Being in tune with your body and knowing what you should eat will help you achieve your workout goals more quickly. Fitness nutrition and eating fitness-focused foods don't have to be complicated; you need to know the right formula.
You've likely heard of sports nutrition; the market is worth $15.6 billion after all. But what are protein, carbs, snacks? What works?
Let's take a look at why healthy eating and working out go hand in hand and how to fuel yourself right.
Starting a work out when you are fatigued and low on energy is never going to give you the best results.
There are theories that fasted cardio helps you burn fat more quickly. However, exercising before eating is not always a good idea. Your body can end up turning to proteins for energy instead of your fat stores.
If you use proteins instead of fat stores, it can cause damage to your muscles.
When you fast before training, you don't necessarily burn more calories than when you eat before. You may also see a weaker performance if you fast before training.
Want peak performance? Then you need to eat two to three hours before you train.
So you should be eating before working out, but what should you eat to master that peak performance?
You need carbs. There's a reason that runners carb load the night before a big race. Carbohydrates are what fuel your body.
The amount you need to eat will depend on how long and hard you intend to work out and how heavy the weights you want to lift are. If you're going for a short half-hour jog, you won't need much to eat before. A 20-mile run, you will need some serious fuel.
Something with carbs and a little protein that isn't unhealthy is the ideal pre-workout snack.
Try out one of these healthy snacks:
The critical thing to keep in mind is that your pre-workout fuel is healthy.
You don't want to eat fries or cookies. Yes, they have a lot of carbs and calories that you could use in your work out. But they aren't nourishing foods that will give you sustained energy for your exercise.
Try to steer clear of processed foods and refined sugar. They will make you feel lethargic and maybe even sick when you are working out.
After you work out, your body is under stress and needs to recover. Intense exercises damage your muscle fibers and need to recover. When your body recovers, those damaged muscles grow back bigger and stronger.
Refueling your body is part of this process of muscle growth. Eating something healthy after healthy exercise helps reduce the damage done to your muscles and will help you recover quicker.
Try to eat in the hour after you work out. This will optimize the process of your body restoring the amino acids lost through the work out.
Your body needs protein after you work out. Depending on the intensity of your work out, you will have different needs.
If you are working out for the purpose of staying fit, around 20g of protein will be enough. Gym addicts who go for intense workouts every day and are trying to build muscle will need a higher protein intake.
Where should you healthily get this protein? Here are some excellent post-workout snacks:
If you are rushing off somewhere after the gym, a protein shake can be a great option. It's a quick way to replenish some of the lost nutrients. Protein shakes are also good because we often don't feel like eating real food after an extensive exercise session.
Remember not to overeat after you exercise, though! It can be tempting to pile on the calories after we work out as we feel like we earned it or should reward ourselves with food. If you are trying to maintain a healthy weight, this attitude can be detrimental to achieving your goals.
Try to keep the amount you eat relative to how hard you go with your exercise.
The best way to manage your fitness nutrition is to create some habits around it. If you know you'll workout on a set day, plan your meal times around the work out. Prepare snacks to bring with you; always keep a banana and some nuts in your gym bag.
If you make it as easy as possible to fuel yourself with healthy snacks before you work out, you won't end up eating unhealthy, processed junk you grab on the go.
When dealing with fitness nutrition, the best way to find out what works best for you is with trial and error. You may find that eating several hours before you work out is way too far in advance. Test your timings and what you eat to establish when you perform best.
You can do the same for post work out fuel. See what makes you feel best after you work out and whether different foods impact your muscle growth. You'll figure out what is most efficient for you.
Need some equipment to maximize your use of time when working out? Check out our selection of premium quality products to make your workouts more enjoyable.
]]>Whether getting in shape and focusing on building muscle was your New Year's resolution or it's been a more recent revelation, making the choice to start working out is an honorable goal that supports your health while also helping you look your best.
Sometimes, though, it can be hard to find motivation for the gym when you've got so much else going on in your life.
Are you looking for ways to help you get amped up to get in shape? Let's take a look at some tips you can use to get psyched to get strong.
Sometimes we lose motivation simply because we don't break our overarching goals into smaller, more actionable goals. If you're finding it hard to get yourself to the gym every day, consider setting small goals that can help you recognize the progress that you're making.
One of the best ways for finding motivation for muscle building is understanding the long list of benefits you'll enjoy as you get stronger.
Getting strong is more than just about looking good. When you build and maintain muscle, you're actually engaging in one of the most important aspects of long-term health and longevity.
Firstly, muscles of course build strength and stamina. This can have an awesome impact on your everyday life, making the normal stair-climbing, grocery bag lifting, and children carrying a total breeze.
Building muscle also helps to support the health of your joints. Joint health is absolutely essential, especially as you get older, to helping to prevent injuries that could force you to sit on the sidelines for a while.
Some of the other health benefits of building muscle include:
Understanding the health implications of getting in shape can help you find the motivation you're looking for.
Sometimes all you need is a buddy to help motivate you when you're getting into shape. When you work out with someone, you have someone to share your progress with as well as someone to help keep you accountable. It's way easier to get out of bed and head to the gym early in the morning when you know someone else is expecting to meet you there.
Consider keeping track of your progress to help you visualize the gains you've made. It will also prove to be a valuable resource as it will help you figure out what is working for you and what isn't so much. Record the workouts you do every day and your max lifts and you'll find motivation for the gym is easy to come by.
When you're making incremental progress over time, sometimes it's hard to realize just how far you've come. Consider taking pictures of yourself at specific intervals (for example, every week or every two weeks) so that you can see how much progress you've made. It can be psychologically really helpful to know that the work you're doing is amounting to real physical changes, and photos can help you see that reality.
You can also use the gains of others to help motivate you. Check out before and after pictures online of people who have gotten healthy and fit. It's important to do this when you're in the right mindset, though. Use other peoples' successes as something that inspires you rather than something you use to feel down about your own fitness.
If you aren't listening to music while you're working out, it's time to start. It's incredible how music can help get you in the zone and change your mood and mindset. Play around with the right type of workout music for you, as some people might prefer high-energy music, and others might appreciate something more low-key.
When you totally kicked butt at the gym, take the opportunity to reward yourself for a job well done. Consider getting some more lifting equipment to help support your workout efforts, such as wrist wraps, knee wraps, or ankle straps.
Your mindset is probably the most important thing you have in your arsenal when it comes to building muscle. Believing that you can and will meet your goals will lead to an easier workout.
As you can see, there are a lot of ways for finding the motivation to get stronger, get in shape, get fit, and look your best.
Remember, though, sometimes you lose motivation because you've been overdoing it. There's no shame in taking a rest day or even a rest week if that's what your body's asking for. Recovering from workouts is just as important as the workouts themselves, so make sure you're giving your body the time it needs to rest and recover.
If you've been struggling to do your daily workouts, consider that you might need a gear upgrade to let you focus on what's important during your lifting session. Check out these weight lifting hooks to help increase your grip and shift your weight for deadlifts and other everyday workouts.
]]>