Nutrition

You don't need to be a time management expert to know that time is one of the most valuable resources you have. Any for many, time is the number one excuse for not exercising. The best way to prevent exercise from becoming a burden on your time is to get the most in return for the time you invest. Unfortunately, most people in the gym are wasting their time. Some people spend hours every day in the gym and see little to no results.

Do your own investigation. How many people do you know who workout in health clubs or 24-hour gyms that are making noticeable physical progress? When was the last time that you made any significant physical progress? Exercise has the potential to be a very good use of your time. And in many cases, your higher energy level will make you more productive, leaving you feeling like you actually have more time. Not to mention the added years of quality living which is the greatest return of all. However, most people never experience the massive return on their time invested in exercise.

Getting massive results from your time in exercising comes from a very logical, systematic and formulaic approach. The lack of specific exercise education and the proliferation of misinformation concerning weight loss cause many people to be confused about what systems or formulas actually will work. Instead, people converge on health clubs and make their rounds on the machines, spinning their wheels for hours on the cardio equipment and jumping into exercise classes with the hope that this will work - that something will happen.

Would you invest in stocks or real estate you "hoped" would work or would you rather invest in a proven system or formula that delivers consistent returns?

There is a very easy way to capitalize on your investment in exercise. It begins with an exercise plan that is designed to elicit a physiological response from the body. Let's assume you're already following a well-planned fitness program designed specifically for you and your goals - if you're a Fitness Together client, you know you are. Now, let's focus on investing in the other important commodity that, in combination with exercise, will generate the biggest returns.

That commodity is supportive nutrition - and it's the "one big thing" in your nutrition plan that most diet or nutrition experts never talk about.

Supportive nutrition is eating to support your exercise program - not just eating healthy. I often have people tell me they eat healthy and don't understand why they are not seeing results. What's important to understand is eating healthy and eating to lose fat or increase muscle are two different things. The body is an amazing physiological machine. Consuming specific vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins and fats all create different physiological responses in the body. The key is to understand who to manipulate these responses in your favor.

One of the most important aspects of supportive nutrition is what you eat during the post-workout period. The knowledge of how to eat during this time will maximize your efforts in the gym and yield the biggest returns on your time investment. It is the "one big thing" that many nutrition experts don't talk about.

Exercise, both strength and cardiovascular training, is responsible for countless health and aesthetic benefits. However, it is important to understand that exercise itself is a significant physiological stressor. The symptoms of this stress are often mild and include muscle soreness, the need for extra sleep and an increased appetite.

These symptoms are signs that you have depleted the muscle's fuel resources, caused some minor damage and that the muscle is in need of replenishment and repair. This may sound negative, but it's the exact physiological response you worked so hard to create.

During resistance training, your muscles become depleted and damaged in the short run, but in the long run, they will super compensate by building themselves up to be stronger. You actually tear down your current muscle fibers in favor of building up bigger and stronger ones. This hyper response by the muscle is often referred to as muscle remodeling.

While the remodeling process is complex, it's important to emphasize that this remodeling only takes place if the muscle is provided with the right raw materials. During a workout and immediately following it, the exercise depletes our muscle glycogen (carbohydrate) reserves and our muscle protein structures, leaving the immune system to come in and clean up the mess. Once this occurs, signals are generated to tell the body to rebuild. However, without the proper protein and carbohydrate raw materials, this building can't take place. You'll be left with muscles that never reach their potential.

The post-exercise period is not a time to take lightly. Remember, you spent a significant amount of time in the gym breaking down the muscle for a good reason. You want it to be better adapted to future demands - thus, improving your fitness and making future workouts easier.

To realize a complete return on your time investment, you need to give your body the raw materials it needs, namely proteins that include specific BCAAs (Branch Chain Amino Acids), carbohydrates and minerals.

All types of exercise use carbohydrates for energy, so muscle carbohydrate depletion is inevitable. Therefore, a post-workout meal high in carbohydrates is required to refill muscle carbohydrate/energy reserves. Yes, I said a high carbohydrate post-workout meal. I'm hoping by now that the low carb diet fad has worn out its welcome with you. It's starting to evaporate from existence just like every other fad diet.

However, the amount of carbohydrates is important. You need to consume enough carbohydrates to promote a substantial insulin release. Insulin is the hormone responsible for shuttling carbohydrates and amino acids into the muscle. In doing this, carbohydrate re-synthesis is accelerated and protein balance becomes positive, leading to a rapid repair of the muscle tissue.

The key to post-workout nutrition is the insulin response. Insulin is the main muscle-remodeling hormone in the body. It opens the "cell door" to let in all the nutrients the cell needs. Every door also needs a door knob (insulin receptor) and the door knob in this case is the mineral chromium. Once the door is open, a quality mix of glucose, BCAAs and essential amino acids need to be available for maximum recovery.

