Are you eating enough to recover?

Your diet and nutritional choices can be a deal maker or breaker with regard to your training goals. The average person has symptoms of short term memory loss and schizophrenia when it comes to contemplating their day to day eating habits. Few people if any write down what they eat or record their dietary intake of macronutrients, those that do usually work for the IRS and are not someone you would hang out with. "I really do eat well, really do," says the well intentioned overweight and undernourished person. "I just don't know why I don't have energy to do anything," she says when asked about working out.

Let's do some fitness math: 

155 lb person could burn 10 calories with one minute of burpees.  

(1) 2 inch brownie square has 243 calories

To burn off the excess calories of consuming the brownie mentioned above, you will need to do 24 minutes of burpees.

Is that brownie worth 24 minutes of burpees


If you sleep 8 hours each night, current thinking has you eat every 2-3 hours. So that would mean about 5 meals or more. You could define a meal as an appropriate source of protein, healthy carbs and healthy fats. Now your training goal could include weight loss or body transformation and we can’t get into that now. So let’s just assume this blog is about the proper and simple nutrition patterns for a person training to get stronger and / or increase their total body conditioning.

What & When?

What are you eating? Can you say for sure? Can you estimate how many grams of protein you have had in a day? After looking closely at my own nutritional habits, I realized I was under consuming protein and healthy fats. There were several days where I had around 50-75 grams of protein. For my body weight (215 lbs), I should have around 150-200 grams of protein…duh! Well, I wasn’t planning my meals or meal supplements, so I end up injured. Without protein, you cannot repair from your training (period). For optimal injury repair and active recovery, the dietary protein necessary is 1.5-2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. So take a little spiral notebook or your fancy West-Coastish iPad and record what you eat for a week. Don’t change your habits, just write it down. The sit back and review it. This is how you should start your nutritional planning.

When are you eating? The timing of your meals can be as important as what you are eating. As I noted earlier, eating every 2-3 hours can be considered optimal. It’s not more complicated than that. If you aspire to lower body fat, limit your intake of carbohydrates 3-4 hours before sleep. There is some high-science logic that believes your body doesn’t handle carbs well at the end of the day, trust that foolish logic. The earth may well be round after all. Also, if you have to have carbs, make it low glycemic index carbs. If you don’t know what the glycemic index is, check here.

What should you do after the workout?

Some authorities would say you can wait as long as 60 minutes to have your post-workout nutrition. They would also probably find it normal for their prom date to go home with another guy. That being said, ideally I believe your post-workout nutrition should occur ASAP. Especially for those of you who only drink water during your workout. Try to get your post-workout shake at about the 10-15 minute mark after training once you have caught your breath and can stand without falling.

Post-workout nutrition should supply protein and carbs to replenish the exhausted reserves and promote the healing process that follows training. Your post-workout nutrition will also replenish glycogen stores and diminish the negative effects of exercise induced cortisol release.

Take a look at what you’re eating. You may find that you are not giving your body the necessary nutrients to repair.

What are Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) and What are They For?

What are branched chain amino acids?

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are so called because of their structure, which includes a “side chain” of one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms. There are three BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Of these, leucine is the most heavily researched, and appears to offer the biggest physiological benefit. (More on that below.)

For the science geeks, these hydrophobic (water-fearing) amino acids are referred to as “aliphatic” (from the Greek aleiphar, or oil), as their central carbon attaches to a branched non-cyclic, open carbon chain.

BCAA structure. Source: University of Illinois

BCAAs provide the basis for protein synthesis and energy production (Harper AE et al 1984; Patti ME et al 1998; Xu G et al 1998; Anthony JC et al 2001). In fact, BCAAs can comprise up to one-third of muscle protein (Mero 1999). Because of their prevalence and involvement in protein synthesis and energy production, BCAAs are important to many metabolic processes.

However, if BCAAs are going to participate in these processes, they must be available to the body. This means we have to eat enough BCAAs, and at the right times, to enable such processes to occur.

Why is adequate BCAA intake so important?

The BCAAs are the only amino acids not degraded in the liver. All other amino acids are regulated by the gut and the liver before being circulated elsewhere in the body. However, BCAAs head directly into the bloodstream. This means that dietary intake of BCAAs directly influences plasma levels and concentrations in muscle tissue (Layman DK 2003). Interestingly, BCAAs are burned for energy (oxidized) during exercise, so they’re also an important exercise fuel.

