There are many articles on this site dealing with food – some of our most popular deal with junk food here and here.
Others deal with protein.
And of course, we recently dealt with eating for muscle gain vs eating for fat loss.
But one question that gets asked time after time is what to eat before/after your workouts in order to maximize muscle gain without adding fat.
I’m going to jump right into my recommendations and save the explanations for the end – I’m betting some of you don’t care about the explanations as much as the action plan!
Pre and Post Workout Eating Guidelines
Important preamble: except for #4, these guidelines apply to all of you, whether you are trying to gain mass, lose fat, or just maintain. No matter who you are, you should do about the same thing with your eating in the window before/during/after your lifting workouts. The main difference between gaining and losing overall bodyweight is not different overall eating plans. The difference comes down to total weekly calories. More on that here.
1. Never train on an empty stomach. I’m talking about weight training here (there are mixed reports of doing cardio in a semi-fasted state being better for fat burning, but even if there is a link, it is a small link). To maximize your lifting, you need to do it intensely. If you don’t have enough energy in your muscles (stored glycogen) you will be weaker. That defeats the purpose.
2. Have a mix of protein and carbs BEFORE your workout, preferably about 30 minutes before. Calorie mix should be about 60% carbohydrates, 40% proteins. ADVANCED TIP: These should be carbs like oats, not simple or processed sugars and not veggies. Fruits are fine. (I sometimes have a banana.) Proteins can be slower proteins like casein if you are using a powder or chicken if you are doing real food.
3. Have a mix of protein and carbs AFTER your workout, preferably within 1 hour. Don’t wait 2 hours like some people say. Calorie mix should be about 60% carbs, 40% proteins. ADVANCED TIP: These should be fast carbs – simple sugars are ok. Honey. Orange juice. Your proteins also need to be fast proteins, like whey protein in a shake.
4. Optional: If you are skinny and really trying to add bulk, have a protein/carb mix shake DURING your workout too.
5. Avoid high fiber meals within 2 hrs before or 2 hours after your workout. High fiber can upset your stomach a bit. Fiber counts as carbs yet don’t do much for getting protein into your muscles. Fiber is important, but at different times of day. Some fiber with every meal is fine (especially veggies), but don’t have a fiber-heavy meal right after your workout. This guideline is especially important around cardio workouts.
6. Avoid food with high fat within 2 hrs before or 2 hours after your workout. Fat will slow down the absorption of the protein and carbs. You still need healthy fats (fish oils, nuts, olive oil, etc.) – just other times of day.
7. ADVANCED TIP: Your highest carb intake should be in the time around your workouts. Structure your meal plans accordingly, so that you eat fewer carbs later in the day (except for veggies – good any time other than around your workout because of the fiber).
My Specific Plan
Here’s what I typically do personally (currently). Keep in mind, I workout in the morning.
a) About 1 hr before my workout I’ll either have a banana [carbs] and a casein shake [slow protein], with skim milk [slow protein and fast carbs] or I’ll have a glass of skim milk and a few scoops of my best homemade protein mix [this has some fat and fiber in it, so I keep the amount small]. I’ve also experimented in the past with having a little caffeine here too. I’m not sure if it helps with endurance or not, though science says it does.
b) During my workout I consume more calories. Because I burn a ton of calories all week (weights plus running) I’m scared to death of getting too skinny and thus I need the extra “meal”. I’ll either have a whey protein shake that comes with carbs already, in milk, or I’ll have a whey protein shake without carbs (but in skim milk) and eat a banana about half way through.
c) About an hour after my workout, I’ll have half a bagel, some eggs (half just egg whites), salsa, and some veggies. My workouts are usually about 60 minutes so this puts me at three “meals” within the space of 3 hrs. This is a ton of food and you do NOT need this much food unless you are naturally thin (skip guideline #4 above unless you are naturally thin).
Explanations
The common thinking up until a few years ago really focused on what you ate after your workouts. There were a lot of studies done showing that you had about 2 hours after your workout to feed the muscle.
