could be saying "shouldn't you be focusing then on teaching them the proper principals of nutrition and hormonal safety?" Look I am working on it. In fact I am up to my knees in metabolic readings doing my study right now. Until I can give them the concrete facts and provide some data to comfort the fact that they should be eating more, I feel one of the best methods of helping them while in more harsh deficit is that PWO re-feed.

So how nit picking are we going to get here, how complex is this going to get really!

To keep it as simple as possible pick your category, pick your PWO. The more you relate to in a category the more you should choose it. There is also some room for common sense and honesty. Be real with how hard you really train. Be real with your daily food intake, and if it is actually enough food.

Category 1-Light Trainee
Low to moderate aerobic activity Caloric deficit of less than 15% or
Caloric surplus Low to moderate resistance training Training time 60 mins or less
Intensity overall of 6 or less

Your PWO nutrition-A solid meal within 60 mins of training. Whole foods and a macro breakdown of pro/carb/fat.
Translation-Just eat some food.

Category 2-Focused Trainee
Moderate to Aggressive aerobic activity level
Caloric maintenance or deficit no greater than 25% Moderate to aggressive resistance training
Training time 60 mins or less
Intensity overall of a 7-8 ranking

Your PWO nutrition-A solid meal within 30 mins of training. Whole foods and a macro breakdown of pro/carb with heavier focus on simple/complex
sugars and lower fats/fibers.
Translation-You should eat soon after working out and put some focus on PWO nutrition but don't freak out and go and buy some dextrose and whey just yet.

Category 3-All Star Trainee
Aggressive to vigorous aerobic activity Caloric deficit greater than 25%
Aggressive to vigorous resistance training
Training time of 40 mins or more (if training longer than 60 mins then refeed on simple/complex carbohydrates in intervals at least every 30 mins after 60 mins.)
Intensity overall of a 9-10 ranking

Your PWO nutrition-You guessed it, you get 2:1 ratio of a high glycemic simple carb (2) and a fasting acting protein like whey (1) in a shake form immediately following workout. No Fat.

Translation-You wore your body down, busted your ass, and you have been running on empty as it is. FEED and REPAIR.

You might be asking, what about the middle ground, what about those few other variables?

My answer to that is you need to listen to your body, and use a little common sense. If you are a small female (less than 20% bf) training in Category 2, you may need the PWO of Category 3.

Assess the situation, assess your training program, how long you have been in a deficit or if you are eating merrily through out the day.

Got it?!

Good, now stop the battle of PWO and just get to the actual workout!

This article was written in full by Leigh Peele NASM-CPT. You can find out more about Leigh Peele and her articles, products and services at
http://fatlosstroubleshoot.com and http://avidityfitness.net.

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