What to eat when your performance really matters.
When it comes to working out, people love to obsess over the details. From analysing individual sets and reps to methodically mapping out their run with expensive GPS watches, everybody wants their training session to be just perfect.
But sweaty perfection – whether that's running a sub-30 minute 10k or getting shredded for summer – can only be achieved if you nail down your pre and post-workout nutrition, which is something many overlook.
Ali Patterson, accredited practising dietitian and spokesperson for Sports Dietitians Australia, says that by forgetting proper nutrition around a workout, many people are shooting themselves in the foot before they even start.
"Getting your nutrition plans wrong before a training session or event usually means that you don’t optimise your potential during exercise," Patterson tells Coach.
"This can lead to earlier fatigue, reduced speed and endurance, skill errors, poor concentration and gut upset."
Whether you're hitting up the gym for an intensive weights session, or jumping in the pool to work on your stroke, it's critical that you're putting the right fuel in the tank to perform at your best.
This is because the more intense training sessions you can accumulate (and recover from), the faster your results will be. To boost your intensity, Patterson recommends stocking up on carbohydrates to make sure you've got fuel in the tank ready to burn.
"The most important nutrients to consider before exercise are carbohydrates and fluid," says Patterson.
"There’s no one 'best' pre-exercise meal or snack option and it will depend on what your individual requirements are."
"But a few ideas to trial are a cereal with fruit and yoghurt, crumpets with sliced banana and honey, pasta with tomato based sauce or even some raisin toast with jam."
As important as your toast is, making sure that you've drunk enough water is also critical to squeezing every last drop of performance out of your muscles – but it's not a great idea to chug a litre down before pulling on the runners.
"It’s important to start exercise appropriately hydrated by sipping on water in the lead-up to your training session," recommends Patterson.
"An easy way to check if you’re hydrated is to check the colour of your pee, it should be light yellow – if it’s really dark, you could be dehydrated and should drink some more water before you start."
So critical is pre-workout drinking (you know what I mean), that research has shown even a modest amount of dehydration is enough to drastically reduce your performance. For an athlete weighing 70kg, all it would take is 1.4kg of fluid loss (or two percent of bodyweight) to measurably harm their performance.
When you return home victorious from your training session it's tempting to tuck in to every food known to man – whether it’s healthy or not is usually a distant second priority. Although your next session might seem like an age away, the sooner you start the process of proper recovery, the better you'll train in the long run.
For Patterson, this involves having athletes focus on what she calls the three Rs.
"Ideally your recovery meal or snack should have a combination of carbohydrates, to refuel; protein, for muscle repair; as well as fluid and electrolytes, to rehydrate," recommends Patterson.
"The amount that you need depends on the training session just completed as well as your individual needs."
And for that whopping great steak or bucket of grilled chicken, so often claimed by bodybuilders to be the pinnacle of muscle-building nutrition? Well, you don’t need as much protein as you might think to fuel your #gainz.
"You only need approximately 20 to 30 grams of protein to maximise the muscle’s repair and growth machinery" advises Patterson. "Eating more than this is no extra benefit and is typically excreted from the body through urine."
We've all heard it before: if you don't drink your protein shake within 10 minutes of working out, you'll automatically lose all of the muscles you just gained in the gym.
Despite that being physiologically incorrect, the general sentiment is that you have a "workout window" in which to give your muscles protein to grow. But does it really matter how strict your timing is?
Potentially, says Patterson, but for the average gymgoer the best advice is simply to make sure you're not training on a full stomach or forgetting to eat at all after a workout.
"The ideal timing of pre-exercise fuelling varies between individuals, but generally most people can tolerate their last main meal approximately two to four hours before exercise without any unwanted stomach upset," says Patterson.
"It’s a good idea to sip on fluid in the few hours leading up to exercise rather than gulping a large volume down just before you start to allow your body to use the fluid effectively and avoid the need to pee soon after starting the session or event."
Just how soon you eat your post-workout meal depends largely on your training load. If you've finished your workout for the day then you can likely carry on with your normal lunch or dinner, but if you're training twice a day you're going to have to be a little stricter.
"Being proactive with your recovery nutrition is especially important if you complete two or more training sessions in a day or two sessions in close succession (for example, an evening session followed by early morning session the next day)," advises Patterson.
"In these situations, getting in something to eat and drink within approximately 90 minutes of finishing training will help to kick start the body’s recovery processes."
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