You can do all the workouts in the world but if you don’t eat right then you won’t be able to convert that hard work into actual muscle. The importance of nutrition is massive. If you’re trying to build muscle mass, first of all you’ve got to create a state of muscle breakdown in order to be able to rebuild it.
And to be able to do that, you need to take on board some of the essential amino acids found in lean protein and energy from carbohydrate to complete the process:
The timing is crucial too. If you’re doing a hypertrophy [muscle building] gym session, you’ll need to have a shake containing protein before, after the workout. If you wait until after you’ve showered, gone home and made dinner, you’ll have missed that window of opportunity. Not all proteins are equal - choose lean, quality proteins from meat, dairy products and eggs, which contain the essential amino acids. My preferred choice is a high quality whey protein, such as Promax.
You should also bracket your training with the appropriate nutritional package. Nutritionist Lyle McDonald recommends eating a main meal around three hours before a workout with 50-100g of carbohydrate and 20-30g of protein. Then 15-30 minutes before the workout sip a diluted energy drink with easily digested whey protein powder. This might provide 15-30g of carbohydrate and l0g of protein.
Your post-workout drink should contain 25-50g of carbohydrate and 10-20g of protein. A great post-exercise recovery drink is Recovermax from Maximuscle. Follow this with a solid meal two hours later.
SOURCE: Men’s Fitness
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