Fuelling your performance

We all know how good it feels to walk into a workout fuelled up and bursting with energy. It’s not just what you eat before training that’s important. When fuelling your performance, you also need a nutrition plan for what to eat before, during and after your workout.

WHAT IS PERI-WORKOUT NUTRITION?

“Peri-workout” means the entire period around a workout, so peri-workout nutrition means your pre-workout meal and supplements, any fuel you take on board during training, plus your post-workout nutrition.

Your personal approach to peri-workout nutrition will depend on your fitness, goals, training frequency, and the duration and intensity of your workouts. But there are some rules about peri-workout nutrition that we can all learn from.

HOW TO DESIGN YOUR WORKOUT NUTRITION

We know that carbohydrates are the main energy source for training, and having sufficient carbs in your pre-workout meal can lead to improved energy, mood, and training performance.

Protein is the main substrate for building and repairing muscle tissue, so it is important to have key amino acids in your system during training. This starts with your pre-training meal but should extend to your intra-workout supplements (BCAA drinks and intra-workout options containing key amino acids are a great choice – try PhD Intra BCAA+ which contains the key BCAAs in a higher than usual ratio of 4:1:1).

Fuelling your performance – the right timing

Your perfect peri-workout plan will come down to trial and error over time, but here’s what we recommend as a guide.

If you train during the day: 4 hours before training – a large meal containing carbohydrates and protein
If you train in the morning: 1 hour before training – a smaller meal or a shake containing about 30-40g carbs and 25g protein (choose a fast-digesting protein like PhD Whey Isolate).
Before training: if you like to use a pre-workout like PhD BURN or Charge, take it 20-30 minutes before your session starts
During training: for training sessions that are long, intense, or hot and humid, use an intra workout that will replenish fluids, electrolytes, carbohydrate, and amino acids. PhD Intra BCAA+ is a reliable choice.
After training: kick start recovery with a shake containing protein as a priority, with carbohydrates (depending on your training goals and diet).
Rest of the day: go on to eat normally, with balanced meals based around lean protein and complex carbohydrates as your diet allows.

PRE-TRAINING NUTRITION

The main goals of your pre-training meal, snack, or shake are to help you sustain energy throughout training, to optimise performance, and to preserve muscle mass.

You’ll achieve these by focusing on carbohydrates (energy and performance) and protein (reducing damage to muscle mass). Your pre-training nutrition should give your body a wide range of amino acids, which is why so many people opt for a quality protein shake like Whey Isolate before training. The carbohydrates in your pre-training nutrition will fuel your training output, help preserve muscle, and improve muscle protein synthesis (when combined with protein).

INTRA-WORKOUT NUTRITION

Plenty of people don’t take on any nutrition during a workout, but they could be missing a trick. Intra-workout nutrition is about more than hydration. A good choice of intra (like PhD Intra BCAA+) provide a source of fuel, boost your training performance, and help preserve muscle, leading to faster recovery and better adaptation to training (i.e. gains!)

POST-TRAINING NUTRITION

Everyone knows that what you eat and drink after training has a big impact on recovery and progress. Your post-workout nutrition should focus on recovery, refuelling, and rehydration, plus muscle gain if that’s your goal.

If you fuelling up properly before training, and maybe took on some intra-workout nutrition, those proteins will still be in your bloodstream. So don’t worry too much about getting your post-workout nutrition in immediately. Eat or drink some quality protein with carbohydrates within 1-2 hours and you will be fine.

Fuelling your performance – explore the full range of pre-training, intra-workout, and post-workout nutrition options from PhD here.

Written by Nicola Joyce

Nicola is a specialist freelance copywriter for the fitness industry @thefitwriter