The Best Pre-Workout Meal for Muscle Gain

If you're looking to maximize your performance in the gym and enhance muscle recovery after your workout, then pre workout nutrition is definitely something you should not take for granted. In fact, researchers are starting to view pre workout nutrition as being even more important than post workout nutrition when it comes to building muscle, mainly due to greater muscle protein synthesis during and after the workout when an adequate pre workout meal is ingested. So in this video, I'm going to show you guys the most optimized pre workout meal for muscle growth based on based on current scientific literature and our understanding of the various functions of protein, carbs and fat. Before we get started, let's briefly cover what exactly the pre workout meal is and its benefits. The pre workout meal should be considered any meal you eat within roughly two hours before your workout and it has two main goals. One to provide more energy during your workout which translates into better performance strength wise and two to adequately supply your muscles with amino acids to maximize muscle growth and minimize muscle catabolism during and after your workout. With keeping this in mind, let's take a look at what the optimum amount of protein, carbs and fat looks like. The main function of protein in a pre workout meal is to elevate your plasma amino acid levels in order to maximize muscle recovery and growth. In several studies that included protein as part of the pre workout meal of the subjects, protein synthesis was elevated significantly more than if a placebo was used. But how exactly does this relate to muscle growth and strength? Well, one study by Johnson et al. Showed that in 33 male subjects, pre exercise supplementation of 20 grams of whey protein and 6 grams of leucine resulted in a greater increase in maximal strength and lower body resistance training over a period of eight weeks when compared to a placebo. And although the researchers didn't find a significant change in muscle growth between the groups, we'll see later on that when protein and carbohydrates are combined in the pre workout meal, it seems to provide the best results for muscle growth. And as for the best type of protein to ingest in your pre workout meal, I suggest a fast digesting protein that contains a high amount of leucine. This is because as shown in this study by Callier et al. A fast digesting protein is ideal to rapidly spike amino acid levels for your workout and leucine seems to be the best amino acid at doing this. Some various foods that meet this criteria are whey protein and egg whites. Now as for carbs, their main function with regards to pre workout nutrition are to maintain muscle glycogen levels, but more importantly to boost your performance in the gym. In addition, it seems that when protein and carbs are combined in a pre workout meal, it creates the most optimal anabolic environment for muscle growth during and after the workout. For example, this study by Wolf et al. Examined the effect of ingesting a multi nutrient supplement consisting of mainly protein and carbs with a little bit of fat 30 minutes prior to training. The researchers found that the supplement group significantly improved their vertical jump power and number of repetitions performed at 80% of their one rep max when compared to the placebo group. In addition, the supplement group exhibited significantly higher serum levels of both growth hormone and total testosterone during and after exercise, indicating that pre exercise ingestion of protein and carbs may also create a favorable anabolic hormone environment in addition to its performance enhancing effects. And as shown in this extensive review by Harvey et al. This likely leads to more muscle growth since protein synthesis, testosterone and growth hormone are all elevated to a greater extent. And as for the best type of carbs for this purpose, it's still a controversial topic, but researchers seem to suggest higher glycemic index foods are best before a weight training workout and lower glycemic index foods are best for lengthy endurance type workouts. But I recommend experimenting with both types and seeing which you respond better to and some examples of higher glycemic index carbs are things like rice cakes, white potatoes, bananas and so on. And you should also keep in mind that you probably want to minimize fiber intake before your workout in order to prevent a feeling of fullness which can negatively affect your performance. So to keep it simple, fats play virtually no role in contributing to your workout. And as stated in an extensive review by researchers at Deakin University, fats have no beneficial effect on exercise performance. Unlike carbs, they take a while to digest and won't boost your muscle glycogen levels nor will they aid in protein synthesis. Therefore, since adding in fats will likely just make you feel more full, I'd suggest keeping them relatively low in your pre workout meal and instead ingest them during other meals throughout the day. But what does a meal optimized for performance and muscle growth based on these studies look like? Well, to satisfy the criteria of a fast digesting leucine containing protein, 20 grams of protein from egg whites is perfect. And to satisfy the criteria of a moderate to high glycemic index carbohydrate with minimal fiber, 50 grams of carbs from a few plain rice cakes topped with a banana will do for most people, 20 grams of protein and around 40 to 50 grams of carbs is enough to maximize protein synthesis based on the research I reviewed. But you can increase these numbers if you're on the heavier side. And feel free to add some toppings to make it more tasty. Just don't go too crazy with it and if you guys are looking for other options for a pre workout me meals, take a look at the following two lists and mix and match a protein with the carb as you wish. Although whey and egg whites are basically the only options for a fast digesting protein, if you prefer other protein sources like chicken, turkey and so on, then feel free to use them instead as it likely won't make much of a difference. Now finally, as for fasted training, the pre workout meal is likely to enhance your performance and strength, so it's ideal when you're bulking and you want to maximize strength and muscle gains. However, fasted training has been shown to provide anabolic effects as well, so it's hard to say which one is better. But ultimately you should decide based on whether you perform better and lift heavier when you're in a fed state or a fasted state, as I know this varies for everyone. Thanks for watching guys. I hope you enjoyed the video. I'm sorry that it took me so long to release another video since my last one, but for those who don't know, I'm in my last semester of a kinesiology degree in university, so as you can imagine, I'm pretty swamped with schoolwork and exams. But with that being said, I'm going to try my best to release at least one video every week. And next week as requested, I'm going to be releasing my chest video which I'm really excited for, so stay tuned for that. I just really wanted to give you guys a huge thank you for all the support that you've been showing me by liking my videos, leaving positive comments, and just sharing my videos around. It's crazy to see how much my channel has grown just in the past couple weeks alone, and it really motivates me to continue doing this. It also just goes to show you the need there is for fitness content that's actually backed by research rather than making claims without any evidence behind it. Anyways, again thank you guys so much for all your support. If you guys enjoyed this video then please don't forget to give it a like leave a comment and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already. Anyways, I'll see you guys next week.