What's So Special About When We Eat?
To the average person who is not exercising, the principles of nutrient timing are not very important. Sure, glucose tolerance/insulin sensitivity is altered during the course of a day but these changes probably aren't to critical to determining one's dietary needs.
For these individuals, what and how much they eat is the most important thing. While nutrient timing isn't critical to the average person, its importance must not be underestimated in the athlete (including team sport athletes, endurance athletes, and weight trainers).
In this book "Nutrient Timing" by John Ivy they highlight the fact that as scientists began to learn about the nutritional needs of athletes/weightlifters (i.e. higher energy needs and the benefits of additional protein ingestion), a "bulk nutrition" concept was adopted in which athletes began to believe things like "if protein is good, then more protein must be better." (You don't know anyone like that, do you?) In other words, when many athletes find out that something is "good," they try to get lots of it. And when many athletes find out that something is "bad," they try to avoid it at all costs.
Unfortunately this is nothing more than a combination of the how-much-to-eat and what-to-eat approaches discussed above. Combine that with a naive good vs. bad approach to food and you've got a recipe for sub-optimal nutritional intake. After all, few foods are always good or always bad (well, I can think of a few?). This is certainly unfortunate for two reasons.
First, much of the current science points to the fact that if you train regularly, the body is primed for fat gain or fat loss just as it's primed for muscle gain or muscle loss during specific times of the day. Add in the wrong foods at the wrong times and you sabotage your efforts in the gym. Add the right foods and your efforts are given a giant boost.
Secondly, although some foods are not optimal during certain times of the day (i.e. sugar), some of these same foods can actually be beneficial during other times of the day (such as the post-workout period).
Throwing aside the oversimplification inherent in the bulk nutrition concept, let's now get down to the nuts and bolts of optimal nutrient timing.
In the book, the authors refer to three critical times of the day in which nutrient timing takes on a greater importance. These times are known as the Energy Phase, The Anabolic Phase, and The Growth Phase. Since I like these distinctions, I'll use them here. However, I'll add another phase that I call, somewhat in jest, The Rest of The Day Phase.
Nutrient Timing - The Energy Phaseis called this because this phase occurs during the workout when energy demands are highest. As you probably know, the energy used by skeletal muscle is ATP. This ATP is formed and resynthesized by macronutrients from the diet so carbs, proteins, and fats contribute indirectly to the energy of muscle contraction.
Therefore, the high rates of energy demand during exercise are met by ingested nutrients and/or stored nutrients (the ratio depends on your feeding schedule). This breakdown of nutrients, while completely necessary, is, by definition, catabolic. As such, the workout period is marked by a number of anabolic and catabolic effects.
Anabolic Effects Of Acute Exercise
- Increased Skeletal Muscle Blood Flow
- Increased Anabolic Hormone Release
- (GH, Testosterone, IGF-1)
- Decreased Insulin Concentrations
Catabolic Effects Of Acute Exercise
- Glycogen Depletion
- Decreased Net Protein Balance
- Increased Cortisol Concentrations
- Decreased Insulin Concentrations
- Acute Phase Response Breakdown
- Increased Metabolic Rate
- Dehydration (Endurance or Intermittent Exercise in Heat)
While these phenomena are nothing new and have been shown to occur during most types of exercise/training, what is new is the idea that targeted nutritional intake can actually shift the anabolic/catabolic balance during exercise, enhancing some of the anabolic effects while minimizing some of the catabolic effects.
Here is the perfect combination - Pre/During Workout drink
Prolong - 1 - 2 Scoops of Prolong or 2-4 scoops of CR7
Prepare - 2 Scoops
Beverage Mix - 1 Scoop
Drink 1/2 10 minutes before workout
Drink remaining 1/2 during workout
(Women - 1/2 serving)
Phase 1 - Pre & During Workout
Increase nutrient delivery to muscles
Limit immune system suppression
Minimize Muscle Damage
Faster recovery following workout
The Nutrients You Need and will get the above drink
High Glycemic Carbohydrates
Whey Protein
Vitamin C
Sodium
Potassium
Magnesium
Creatine
Nutrient Timing - The Anabolic Phase
The Anabolic Phase occurs immediately after the workout and lasts about an hour or two. This phase is titled "anabolic" because it's during this time that the muscle cells are primed for muscle building. Interestingly, although the cells are primed for muscle building, in the absence of a good nutritional strategy, this phase can remain catabolic.
Without adequate nutrition, the period immediately after strength and endurance training is marked by a net muscle catabolism; that's right, after exercise muscles continue to break down. Now, if you're asking yourself how this can be, you're asking the right question. After all, training (especially weight training) makes you bigger, not smaller. And even if you're an endurance athlete, your muscles don't exactly break down either. So how can exercise be so catabolic?
Well, while the few hours after exercise induce a net catabolic state (although protein synthesis does increase after exercise, so does breakdown), it's later in the recovery cycle that the body begins to shift toward anabolismSo we typically break down for some time after the workout and then start to build back up later (whether that "build up" is in muscle size or in muscle quality).
However, with this said, there are new data showing that with the right nutritional intervention (protein and carbohydrate supplementation), we can actually repair and improve muscle size or quality during and immediately after exercise. The best part is that if we do the nutrition thing right, not only do we start repairing muscle during and after exercise, we continue to alter muscle size and/or quality later on as well.
From now on, when planning your nutritional intake, you'd better consider both the Energy and Anabolic phases as two of the key "whens" of nutrient timing. Therefore, to maximize your muscle gain and recovery, you'll be feeding both during and immediately after exercise. Again we come to what and how much.
