Eating And Exercise
Anytime you exercise, you do it because you
want to try and maintain good health. You also know that
you have to eat as well, so your body will have the energy it
needs to exercise and maintain for the everyday tasks of life.
For making the best of your exercise, what you eat before and
after you workout is very important.
No matter if you are going to be doing a cardio workout or a
resistance workout, you should always make it a point to
have a balanced eating and exercise plan, which
should include a mix of protein and carbohydrates.
What makes that determining percentage of carbs and protein you
consume is whether or not you are doing cardio or resistance
exercise and the intensity level that you plan to work at.
The ideal time for you to eat your pre workout meal is an
hour before you start. If you plan to work at a low intensity
level, you should keep your pre-workout meal down to 200
calories or so. If you plan to exercise at a high level of
intensity, you will probably need your meal to be between 4,000
and 5,000 calories.
Those of you who are doing a cardio session will need to
consume a mix of 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein. Doing so will give
you longer sustained energy from the extra carbs with enough
protein to keep your muscle from breaking down while you
exercise.
For resistance exercise, you'll need to eat a mix of 1/3
carbs and 2/3 protein, as this will help you get plenty of
energy from the carbs to perform each set you do and the extra
protein will help keep muscle breakdown to a minimum while
you exercise.
Eating after you exercise is just as important as your
pre-workout meal. Anytime you exercise, whether its cardio or
resistance, you deplete energy in the form of glycogen. The
brain and central nervous system rely on glycogen as their main
source of fuel, so if you don't replace it after you exercise,
your body will begin to break down muscle tissue into amino
acids, and then convert them into usable fuel for the brain and
the central nervous system.
Keep in mind that mostly during resistance exercise, you'll
break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. What this
means, is that after a workout, your muscles will instantly go
into repair mode. Protein is the key here for muscle repair, as
you don't want muscle breaking down even further to create fuel
instead of lost glycogen.
Once you have finished a cardio session, you'll need to
consume mainly carbohydrates, preferably those with high fiber.
Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, and northern fruits are
excellent sources. Also, try to consume 30 - 50 grams of there
types of carbs after you exercise. After your cardio workout,
it is fine to eat within 5 - 10 minutes.
Once you've finished a resistance workout, you will need to
consume a combination of carbs and protein. Unlike cardio
workouts, resistance workouts will break down muscle tissue by
creating micro tears.
You'll need protein as this happens to build up and repair
these tears so that the muscle can increase in size and
strength. The carbs will not only replace the lost muscle
glycogen, but will also help the protein get into muscle
cells so it can synthesize into structural protein, or the
muscle itself.
After your resistance exercise, you should wait up to 30
minutes before you eat, so that you won't take blood away from
your muscles too fast. The blood in your muscles will help the
repair processby removing the metabolic waste products.
The beauty is that people often come
here
for the stretch, and leave with a lot more.
~Liza Ciano, co-owner & co-director of Yoga
Vermont
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