Eating Before/after Exercise - Weight Loss And Recovery

[Dani Boi]

Your body will process what you put in it

Edited January 21, 2015 by Dani Boi

[Birds]

Yes, which is how fat people get fat and skinny people stay skinny

[Floyd Westwood]

On a pure recovery basis, what is the minimum recovery time? Hours? Is it possible to workout, chug myself full of food and be 100% 3-4 hours later?

[Birds]

Recovery from what? Heavy breathing? Light exercise? Sport? Damaging muscle fibers after heavy lifting?

[Floyd Westwood]

Oh right. Sport. And heavy lifting (to compare)

[Birds]

You'll never be 100% a few hours after exercise, but if it's not too stringent you can get damn close.

As for heavy lifting, that varies depending on the kind of program you're doing, how conditioned you are and how hard you're going in the workout. Olympic athletes train the same muscle group 5-6 times a week. Beginner powerlifters can get told to put a day of rest between each workout, or even two. Properly damaged muscles do take a few days to fully repair though - this doesn't mean you can't use them again or that you shouldn't lift until you're 100% again. But you do need to be wary that they are getting enough recovery or you could enter overtraining mode and, whilst not a fatal thing, it can certainly hinder your process when your muscles don't have the adequate rest to rebuild, which is why we damage them in the gym in the first place.

So I would gauge it and experiment with your own body and muscle groups. DOMS isn't always a good way to judge if your muscles are ready to tackle a workload again. As an example, I was training only twice a week until recently and had consistent doms all the time - I thought I'll wait until I don't have doms this frequently before I go adding a third session in. But the doms didn't disappear, so I said fk it I'll just train with sore legs - I lifted more in that session than I did in my regular session, and since doing 3 a week I no longer have doms as bad. Go figure. I may have been resting too much and was out of condition. There's probably an exact science behind all that, but regardless, I say experiment yourself with recovery, because everyone is different. But yes, muscles need days to properly heal 100% from heavy lifting and recovery from sport or non-resistance training should be a lot quicker for muscles as it doesn't appear to damage muscle as much as it does joints (keep an eye on joints for repetitive strain injuries).

[Floyd Westwood]

Yeah sounds fair. Pre season training is ramping up but I don't want to drop gym work either.

Might just see how the body responds in the next few weeks. So far it's gym 1 on and 1 off, and footy training three nights a week. Weekends are rest, but with a monitored diet and as little alcohol consumption as my weak willpower will allow me

Edited February 5, 2015 by Floyd Westwood

[Birds]

Trial and error, you'll soon know if you can keep it up or not.

Sport definitely affects powerlifting progress.

[Floyd Westwood]

Sport definitely affects powerlifting progress.

yeah that's my fear.

However I'm getting owned in pace and agility when it comes to playing sport, so maybe I'll need to think about a compromise.

You play sport right? How do you find momentum changes/short sprints/fitness effect your gym work? Or adversely your sporting ability?

[Birds]

It's a complex subject and it really depends on your intensity during either one.

Gym work helps my sport in the long term by increasing strength and endurance. If I gym on the same day as sport and I'm absolutely wrecked then obviously it doesn't help the sport in the short term, but sometimes that's unavoidable.

Conversely, sport hinders my gym sometimes because my legs don't necessarily get the recovery they need for more leg exercise the following day. Or I can injure myself and then I may not be able to do lifting movements properly. Or if my gym intensity is low due to shit cardio then added cardio from sport can help raise that intensity. It's a tough thing to juggle around and you really have to pick which one you're going to be dedicated to (sport vs gym) if you're serious about either one, then make the other one second to it. You can do sport on days you don't gym, but then sport exercise is eating into your gym recovery days; you can do gym on the same day as sport so that you have your recovery days, but then your performance during the sport won't be as good as if you were fresh.

