I do my workouts MWF. I run in the mornings before breakfast, and then
lift in the evenings. I usually drink a protein shake before I run, but I was
wondering when exactly I should eat my carbs before my lifting regimen.
Can I eat carbs all throughout the day, and have energy to lift in the
evening or should I wait until I'm closer to lifting before I eat my carbs?
Anybody? =)
I guess for now I'll keep eating my carbs mostly mid day before I lift at
night.
I'd skip the carb load before lifting. There's usually a sugar-crash that's hard to shake off mid-workout.
Most important time to have your carbs is post-workout.
half hour after workout they say is your best window of oppurtunity.
Try and have about 50g of carbs as soon as you can after your workout. Adding 24g of protein is supposed to help with the absorbtion too. Have something high GI - I mix aboput 50g of dextrose with one scoop whey (just plain whey nothing fancy, and I'm also currently taking creatine but don't worry about that).
Or you could have something else like jam on toast or rice cakes. I just have a shake because it's easy and I'm lazy...and they probably wont let me take a toaster in the gym.
Here's a nifty (but useless) trick I learned with carbs by accident:
Immediately after lifting, eat a high GI, starchy carb like mashed sweet potatoes or yams, rice, or pasta. JUST the carbs.
Have small sips of water.
Your muscles will have a HUGE pump for about 45 minutes, lol!!
My wife saw this happen once, and she was like "DANG!! WTF have you been doing!!???"
I don't do too much, because I'd rather have my shake immediately after the lifting.
But sometimes, when I feel like pumping up Ahhhhnuhld style, I keep the carbs separate, and wow the wifey. :)
"Here's a nifty (but useless) trick I learned with carbs by accident"
Maybe it's not so useless. Isn't having a good pump supposed to aid hypertrophy?
Ok...so now I know I need to get some carbs in after my workout. Before
it was only purely whey protein. So I got some CytoSport with about 50g
carbs/serving which I will drink immediately after lifting. After a few
minutes it will be followed by about 50g of whey protein.
My question is that I also read that I need to spike my insulin levels
during this time to aid absorption? The sugar content is only 2g/serving
for the maltodextrin drink I bought. So do I also need to add a sugary
drink? I bought the Cytosport carb drink, and while the carbs are high the
sugar content is low.
Dextrose powder is cheap and very high GI - basically sugar. I don't bother with brand name stuff - you might even be able to find somewhere that supplies food manufacturing places and get get it cheap. Mine came in a huge plain plastic tub that you'd expect paint to come in. All the same really. If it's too sweet you could mix it with the maltodextrin.
Also I prob wouldn't bother consuming 50g of protein in one go. For most people about 20g or more of that would just be wasted.
Depends on what your goals are, naturally, but i think that eating a carbohydrate source pre-workout is a good idea for optimal muscle gain. Otherwise, eating normally works fine.
-doug-
Your muscles will have a HUGE pump for about 45 minutes
So after the workout and after you eat a starchy carb and sip water, your muscles will be pumped big time.
shakes head
I purchased the book "Power Eating" about a month ago. I look at it like it's the bible. I cleanedup my diet so much & saw huge results in 2 weeks.
There are alot of good formuals & guidelines for bulking, cutting, losing fat & maintaining.
"So after the workout and after you eat a starchy carb and sip water, your muscles will be pumped big time."
Yep. Not the same effect, from my experience, if you mix protein.
But I'm sure you already knew that Jack. :)