Consuming BCAAs before training can increase uptake into muscle tissue (Mittleman KD et al 1998). This has many benefits:

1. BCAA supplementation may lower lactate levels after resistance training and improve muscular oxidation.
2. BCAAs may increase growth hormone (GH) circulation, which may be related to anabolic mechanisms causing muscle growth (De Palo EF et al 2001).
3. BCAA supplementation may decrease serum concentrations of the intramuscular enzymes creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase following prolonged exercise. This can decrease muscle damage and improve recovery (Coombes JS, McNaughton LR 2000).

Muscle is an important site of BCAA activity. There is an increased cell concentration and breakdown of BCAAs in muscle tissue (Layman DK 2003). BCAAs are continuously released from the liver and other internal organs to skeletal muscle so that the BCAAs can assist in maintaining blood sugar levels. Indeed, BCAAs may be responsible for up to 40% of blood sugar production during exercise (Ahlborg G et al 1974; Ruberman NB 1975; see also Layman DK 2003).

What you should know

Because BCAAs are so important to muscle tissue, and because they help maintain blood sugar levels, it’s important to get enough to support your workouts. Consuming a carbohydrate, protein, and amino acid beverage during and after training can induce an insulin response, which helps transport BCAAs into cells. However, availability of leucine is more important than insulin. Within the muscle cell there’s one particular regulatory pathway for protein synthesis that’s stimulated by insulin, but dependent on leucine (Anthony et al 2000). In other words, protein synthesis (and hence muscle rebuilding) depends on how much leucine is available. And since BCAA levels decline with exercise, it makes sense to supplement with them during and/or after workouts (Mero 1999).

Because it’s so important to have leucine available for protein synthesis, if you train in a fasted state, or don’t eat after exercise, you’re going to lose more protein than you rebuild. However, if you eat adequate BCAAs during this time, especially leucine, you’ll enhance protein synthesis.

For extra credit

For the body to make new proteins, it needs an estimated daily leucine intake of between 1 to 4 grams/day (FAO/WHO/UNU 1985). That minimum intake needs to be met before leucine will be able to impact the insulin signaling pathway. But that’s just a baseline. Actual metabolic use, especially by athletes and people doing heavy resistance training, may be upwards of 12 grams/day.

There is a theory that BCAAs can limit central fatigue with endurance athletes, but it doesn’t appear to be supported by current data.

BCAA content of foods (grams of amino acids/100 g of protein)

Whey protein isolate 26%
Milk protein 21%
Muscle protein 18%
Soy protein isolate 18%
Wheat protein 15%

Source: USDA Food Composition Tables

Summary and recommendations

BCAAs play an important role in:

• Synthesis of proteins in general
• Glucose homeostasis (i.e. keeping blood sugar levels constant)
• Direct regulation of muscle protein synthesis (via insulin signaling cascade)

BCAAs’ potential impact on the aforementioned processes depends upon availability and dietary intake. Adequate consumption of BCAAs may help manage body fat, spare muscle mass, and regulate glucose/insulin balance.

How can you put this knowledge to use?

Try adding BCAAs into your workout drink at a rate of 5 g BCAA per hour of training.

During periods of lower calorie intake, try adding a BCAA supplement every 2-4 hours during the day.

Post Workout Nutrition

Post Workout Nutrition

The post workout meal is probably the most important meal of the day for anyone who cares about nutrition or wants to build muscle, lose fat or improve his/her body.  It can also be the one that confuses people the most because there are so many different recommendations for what to eat and how much to eat after a workout.  However, once you develop a basic knowledge of the science behind a post workout meal, it will probably become the simplest meal of your day.  With that said, let's clear up the confusion and talk about what you should and should not eat after your workout...

What Should I Eat After My Workout

Simply put, your post workout meal should primarily consist of two things, protein and carbs.  Why not fat you ask?  Well, "good fats" are certainly an important part of your diet, but post workout isn't the ideal time for them.  Reason being is because fat slows down digestion, thus slowing down the absorption of protein and carbohydrates.  Post workout is when your body needs the quickest uptake in nutrients possible to aid in muscle recovery.  We will get into more detail about exactly what types of carbs and proteins to eat after your workout a bit later.

