Everything you Need to Know about Post-Workout Nutrition

Depending on our post-workout nutrition, we can improve important characteristics when practicing sports. These are performance, body composition and recovery from physical fatigue.

Our bodies behave differently with the nutrients they receive, depending on the activities that we perform. For this reason, it’s very important to pay attention to what we consume before, during and after training, especially the latter.

Importance of post-workout nutrition

With post-training nutrition, we aim to achieve the following objectives:

• Replenish our energy reserves. This is thanks to the replacement of glycogen reserves so that we can start the next day with more strength.
• Increase the size and quality of our muscles. We can achieve this thanks to the decrease in protein breakdown from a good diet after practicing sports.
• Repair damage and injuries that occur during exercise. Thanks to the increase in protein synthesis produced by good post-workout nutrition, we’ll recover long before typical physical activity injuries begin.

We have to work hard to achieve these goals, however, our body will thank us. While we are struggling to achieve the aforementioned objectives, our body will notice the following benefits:

• A better and earlier recovery
• Increased muscle capacity
• Less muscle pain
• Obtaining stronger bones
• Elimination of body fat

When we workout with great energy, at a high level and intensity, fiber tears occur in our muscles. To avoid this and achieve our goals, we have to be consistent when exercising. This will allow us to be thinner, stronger and more muscular. In addition, after performing physical activity, our body needs to recover energy to rebuild the micro-tears.

When exercising, a process occurs where the damaged proteins of our body decompose while new ones are being built. Therefore, muscle growth depends on the synthesis of new proteins. Thanks to protein-rich post-workout nutrition, the synthesis of these new proteins will be successful.

However, protein isn’t the only thing that we consume. We also have to take into account post-training nutrition carbohydrates, which are our main source of energy.

Characteristics of post-workout nutrition

Availability

The availability of nutrients is essential. This can be improved in the following ways:

• Increased blood flow: means that nutrients quickly reach the tissues in our body.
• Supplements after exercising: from these we’ll receive a large supply of amino acids and glucose for our body.

Early recovery

To achieve early muscle repair, growth and muscle strength, we must pay close attention to our diets immediately after training, although muscle recovery occurs in the next 48 hours once the training is over. This is because, in the moments following training, the muscles are more prepared to accept the nutrients that we provide them.

Therefore, you should pay attention to post-training nutrition to obtain the benefits of these nutrients. In the case of not providing enough nutrients after training, glycogen storage, and protein synthesis mean that an earlier recovery decreases. You must consume what your body requires just after training.

In conclusion, nutrition after physical activity is something that’s very important and that many people ignore. With it, we can achieve a large number of objectives, as we mentioned above. Without it, we can complete the physical exercise, but not reap the expected benefits.