In order to make this the "one big thing" and not just another meal, we need to further understand the three primary ingredients: insulin (the door), chromium (door knob) and three very important BCAAs.

Let's start with insulin which is produced in the pancreas. The three main stimulators of insulin are carbohydrates, three BCAAs (valine, leucine and isoleucine) and the most important is the optimal ratio of proteins and carbohydrates. Research has shown that a ratio of 2.7mg is optimal for insulin stimulation (divide carbohydrates by protein). You can easily calculate this ratio for any post workout recovery meal or drink.

So, if we continue with the door analogy, it's easy to see that it doesn't matter how much insulin stimulation occurs if insulin has no door knob to open the door. Therefore, the availability of chromium is essential to maximizing effectiveness. The U.S.D.A tells us that 90 percent of Americans are low in chromium. There are a number of chromium supplements on the market - all but two have shown poor utilization in the body.

The most popular chromium supplement is chromium picolinate. Its popularity started when early research showed it decreased body fat. Supplement companies immediately rushed to place it in the market. Further research has proven that it actually has minimal impact on decreasing body fat reserves. Chromium picolinate has shown fair utilization by the body as an insulin receptor, but the best choice is chromium nicotinate, which has shown 300 percent more utilization than chromium picolinate.

The combination of optimal protein and carbohydrate ration (2.7mg) and chromium nicotinate increases the uptake in amino acids both in speed and number. It will also increase the speed of amino acid assembly into muscle protein. The amino acids are the building blocks in muscle recovery.

Amino acid assembly is the most important part of post-workout muscle recovery, but it is very important not to look just at the protein content when considering a post-workout supplement. Look for most of the protein content to be derived from the BCAAs leucine, valine and isoleucine. Muscles are 35 percent BCAAs, which are broken down rapidly during exercise. After a workout, your muscles are starved for BCAAs which also pull in the other six essential amino acids to build muscles and aid recovery. In fact, the 6 essential amino acids play a significant role in "sparing" or protecting the BCAAs.

The BCAAs account for 50 percent of the amino acids absorbed by your body within the first three hours after a workout. For maximum benefit, it's crucial that you consume your post-workout meal immediately after exercise because this is when your muscles are depleted and require an abundance of protein and carbohydrate. It's at this moment that your muscles are biochemically "primed" for nutrient uptake.

This phenomenon is commonly known as the "window of opportunity". During the course of the recovery period, this window gradually closes and by failing to eat immediately after exercise, you diminish your chances of promoting full recovery. To illustrate how quickly this window closes, research has shown that consuming a post-exercise meal immediately after working out is superior to consuming one an hour later. Likewise, eating a post-workout meal one hour later is superior to eating one three hours later. If you wait too long, glycogen replenishment and protein repair will be compromised.

At this point I know what you're saying, "this all makes good sense, but it's too complicated and I don't know how to find the right foods." My suggestion is to utilize a post-workout recovery drink.

While I wholeheartedly believe that complete, unbleached, untreated and unprocessed whole food should form the basis of any sound nutritional regimen, this is one instance in which supplements can actually be superior to whole food. Liquid supplemental nutrition is far superior to whole food for post-exercise nutrition for a number of reasons.

First, liquid meals are palatable, digestible and convenient. Many people complain that eating a big meal is difficult after intense exercise. This is understandable because the stress of exercise creates a situation where the hunger centers are all but shut down. Fortunately, liquid supplemental formulas usually taste good, are convenient to drink and can be quite nutrient dense, providing all the nutrition you need at that time.

Second, liquid meals have a fast absorption profile and whole food is just too slow. The latest research has demonstrated that liquid supplemental formulas containing fast digesting protein (whey hydrolysates and isolates) and carbohydrates (dextrose and maltodextrin) are absorbed more quickly than whole food meals. Therefore, you can take advantage of the "window of opportunity".

Finally, liquid meals are better for nutrient targeting, allowing you to get the right combination of macro and micronutrients critical to maximizing benefits.

Muscle building, remodeling and recovery are not just for the body builder. They're for every exerciser trying to lose fat, tone up or just feel better. There are many more variables involved in your exercise program that can affect your results, and muscle remodeling doesn't necessarily mean bulking up. It can mean simply toning up or just optimizing the muscles you have to improve your metabolism.

When you decided to start exercising, you decided to dedicate a specific amount of time per week in the interest of getting more physically fit. However, you're missing much of the benefit that comes with exercising if you haven't spent the necessary time thinking about post-exercise nutrition.

I assure you that once you start paying attention to this variable in the recovery equation, your time invested working out will be much better spent.