But like all science, any study is necessarily a limited scope. For example, the studies often had the subjects of the test fast before the workout! And then the comparisons were against people who ate protein and carbs right afterwards. Duh! Of course the comparisons were going to be significantly different!
Very few people really fast before their workouts. An exception is people who workout in the morning who might not eat until after their workout if they aren’t taught better.
Anyway, for a couple decades – inexplicably – no conclusive studies were done about pre-workout nutrition.
Recently there have been studies showing that pre-workout nutrition can be just as effective as post-workout nutrition.
In fact, the consensus among fitness professionals now is that for the average person (non-competitive athlete), as long as you have lean proteins and simple carbs within a 4 hour block (2 hrs before and 2 hrs after) of your workout, you are going to get most of the benefits. The mix of carbs-to-protein differs based on if you are doing more of an endurance training (like running) or a strength training (like weight lifting).
You probably already know that during exercise, the body relies primarily on glycogen – sugar/carbs stored in your muscles. Once that glycogen is used up, your body will either start burning fat or muscle (depending on what activity you are doing).
But it takes insane training to actually reach glycogen depletion – to use up all the glycogen. Seriously, people talk about “depleting their muscles of all the glycogen” but that’s really rare except after very long exercise bouts. Think “3 hr lifting sessions” or “running 12 miles”.
However, there is always a curve – as you lose glycogen, you do start to lose intensity for things like weight training. So during training you want to keep glycogen high. That makes it pretty obvious why carbs would be useful around your workout.
So why the combination of carbs and protein?
Based on my understanding (I don’t have a PhD in this or anything), here’s what’s going on. During your lifting, you are destroying muscle. The hope is that by stressing the muscle fibers to the point of damage, that when they heal they will be stronger and bigger. And that is exactly what happens.
So what do the muscles need to repair themselves? Amino acids found from proteins.
The idea in eating protein and carbs together is that the presence of carbs actually speeds the delivery of the protein to the damaged muscle. Study after study shows that just eating the protein helps, but when combined with carbs more protein gets delivered to the damaged muscles in a short time frame. Which brings us to the time issue…
For a period of about 2-3 hrs after your workout, you are actually in a catabolic state – your body is still “destroying” muscle. It’s only later in the day (starting about 3 hrs later and continuing up to 48 to 96 hours later, depending on whose research you believe) that you are anabolic (growing muscle). The hormones in your body change at about the 3 hr point.
To reduce the catabolic effect, and make the anabolic effect more pronounced, you want to get the protein to your muscles as soon as possible – right after they are damaged. Since even “fast” carbs and “fast” proteins take time to digest and get delivered, eating before or during your workouts ends up hitting your muscles at just the right time – when you have finished working them and damaging them.
Update: I’ve gotten a few questions on one issue so I want to clarify… If you workout in the morning and you simply can’t bring yourself to eat both protein and carbs beforehand, then here’s my “minimum” requirement. Eat some kind of fast carbs before and eat some kind of protein after. Carbs before will fuel a good workout and protein afterward will speed repair.
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October 7th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I keep hearing about working out in a fasted state. I do work out first thing in the AM becauses I am a momma and need to get it in before the activity of the day starts. I’ve been having just a little bit of banana and whey just before and cottage cheese with berries and whey after.
Why am I still hearing about this fasted state workout junk?
October 7th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
@HIIT Mama – your eating sounds perfect. And I have no idea why people still talk about “fasted state” stuff. All the evidence I’ve seen indicates that any benefit of fasted state workouts are small, particularly because a simple overnight fast isn’t enough to really make you in a glycogen depletion state. And the big downside of reduced energy (i.e. reduced intensity) negates those small benefits. So, no fasted workouts!
October 7th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Great post! A lot of people simply gloss over the importance of pre, post and during workout nutrition. One of the most important things that I stress about pre and post workout recovery meals is to just keep them simple. If you like whey protein, then just mix it with some sort of fast acting carb. (I personally like Tang) A lot of my clients have had good luck with plain old chocolate milk — High quality protein and simple sugars to boot and already pre-mixed!