How Long After My Workout Should I Eat?

As soon as possible!  How is that for an answer!  Now, that doesn't mean that on your last set you drop the weights and start ripping into a rotisserie chicken, but there is a window of time after your workout in which it is the most beneficial for your body to receive its post workout nutrition.  You typically want to try and eat something within an hour of your workout, but the sooner the better.  Ideally,  you should aim for within 30 minutes after your workout.  

Protein for Post Workout

So now that you know when you should eat after a workout! Let's delve a little deeper into the carbs and protein conundrum.  First, let's talk about protein.  Muscles need protein for recovery and growth, and as we talked about earlier, the best time to deliver protein appears to be right after exercise. Providing high-quality protein after exercise gives your muscles the fuel and the building blocks needed for both repair and for growth.

Exactly what kind of protein do you eat?  Well, while chicken, meat, fish and eggs are all great sources of lean protein, they aren't exactly the ideal types of protein for post workout.  These types of protein are solid foods, and if you have not already guessed by now, their solid forms take longer to be broken down and digested by the body.  Thus, not making them the ideal candidate for post workout consumption since time is of the essence!  

Enter whey protein powder!  Whey protein is the fastest digesting form of protein there is, and when you mix the powder with some source of liquid (liquid meals digest faster than solid meals) you've got yourself a quick and easy source of lean protein for your post workout meal.  Try to aim for .15-.25 grams of whey protein per pound of your body weight.

Post Workout Carbs

Now that we have covered protein, let's go over the last piece of the post workout meal equation.  The next equally important part of your post workout meal is carbs.  Over the last few years, the various diet fads and weight loss trends have created  a "carb phobia" among the general population.  Indeed, like most things in life, too many carbs in your diet can lead to a host of health problems.  However,  the "right" kind of carbs are essential for maintaining a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle.   In fact, when it comes to your post workout meal, they are an extremely essential part of your after-workout nutrition and play a key role in your post workout recovery.

Why is that?  Well, carbs will be used by your body to restore muscle glycogen that was depleted while you worked out. If your post workout meal doesn’t contain carbs, your body may actually instead break down muscle tissue for this same purpose.  Carbs also create an insulin spike which helps to shuttle nutrients into your muscle tissue faster.

So, now that you know your body requires carbs after a workout, you’re probably wondering what foods they should come from.   Well, you probably already know that there are supposed “good carbs” (complex carbohydrates) and “bad carbs" (simple carbohydrates ).  As it turns out, this is actually the only time when “simple carbs” can be considered the good guys!  Meaning, typically the good carbs contain fiber and other nutrients that slow down the digestion process and create less of an insulin spike into the bloodstream.  These guys are also known as lower glycemic carbs and includes foods like brown rice, oatmeal, whole wheat bread, quinoa, etc.  Simple carbs, aka high glycemic carbs, do just the opposite as the are digested more quickly into the bloodstream and create a higher insulin spike allowing for faster absorption of nutrients into the muscle tissue.

Bingo, you guessed right!  Simple carbohydrates are where it's at for your post workout meal.  Remember, the post workout meal is all about speed. And when it comes to speed, simple/high glycemic carbs digest faster than complex/lower glycemic carbs.   However, just like protein, solid sources of simple carbohydrates may not really be the absolute BEST choice at this time.  Eating solid food after a workout can be difficult. You may find it easier to tolerate fast-acting carbohydrates in the form of a liquid, such as sports drinks or smoothies. Specially formulated sports drinks contain glucose, a fast-acting carbohydrate, along with electrolytes, which are minerals needed for proper muscle contraction and energy. Sports drinks are especially valuable after endurance workouts, such as long runs or rides, lasting longer than 90 minutes. Smoothies are another way to get your post-workout fast-acting carbohydrates in an easy-to-tolerate way.   A simple solution is to blend together some fruit, especially bananas, 100 percent fruit juice and whey protein powder.  Try to aim for .25-.4 grams of carbohydrates per pound of your body weight.

So in closing, I hope this has helped to clear some confusion you may have when deciding what to eat after your workout.  Stay tuned for more to follow...

What is Creatine and What is It For?

What is creatine?

