How To Eat And WHEN For BEST Results

Great workout today, bro. You killed it. I'll catch you tomorrow. Bob? What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is, Rob? Yeah, it's, uh, it's 1:16. You finished your workout 10 minutes ago. It took you 4 minutes to drive home and 2 minutes to walk up the stairs. That means you missed your post-workout anabolic window, bro. Mark down at the supplement store when he sold me the Cell-Tech 3000 said that if you don't drink that shake 15 minutes within your workout finishing, it's useless. That's not exactly true. The scientific literature shows that it's not that important to eat immediately after your workout, especially if you've eaten something earlier on in the day. The main thing with your nutrition is really looking at what you eat in the entire day. A lot of these fads and myths, they're made up by companies and silly trainers to sell you some crazy diet plan or some product that doesn't work. That can't be true. I can feel the protein shuttling Directly into my arms! Besides, Mark wouldn't lie to me. We're bros. Look, Bob, why don't you take a seat? We'll talk through it like old times, me and you. Mm, I don't know, my biceps are slightly bigger than yours, so that automatically means I'm more knowledgeable. But I guess I got a couple of minutes. Today's video may sound like a bit of a standard one, but it's actually quite interesting once we get into it. And not only that, It's a topic that is dear to my heart as it was the biggest source of confusion I had when starting out. I've coached and worked with literally thousands of people over the years. This is the second most common question that comes up, which is what to eat and when. If you want me to make a video on the number one most common problem I found people face, drop a comment and that'll be the next video. Anyways, let's get into it. If you've ever watched this channel, you probably know that we have three macronutrients: protein, protein, carbs, and fat. This is what makes up our calorie intake. Protein, carbs, and fats all have different mechanisms in the body, so consuming certain nutrients at certain times is said to be beneficial. For example, carbohydrates before you exercise to fuel the workout, protein afterwards to recover from it, fat throughout the day for general bodily functions. But carbs and protein timing is the main conversation we'll be having today. This is known as peri-workout nutrition, which is Latin for around not to be confused with peri-peri chicken that you get in Nando's after hitting the gym with your mates, if you've got any mates and if your gym's even open. So before going into peri-workout nutrition and other meal timing protocols such as the ever-popular intermittent fasting, I want to stress the main thing to take away from this video. The most important thing when it comes to your nutrition is what you eat in the entire day. Your daily macronutrient intake will be the defining factor when it comes to your body composition, especially if you are a beginner or intermediate trainee. Personal preference, adherence, and sustainability is always number one. If you're watching this and are a beginner, please just learn to track and hit your calories and macros first before even thinking about any of this advice. With that said, the more advanced you get and the closer you get to your genetic potential, the more the small details matter. The more advanced you are, the more important the minor details are. The leaner you are, the more important they become too. The reason for this is when in a caloric surplus, you're typically eating and digesting lots of food around the clock, more so than usual. Your body has a constant overlap of nutrients and in a sense is continuously being drift-fed these nutrients throughout the day. You're also in a more anabolic and protein-sparing state, and muscle loss is highly unlikely if you're doing things right. You should be gaining muscle. So that said, this video will mainly be focusing on nutrition for people who want to get leaner and/or improve performance. Quick tip: when bulking in the past, I've actually found that eating a lighter breakfast helps with training as I feel less lethargic from all the food I have to eat in the day. But on the opposite end, when I'm deep into a dieting phase, I often wake up very hungry and will feel the need to eat something before training, especially for a big session like legs. This is mainly personal preference, but give it a try for yourself. I know it's helped me and a lot of my clients. 2. Pre-, intra-, and post-workout carbs. This is where bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts start to think they're Lance Armstrong. They may take the same amount of gear as Lance, and their arms may be strong, but their training is vastly different. The argument here is glycogen storage. When it comes to resistance training, the evidence is mixed, with some suggesting a benefit and some not. Now, for athletes who are doing something like playing a rugby match or running a marathon, taking in some carbohydrates a few hours beforehand is definitely beneficial. I recommend something that is easy to digest and that you can still run and perform with in your stomach. Large Domino's, probably not ideal. Fruit and some oats sounds a bit better. But for bodybuilders or gym heads like myself, lifting weights for an hour is just not as strenuous as we'd like to tell everyone on Instagram it is. We sit on a bench, we grab a beer, move it a couple of inches a few times, then put the bar back and sit down for another minute. It's not that hard and doesn't use that much glycogen/carbs. As