October 8th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Great article. Question on #5.
I have a post workout shake immediately after workout consiting of whey, banana and fat free milk.
But an hour later I have my dinner which includes carbs (sweet potatato), chicken or beef (protein) and some veggies. Should I skip on the veggies or postpone my dinner since veggies contain fiber?
October 8th, 2009 at 9:23 am
@John – keep in mind that these are guidelines, and even I don’t follow them 100% every single day of every single week.
But don’t skip the veggies! What I mean by “avoiding high fiber” means high fiber meals. In other words, don’t have a huge bowl of just bran. Or a huge plate of just broccoli. Some fiber is fine and good. But in the meal you described, the fiber content is actually a small %.
I’ll amend the post for clarity.
October 13th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Great post, another good reason to join LeanLifters – all your post are very conclusive.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Thanks Abraham!
November 21st, 2009 at 4:11 pm
great article, I have a question..I am a vegan and am having trouble gaining mass. What do you recommend? Also I follow food combining and one of the rules is never to combine proteins with complex carbs..for digestion sake. Any thoughts on that.
Thanks
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
@veganlifter – well, I’m definitely not a fan of people adopting vegan diets just because of hype but since you are already a vegan, you can try this plan (click here). Vince Delmonte, who I trust a lot but don’t know personally, was involved in creating this. So it’s worth a shot.
In terms of proteins and complex carbs, I combine them all the time. Really, every day. That said, complex carbs like veggies, plus lean proteins, will take extra work to digest. This thermic effect is great for people trying to stay lean or lose fat. But it could cause some upset stomachs. If you have a sensitive stomach, it might be tough. Keep in mind that “complex” carbs don’t always equal “fibrous” carbs. So it will take experimentation. But as I said, I have no problems regularly. I do run into stomach trouble with long runs (like 90 to 120 minute runs)… I’d love advice from some of you all on that!
January 5th, 2010 at 9:52 am
@Darrin
It wasn’t Vince Delmonte but Craig Ballantyne….
January 26th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
As long as you’re eating 6-8 meals throughout the day, without skipping ANY meals you can train during the morning without eating anything prior to the workout; and by doing this, I have found it is the best way to shred fat and gain muscle. I was doing this for 3 solid months and went from 101kg down to a lean ripped 84kg. Currently I am in bulking phase and I’m basically doing something similar as what you have stated above in your article. So what generally worked for me was if I wanted to drop the weight + add muscle (on-season) was to not eat before my workout, only supplement 12 amino acids in tablet form straight after my workout, followed by 30-45 min cardio then consume first meal (whey shake, supplements, oatmeal) straight after my workout+cardio session, then consume 6-7 more smaller meals throughout the day. I would also include a second cardio session in the afternoon. If i want to bulk up(off-season) I would eat before working out in the morning and continue to eat 5-6 larger meals throughout the day after my workout and reduce cardio to 5 days per week. This keeps my stomach feeling full, whereas during my on-season my stomach feels very flat.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Hi guys,
First this website is awesome. So many articles explained in an down to earth style. Congrats.
Then, the question. I’m a total newbie on those things, I used to be on of those guys who didn’t care at all what was on the plate as long as I was full leaving the table.
So now, I’m starting to work out, not much cardio, just weights and abs. So,
1. I have no idea about carbs, proteins, amino acids. There’s so much info from different sources i get lost pretty fast. One says milk, the other soya, other steak mixed with soya….
2. I work during the day so 6-7 meals a day…how?
3. I’m not skinny, but i do have some fat over the bones, I’m afraid that if I start drinking these shakes and stuff, I’ll get fat.
So what would you recommend? I allready drink a lot of milk (half-skimmed), I eat steak and eggs but only in the evening after workout.
February 10th, 2010 at 11:33 am
@newbie – these are good questions for the forum:
http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/forum .
