Have you ever wondered why it matters to eat healthily and in a balanced way all the time? Surely someone, somewhere, has told you to eat healthily, choose natural foods, don’t skip meals, and so on. This applies especially to gym-goers who train seriously and often. All of that advice is correct and sensible, but I would add one important point of my own. You need to eat well and in a balanced way all the time, or, to put it figuratively, 24/7. I know, I know, that’s hardly big news and you’ve heard it plenty of times. Of course, regular and proper nutrition matters for the average person too. But I want to stress it again, especially for those who are serious about training. Why???
Because once you have started training, whether you follow a typical bodybuilding plan or some powerlifting system, you have, so to speak, officially committed yourself. What does that mean??? It means that if you have a goal and you want to reach it, you also have to eat every day in line with that goal, paying attention to timing and to the balance of nutrients in your menu, and choosing foods accordingly. There are naturally several reasons for this, but I will give you just one, again a logical argument that comes from science, for why you should eat well regularly, all the time. Why a serious, results-driven lifter can’t afford the attitude of “on training days I make sure I get enough protein, on rest days I don’t pay attention to it???”
To keep things simple, let’s narrow the topic down and talk only about strength training. Strength training raises the intensity of protein synthesis in the post-workout period by 50 100%, and for up to 48 hours. The increase in protein synthesis is strongest in the first three hours after training. How much post-workout protein synthesis increases, and how long the elevated synthesis lasts (whether 15, 20, 32 or 48 hours), depends on the intensity and duration of the preceding workout. Protein breakdown, that is, the remodeling of damaged protein structures, also increases, but always by less than 50% of baseline, so with adequate nutrition there should ideally always be a small net gain. (“Sports Medicine, Anthony A. Schopsis and Brian D. Busconti)
A smart reader will certainly understand how important it is to eat well during those 48 post-workout hours and get enough protein, fats and carbohydrates. There’s no rocket science here. Say you train on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Protein synthesis after Monday’s workout is higher than normal until Wednesday, then Wednesday’s workout comes along and keeps it elevated until Friday, and the positive effects of Friday’s workout on protein synthesis last until Sunday. This is admittedly one very simplified argument, but it is a seriously worthwhile one for why an athlete can never really let loose with food and nutrition. It isn’t the case that you eat well only on training days and a little more loosely on rest days. If you train regularly, you also have to eat well regularly, in line with your training. In fact, growth and progress happen while we are out of the gym, and we must not forget that!!!
Author: Janar Rückenberg
Come and eat! Armudu
Come and train! ArtGym