Creatine is an amino acid derivative constructed from arginine, glycine and methionine. It is produced naturally by the body in the kidneys, liver, and pancreas at a rate of about 1-2 grams/day. Creatine can also be obtained from food (particularly red meat) and supplementation.

The uptake of creatine into muscle cells is an active process. 90-95% of creatine in the body is found in muscle. This is why it is critical in assisting with muscular work and endurance.

Creatine is degraded into creatinine and excreted in the urine at a rate of around 2 grams/day. This means your body can get rid of it easily.

Why is creatine so important?

The energy needs of brief, rapid and powerful movements lasting fewer than 10 seconds, such as a short sprint, are met by the phosphagen system. This system quickly replenishes the stores of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, which provides energy to the working cells. Muscles have an existing amount of ATP hanging around ready for action, but only a little bit — enough for a few seconds. ATP is broken down by removing a phosphate, which turns it into adenosine diphosphate (two phosphates).

To make more ATP, the muscles need to get the missing third phosphate from somewhere, quickly.

This is where creatine phosphate comes in. It takes one for the team by donating its phosphate so that ADP can become ATP again, and so you can finish that sprint.

Because creatine plays a major role in this system, more creatine means more potential ATP, which translates into improved performance on short-duration, high-intensity tasks. Because long-duration, low-intensity activities rely more on a different energy system, they are not typically enhanced by creatine — in other words, creatine will help a sprint but not a marathon.

Consuming creatine supplements can increase skeletal muscle free creatine (which makes up about 1/3) and phosphocreatine (which makes up about 2/3) concentrations. These are the naturally occurring energy pools that replenish ATP.

Uptake of creatine into muscle also has a cell volumizing effect by drawing water into the cell. Over the long term, this swelling may increase protein synthesis and glycogen storage.

What you should know

Creatine is taken as a supplement in the form of creatine monohydrate (mainly), because the phosphorylated creatine (creatine phosphate or phosphocreatine) does not pass through cell membranes.

Other forms of creatine supplements have not been heavily studied and may result in more of a by-product known as creatinine. A recent study found that “when compared to creatine monohydrate, creatine ethyl ester was not as effective at increasing serum and muscle creatine levels or in improving body composition, muscle mass, strength, and power.”

Creatine use can improve performance in high-intensity events (e.g., weight training, sprints, etc). Longer duration aerobic workouts may not benefit from regular creatine use.

When following high-dose creatine loading strategies, body mass can be increased by nearly 2 kg (over 4 lbs) in just 7 days. This is mainly due to increases in total body water. However, these rapid water gains are not necessarily associated with lower dose creatine use.

As previously mentioned, long-term use of creatine can stimulate muscle protein synthesis. Plus, when power and strength levels are enhanced, general muscular adaptation can occur indirectly.

The benefits of creatine supplementation may go beyond athletic performance: creatine may have neuro-protective effects on neurological diseases such as Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, aka Lou Gehrig’s disease). More human trials are needed to confirm this.

For extra credit

Creatine appears to be safe to use while exercising in the heat.Creatine does not appear to increase the risk of cramping or injury. Combining caffeine with creatine shouldn’t negate its effects. (See Creatine Combinations)

Creatine supplementation may be even more beneficial in those on a plant-based diet, due to the lack of creatine consumption from food. About 20 percent of creatine users are deemed “non-responders.” This may occur because they already have a high enough dietary intake of creatine from whole foods. Conversely, creatine supplementation may be even more beneficial for those on a plant-based diet, due to the lack of creatine consumption from food.

A standard omnivorous diet contains about 1 gram of creatine per day. Typically, additionally benefits occur with intakes of 3-5 grams per day. Creatine supplementation may be more effective when combined with carbohydrates during the first few days of supplementation. This suggests that insulin may moderate its effects. However, after the first few days, carbohydrates may not be required.

Based on current data, long-term creatine supplementation does not result in adverse health effects.

Creatine supplementation may increase anterior compartment pressure in the lower leg so athletes may want to be careful with creatine supplementation if they’re prone to shin problems.

Summary and recommendations

If you decide to use a creatine supplement:

• Use the monohydrate form
• Consume 3-5 grams of creatine per day
• Dissolve the creatine in a warm beverage like green tea
• You can also take your creatine before and/or after workout sessions with your workout nutrition
• Take a break from creatine supplementation after using for 12-16 weeks