Quick answers: as a man, limit soy protein. Don’t worry about proteins vs. amino acids for now. Just eat foods that have lean protein. Don’t worry about shakes, except possibly right around your workout. Shakes are convenient, but not required. Real food works fine, just harder to prepare. 6-7 meals a day requires that you prepare several days in advance. For example, I cook 10 chicken breasts at a time, 5 lean hamburgers at a time, pre-cut all my veggies, etc. but I don’t eat them all at once! I store them and that lasts for several days. Carry a cooler with you at work.
February 12th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
I agree with the author here about eating before during and after. When I want to pack on pounds I eat a peanut butter, honey and cinnamin sanwdwich on wheat or white with a protein shake(40-50 grams) about an hour before workout. Then creatine (10 grams monohydrate or 5grams ethyl ester) with gatorade 30 minutes prior with one or two caffein pills (half a cup of coffee’s worth, 100-200mg). I then start drinking 50 grams of protein about 10 min into my workout and finish it by 30 min. I then consume 10 more grams of creatine with some gatorade finishing about 10 minutes prior to the end of my weighlifting, cardio after this on cardio days, 6-10 min max on bulking and 20-30 min when cutting. I usually workout about 60-75min. 3 days a week is cardio with 6-30 minutes of hiit training on treadmill, 1 minute sprint and 1 walking never letting my heart rate to go under 120(I am 42), usually going high to 160) I then have a big meal with about 50 grams of protein and 100-200 carbs mixed fast and slow within 1 hour. Pounds will come fast. When I am cutting I avoid carbs all together until 12 noon (I workout in the late afternoon), I know most will tell you this will destroy muscle but just increase Protein intake (100-150 grams before noon) and your body will burn fat all morning. I stay away from all sugars and bread when cutting. Oatmeal with splenda and cinnamin is awesome. Cinnamin is a must for me, great for dieting. This works for me, I hate steroids and I have been naturally working out for 30 years. This keeps me just as big as the drug guys and my blood work always comes back perfect with low cholesterol and I eat 4-6 eggs over easy almost every morning! Eggs do not increase bad cholestoral unless you consume an abundance of carbs, mainly sugars. Doctors love to tell you never to have more than one egg a day and then they put you on their favorite pharmicutical reps cholestoral pills(which btw is usually horrible for your liver) just remember, Bad cholestoral can only be manufactured with the help of carbs, take them away or burn them and your body can’t manufacture it.
February 13th, 2010 at 12:20 am
NEWBIE, protein shakes are cheap, fast and awesome, buy your protein from wallmart 14.98 or 15.98 a 2 lb can, absolute cheapest anywhere. You will be able to bring them to work already made in water bottles. You will pay about 50 cents a meal. Consume creatine(buy monohydrate, one can will last forever and it’s cheap or you can buy a mix at wallmart for about 18 bucks) with gatorade before and after your workout but always 30 min before or after a meal. You don’t need to plan a week ahead, it’s not rocket science, keep it simple. Buy a case of bottled water, (the night before work) empty water into glass, mix 1 scoop(25 grams) protein with water, pour it back into bottle and put it in fridge, bring 2-3 to work with a zip lock bag of raw brocali, apples or some other good carb. If you like peanut butter, bring a peanut butter sandwhich on wheat(no jelly, honey if you must have a sweet, and cinnamin if you like it). This will keep you full, Eat big in the morning(eggs if you like them) and even a strip of bacon(only one), the fat will keep you feeling full. The key is to keep yourself feeling full all day, if you just consume shakes you will get cravings for bad foods so always eat something with them like a good carb. Take caffein tabs(cheap, cheap, cheap, one box of ten cost about one dollar, they come in a box at convenience stores, one pill before a workout will give you plenty of energy. You ever see those ads in muscle and fitness(super workouts, mind blowing power, their secret is shhh(caffein). Drink plenty of water, after you drink a shake, wash the bottle out at the water fountain and then sip on it, do this every time you drink a shake and you will get enough water. If you get gas, you probably didn’t drink enough water. I know guys will tell you to cook all this chicken and every thing else and it is good but shakes are just as good and they are cheap, fast and practical. Good luck brother.