[Birds]

As for how gym helps my sport in the long run: the more weight I can squat, the higher I can jump in basketball and the quicker I can sprint and for longer and more frequently. The cardio I get from doing volume squats and deadlifts and pullups also gives me the endurance to outlast my team mates on the court and move around faster than them for longer. Except for a couple of our SEABL/rep players, I'm the only one who doesn't voluntarily call for a sub off due to being tired/wrecked. I come up against players with 20kg on me in rebound contests and they get pushed out of the way because they don't have the leg strength to stay grounded. I only play once a week and there's no training, so all my strength and endurance in the game has to come from my gym work. One of our guys is 125kg (fat), 6'3 and can dunk...that's because he can squat 200kg+ (and has been playing ball/jumping all his life). I saw a 5'7 guy on YouTube who can dunk because he ass to ground squats 180kg for 5 reps. Bench press gives me a more powerful/explosive push - this makes shooting baskets from distance easier because you don't need to involve the lower body as much to create a nice high arc to the net (see vid below). Combine that with a high leap and you'd have an unstoppable jump shot.

[Birds]

[Birds]

Why are you getting owned for pace and agility? Is this because you're tired from gym or is just because you don't have the pace/agility that others do?

If the latter, then heavy squats and explosive movements will fix that. If the former, gym will definitely tax your agility and dexterity with tired muscles.

[Floyd Westwood]

Why are you getting owned for pace and agility? Is this because you're tired from gym or is just because you don't have the pace/agility that others do?

If the latter, then heavy squats and explosive movements will fix that. If the former, gym will definitely tax your agility and dexterity with tired muscles.

oh absolutely, I've noticed gym work really compliments my game play. I now consider gym work essential for my game fitness.

I've noticed usually if I don't gym on the days I play sport I can outpace most people (playing soccer) but I'm not as quick off the mark if I've done legs earlier that day. Also my direction changes and balance seem to be worse on days that I have gym'd.

It makes sense if I train legs at the gym then I'll be stuffed later. I don't take any supplements either.

Which might be a good segway into my next question....would taking a supplement after gym help rebound back much quicker? In my case sport takes priority. I won't ever be in the socceroos but I can hold my own and play 1st div.

[L33SH]

Having trained for over a year at a powerlifting gym, I've learnt the importance of supplements after training. The guys there would consume their supplements within 15 minutes of finishing their workout. There's a reason why powerlifting gyms have fridges. Most of the guys there would consume WPI with creatine and glutamine straight away. After some research into supplements, I too take this combination straight after training with leucine and arginine also added. Before I was injured, my training sessions would be very intense/max rms every session... If I didn't take my supplements after training I would usually feel doms the next day. I also take zinc and magnesium before bed, power supplement right there!

[The Bogan]

ZMA is the boss

[bozodos]

I train at a powerlifting gym, and FWIW, I am the only one who bothers with a post workout shake (out of not wanting to have dinner straight after).

I had 750ml of iced coffee today right before squatting, felt bad man.

[L33SH]

I train at a powerlifting gym, and FWIW, I am the only one who bothers with a post workout shake (out of not wanting to have dinner straight after).

I had 750ml of iced coffee today right before squatting, felt bad man.

Wow, very surprising. The owner of my gym coaches most of the guys there and he also runs a nutrition business. He's a pretty big advocate of supplements which is probably why they are readily consumed there.

[rev210]

ZMA is the boss

Its only $7 a bottle of 100 too ,at the supermarket. Cenovis zinc complex.

Or just eat more food with zinc in it.Either way you need more of it if you train.

Edited February 8, 2015 by rev210

[rev210]

Wow, very surprising. The owner of my gym coaches most of the guys there and he also runs a nutrition business. He's a pretty big advocate of supplements which is probably why they are readily consumed there.

Can get plenty strong without supps. The ones mentioned aren't illegal or banned. Meaning they arent

So amazing as to be a real advantage to normal food in a good diet.

WPI , just a Time saver protein source. Eggs have a better profile, steak tastes better but, both take longer to make than dumping powder in a bottle.

Glutamine , not much science behind it being essential or significant to influencing performance/recovery. But, its maybe mildly anticatabolic makes it worth a shot (1%-er or anti-age)

Other amino acids , ditto on the food side.

Creatine, proven performance improvement whilst taking it. Gains go away once removed.

Beta analine stacked with creatine is much better. Beta analine sticks around residually longer as a buffer but same deal eventually.

No replacement for time and effort. Getting strong takes time / years.

Good to ask yourself , how much do you back the effort and what you are capable of Vs thinking the magic pills/drinks are worthy of standing on the podium with you to share the credit?