As indicated above, during the Anabolic Phase it's important to ingest some protein and carbohydrate. Just like with the Energy Phase, in my experience the easiest way to do this is to drink an easily digested liquid carbohydrate and protein drink.
Here is the perfect combination - Post workout
Rebuild Strength - 2-3 Scoops
1 cup cooked Jasmine Rice
(Women - 1/2 serving)
Phase 2 - Post Workout (Repair)
Increase muscle blood flow
Replenish Muscle glycogen stores
Initiate tissue repair
Set the stage for muscle growth
Bolster the immune system
The Nutrients You Need
Whey Protein
High Glycemic Carbohydrates
Branched Chain Amino Acids
Glutamine
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Nutrient Timing - The Growth Phase
After protein and carbohydrate have been provided during the Energy and Anabolic Phases, the net protein balance of the body shifted toward the positive; muscle glycogen restored, catabolism blunted and anabolism increased, it's time to consider how to keep the growth process moving forward. After all, the damage has been done, the acute phase response is now activated to clean up the mess and your metabolism is going to be racing until tomorrow. It's definitely time to feed!
However, even though the body is under construction, it's moving quickly back toward normal physiological functioning during this Growth Phase. In other words, the growth window is closing and this means bye-bye to improved insulin sensitivity. You can also sit back and watch your Testosterone and growth hormone concentrations fall. And muscle protein turnover is slowing down, reaching a rate just above normal.
With this slow return to "normalcy", it's important to ditch the high glycemic carbohydrates and rapidly digested proteins. That's right, while these foods were the anabolic superstars of the Energy and Anabolic phases, you'll have to thank them and send them on their merry way during the Growth Phase and the "Rest of the Day" Phase. Kickin' insulin is great during and after exercise, but elevate the insulin all day and your reward will be chub.
While the exact when of the Growth Phase is a bit ambiguous, studies from my laboratory at the University of Western Ontario have recently demonstrated that unless muscle glycogen concentrations are severely reduced (greater than 70% depletion), carbohydrate and protein meals can help restore much of the depleted muscle glycogen in less than 6 hours. So, for simplicity sake, I consider the Growth Phase to last 6 hours after training.
During the Growth Phase, it's important to continue to feed some carbohydrate and protein but definitely begin to reduce the total amount of carbohydrates ingested per meal while increasing the amount of protein ingested per meal. While a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein was suggested for the Energy and Anabolic Phases, a ratio closer to 1:1 might be optimal now.
If you train late in the evening, you're screwed - just kidding. Actually, if you train late in the evening you can simply ingest one meal as specified and either have a midnight shake (a Grow! and some oatmeal might make a good choice) or simply skip the second Growth Phase meal.
Nutrient Timing - The Rest Of The Day Phase
For those of you keeping score, the Energy, Anabolic, and Growth Phases cover about 7 or 8 hours of your training day. During these 7 - 8 hours, you'll be ingesting about 4 total meals. Assuming you sleep about 8 hours per day, that leaves 8 - 9 hours and 3 meals to go. It's these 8 - 9 hours and 3 meals that I consider "the rest of the day."
Since the Rest of the Day is marked by normal physiology, the food you eat during this phase should be adapted to what you know about your tolerance to carbohydrates and fats in the diet. For example, some of you may have relatively poor carbohydrate tolerance and insulin sensitivity. As a result, you should be eating mostly protein and a blend of fats during Rest of the Day. Others of you might do better on a higher carbohydrate diet. As a result, you should be eating more protein and carbohydrates during the Rest of the Day (as long as you don't neglect getting your dietary fat, especially your essential fats).
In my experience, most trainees interested in carrying a low body fat percentage will benefit from simply eating protein and fats (with veggies) during the 3 Rest of the Day meals; carbohydrates and protein in a 2:1 ratio during the 2 Energy and Anabolic meals; and carbohydrates and protein in a 1:1 ratio (some healthy fats can even be thrown in there) during the 2 Growth meals.
Again, how much to eat depends on your goals. Once you've calculated your daily energy needs, simply factor these meals into your total daily energy intake such that they are contributing toward your total intake. Remember, the Growth Phase, like the Energy and Anabolic Phases, is still marked by increased fat oxidation (even in the presence of some dietary carbohydrate) and increased glycogen synthesis (especially in the presence of some dietary carbohydrate). So take advantage of this by ingesting most of your daily carbs during these three phases.
Nutrient Timing - The Rest Of The Day Phase
For those of you keeping score, the Energy, Anabolic, and Growth Phases cover about 7 or 8 hours of your training day. During these 7 - 8 hours, you'll be ingesting about 4 total meals. Assuming you sleep about 8 hours per day, that leaves 8 - 9 hours and 3 meals to go. It's these 8 - 9 hours and 3 meals that I consider "the rest of the day."
Since the Rest of the Day is marked by normal physiology, the food you eat during this phase should be adapted to what you know about your tolerance to carbohydrates and fats in the diet. For example, some of you may have relatively poor carbohydrate tolerance and insulin sensitivity. As a result, you should be eating mostly protein and a blend of fats during Rest of the Day. Others of you might do better on a higher carbohydrate diet. As a result, you should be eating more protein and carbohydrates during the Rest of the Day (as long as you don't neglect getting your dietary fat, especially your essential fats).
In my experience, most trainees interested in carrying a low body fat percentage will benefit from simply eating protein and fats (with veggies) during the 3 Rest of the Day meals.
Go to our Athlete Muscle Building Meal Plans for more details!