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A growing body of evidence suggests that eating a quality protein rich meal or drinking a protein shake before and after your workout will significantly improve your results.
According to Dr. Jeff Volek, author of the TNT diet:
respect to the pre and post-workout nutrition, I think the research is clear
that protein is most important for stimulating a positive protein balance.
Additional carbs is not necessary and may only offer a small benefit to protein
anabolism which in my opinion is not worth the trade off with the potent effects
of the carb-induced insulin spike on inhibiting fat breakdown and fat oxidation.
I’d recommend trying to get a pre-exercise elevation in plasma amino acids by
ingesting some fast absorbing aminos or a hydrolyzed whey protein. Post-workout
may not be such a concern on the absorption profile, as most proteins will work
fine to stimulate protein synthesis."
Personally, I have gained some added muscle mass sticking to this plan over several months. So don't waste your efforts when hitting the weights. Get some protein in your gut mixed with some fat for better absorption.
Here's what I do before and after my workout (I have little fat to lose. Those who wish to maximize fat loss omit the carbs):
24 oz. of water
2 tablespoons fish oil or two tablets or Krill oil (careful taking this if you are on blood thinners)
1 table spoon liquid aminos
1 scoop of Ultra InflamX (15 grams carbs and protein)
30 grams protein powder
Try this for at least one month and report your results here. I'd love to know how it's working for you.
I've been involved in exercise ever since I became a member of The Charles Atlas Club when I was 10 years old. In 1998, I founded and established Serious Strength on the Upper West Side of NYC. My clients include kids, seniors (and everyone in between), top CEOs, celebrities, bestselling authors, journalists and TV personalities.
Strong Kids Healthy Kids
Euphoria Olive Oil
Gary Taubes: Why We Get Fat
Michael & MaryDan Eades M.D.: Protein Power Lifeplan
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
How much time before your workout do you have your protein drink Fred ?
Anne
Fred
When I select that protein powder it shows a product that has only 4 grams of protein per serving. Isn’t that very low?
Thanks
John
The scoops are very small. I use 6 scoops.
I take the drink 30 minutes before hand. Give the amino acids time to get to where they are meant to go.
What about a can of sardines? I think the can I ate today had 24 grams of protein.
Sardines are perfect! You might want to wait an hour before you train after eating sardines as opposed to a fast digesting shake.
Greek Yogurt has 22 grams of protein
Hi Fred.
Sorry for this silly question, but is there a quantity (or a range) of protein you should eat in “rest days” and in “workout days” to build muscles?
I found in your book terms like “diet rich in protein” or “adequate protein”, but I don’t know how to translate it in grams…
Depends on your goals but if you aim for about a gram per pound of body weight you should be fine. If you want to bump that up a bit on workout days, you can.
If you want to get more specific, aim for .25 g/pound of target body weight and you can also add some carbs post workout too.
.25 g/pound of target body weight?
Sorry, but looks like a typo…
Could you give me an example?
I’m 126 pounds and 5′8″ (174 cm.), so I objectively need to gain weight (and muscles), but, at the same time, to give up grains and beans for stomach problems like gastritis and reflux (IMO low carb is the ONLY very successful method to stop reflux immediately, at least in my experience).
Sort of a Paleo Diet with a little more carbs for me, I suppose…
Thanks a lot.
Hey Marco – that .25 # is only post workout. For example, if you are trying to gain 10 lbs – your target body wt. would be 136. 136 x .25 would be 34g. Like I said, though, I wouldn’t worry about surgeon-like precision. In the hierarchy of importance you first want to make sure you are in a caloric surplus. Worry about pre/post workout nutrition secondarily.
Thank you Fred…
Hey Fred,
What do you think is the maximal amount of protein that one can assimilate in one sitting?
Wow what a great blog! If anyone is looking for weight training tips, this is one of my favorite health & fitness sites. It lets you track food, workouts, and calories!
Fred,
You say that when some fat should be consumed with protein as part of your pre and post workout nutrition for better absorption. (I assume thats what the fish oil and krill oil are for in your pre and postworkout meals) My question is does the fat type of fat that’s consumed with the protein matter? Of course, let’s assume that the fat is derived from natural, organic sources, and isn’t refined, or processed. In that case, does it matter whether it’s saturated animal fat, or unsaturated vegetable oil, or omega 3/omega 6, or even if it’s something like saturated coconut oil, raw butter etc?
You want healthy fats like saturated fats, fish fats, not vegetable oils though some are ok. Butter, ghee, coconut butter, olive oil all are great. Paleolithically speaking, our diets were mostly fats. According to Dr. Cordain, too much sat fat is a no-no but I’ve not seen any proof of this.
Realize I am just the messenger – I’m not an RD or a degreed nutritionist. Most of my knowledge on nutrition is derived from the works of Dr. Eades and others of his ilk.
I asked the sales person at Vitamin Shoppe whats a good prework out drink and he told me Jack 3D. Has anyone heard about this product? I Googled Jack3D and the first link was a forum site. No home page for the product….hmmm.
No idea what Jack 3D is.