to eat before or after workout

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: NightCrawler
big plate of pasta 60-90 minutes before.

puke city right there, or if you don't puke fat city lol. Atomicus - candy should NEVER factor into any type of meal if you are trying to get in shape (which I assume you are by working out) The only time you would "run dry" is if you are into extremely high intensity aerobit workouts (triathlons, long run/bike/swim sets intersperesed with heavy sprints) under those conditions your body will need carbohydrates to power the muscles as they use up their glycogen reserves, processed sugars are not a good idea as they are burned very quickly and cannot sustain any type of aerobic activity. Also eating 2 meals just to compensate from a workout is just exacerbating the problem.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: Amused
This is what I have found to be most effective for my weight training workouts:

Eat a high carb meal 1-2 hours before I leave for the gym. Right before I leave for the gym, I slam down a carb drink (essentially, just sugar). When I return from the gym, have a high protein shake and a high carb/creatine mix. An hour later, I eat a moderate carb, high protein meal. As the day goes on, my meals have fewer carbs and more protein. I eat 5-6 meals a day.

Hmm, I know you work out a lot so I won't bash you, if it really works for you, I guess everyone's body is a bit different, the 5-6 meals a day I've heard is good and I can see why, its just tough for me to eat that often, I do try to have snacks during the day though (around 10 am a banana, and 3 or so a plum or a peach, although when I was training a lot harder for swimming I'd have a banana in the morning about 30 minutes before I got in the pool for energy, it was all I could stand though, its really tough for me to eat in the morning, especially at 4:30 in the morning heh) I'd say good call on the fewer carbs more protein later in the day as you have less time to burn off the carbs and its less likely to be stored as fat the earlier you eat them.

/edit BTW those of you who take whey protein, have you noticed any tangible benefits? I used it for about 18 months and didn't notice any out of the ordinary gains, I've sustained about the same amount of gain now that I've been off it as I was while I was on it. I've also been talking to a lot of the guys at the gym about it, and a good portion of the really big guys get their protein from chicken and fish rather than whey, although a friend of mine got a lot bigger while taking whey, that was in conjunction with a lot of sugars and fat, like he got pretty obese for about 5 months then slimmed down a bit, and isn't cut, but he isn't fat and he is a lot stronger.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: Amused
This is what I have found to be most effective for my weight training workouts:

Eat a high carb meal 1-2 hours before I leave for the gym. Right before I leave for the gym, I slam down a carb drink (essentially, just sugar). When I return from the gym, have a high protein shake and a high carb/creatine mix. An hour later, I eat a moderate carb, high protein meal. As the day goes on, my meals have fewer carbs and more protein. I eat 5-6 meals a day.

Hmm, I know you work out a lot so I won't bash you, if it really works for you, I guess everyone's body is a bit different, the 5-6 meals a day I've heard is good and I can see why, its just tough for me to eat that often, I do try to have snacks during the day though (around 10 am a banana, and 3 or so a plum or a peach, although when I was training a lot harder for swimming I'd have a banana in the morning about 30 minutes before I got in the pool for energy, it was all I could stand though, its really tough for me to eat in the morning, especially at 4:30 in the morning heh) I'd say good call on the fewer carbs more protein later in the day as you have less time to burn off the carbs and its less likely to be stored as fat the earlier you eat them.

/edit BTW those of you who take whey protein, have you noticed any tangible benefits? I used it for about 18 months and didn't notice any out of the ordinary gains, I've sustained about the same amount of gain now that I've been off it as I was while I was on it. I've also been talking to a lot of the guys at the gym about it, and a good portion of the really big guys get their protein from chicken and fish rather than whey, although a friend of mine got a lot bigger while taking whey, that was in conjunction with a lot of sugars and fat, like he got pretty obese for about 5 months then slimmed down a bit, and isn't cut, but he isn't fat and he is a lot stronger.

Snacks are what you are really eating about half the time on a 5-6 meal a day regimine. I had a protein shake as two meals, quick and easy and I didn't starve.

The big guys at the gym are often full of it. The ones you know are on roids will deny it, they will say they don't supplement, that they drink all the time and eat all fatty foods.

Fact is though what the advantage of Whey is is cost and quickness. It's more expensive to buy high quality protein sources and also then you have to prepare them, and then chew them...chewing gets old if you are eating all the time...but most have no need...if you are pulling 160+ lbs of muscle only you'll need a little supplementation if just working out. If you are in a constant burning sport or at the 175lbs+ of muscle weight then more calories are needed usually than the average guy eats.

The reason your friend got fat was too much calories. This is why I like to get down to where I can see my abs then start loading up....as soon as my abs wash away I know I am over eating....it's almost impossible to be fully cut and vascular when you are also trying to pack on mass, but you don't have to be chubby.

Most don't need a mass loading 'stage' as they don't have the fountation...many jump right into specialized exercises too when they should be sticking with the run of the mill bench press, squat/leg press, curls, dips, pullups, etc.

Big guys also don't always equal the strongest. My arms are about 16", no fat at all solid. There are many guys at my gym with flabby but bigger looking arms, maybe 18-19"+....I am curling what they do and more (105-115lbs or so for reps two months back after 2 years off).