a general guideline, I personally recommend to try be on the safe side, position some of your daily carb intake around your workout when dieting if you can, but I also wouldn't lose sleep over it if you don't. Pre-, intra-, and post-workout protein. If maximizing muscle gain and/or maintenance is the goal, ideally you want to be having regular protein feedings throughout the day. This isn't the same as the bro science you may have heard of having to eat a meal every 2.5 hours on the dot, but more so having a solid amount of protein with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and a snack or two like a shake and a protein bar in there somewhere too, for example. It doesn't have to be 5 large sit-down meals where you all hold hands and say grace beforehand. So remember, it takes literally hours to fully digest and absorb this heavily macronutrient known as protein. And yes, the research does suggest that eating protein around your workout is beneficial, but if you're eating these 3 to 5 meals per day like most people, you're going to be constantly digesting protein and have amino acids circulating in your body throughout the entire day. Great! Also, quick side note, if you're following something like intermittent fasting, which is a protocol I like and do myself sometimes, times, a sizable mixed nutrient post-workout meal is recommended, as you may not have this stream of protein and amino acids circulating in your system. Check out this study by Alan Aragon and Brad Schoenfeld, two guys that I've literally followed for the last decade and taught me so much about training and nutrition. The study shows how the main thing is your total protein intake per day, and that the post-workout anabolic window isn't all it's cracked up to be. I remember when I first started lifting and I learned about the magical anabolic window. I was reading it in magazines they're more or less completely funded by supplement company advertisements. So it's not a surprise they wanted to make people think it would be make or break to have a shake post-workout so you'd buy their product. The post-workout anabolic window sounds enticing and hardcore. You can't really sell, hey, just hit your daily protein intake, you're all good, bro. Well, I can actually. My app contains a lot of practical and evidence-based information like this. If you want to download it and work with me directly, the link is in the description box. To wrap up protein, as a guideline, I recommend hitting your desired protein intake split into 3 to 6 meals over the course of the day. And if you can get a post-workout shake and a high protein snack in at some stage, that's great. As the study shows, it makes a small difference, and that small difference can add up over time, especially when you are an advanced trainee and the gains ain't coming as easy as they used to. I personally love having shake post-workout. It's tasty, it's enjoyable, and something to look forward to when you're training. And as the study shows, it can help and will of course contribute to your total daily protein. But remember, hitting your total full protein intake over a 24-hour period consistently with however many meals you prefer should always be the main focus. If you have a hectic schedule and you hate constantly eating and snacking and just want to have 3 meals per day or do intermittent fasting, you'll be fine. Better do things 80% right for years instead of 100% right for a month. Sports athletes and those training twice a day. So as discussed, for us typical gym heads Hitting your nutrition over the course of the day is really the main thing. If you want to maximize gains, get 4 to 6 protein feedings in a day. If you train every day around, let's say, 12 PM, replenishing glycogen isn't very urgent as you've got 24 hours until your next session. So if you replenish glycogen stores 4 hours post-workout instead of 15 minutes, it's cool. You still have 20 hours until your next session. But when training twice a day and this 24-hour gap reduces down to 4 to 6 hours, then you really want to be replenishing your glycogen levels as soon as possible after your first workout is done so you're ready to hit your second session hard, which is in a few hours. It may even be beneficial to consume an intra-workout drink during session 1 containing some protein and mainly carbs in a 1:4 ratio so that you can begin the recovery process even sooner before session 2. This is also a good idea for those doing 2 hours or more of hard, continuous continuous sports training. And I can already hear the bros like myself saying, "Trust me, bro, I train nonstop for 2 hours straight. No rest time. Rest time is for the weak. Who needs it? I swear to God, I'm not sat there sitting on my phone on Tinder or Bumble. I don't even have those apps." Alright guys, so I hope you enjoyed today's video, the style of video. Please leave your feedback down below. It means so much to me. And it helps it out massively if you drop a like and even share it with a friend who still carries around Tupperware and sets an alarm to eat every 2.5 hours. That was me. But the points I want you to take home from this video are: 1, learn how to track your macros and hit them consistently day in, day out. 2, if you can get 3 to 5 servings of protein per day, that's great, do it. If you can even position these around your workouts, that's awesome as well. Point number 4, if you are a hardcore advanced trainee or an athlete training twice per day, your nutrient timing will become more important. 5, drop a like on this video and hit the subscribe button if you're new here, and download Game Plan for Maximum Gains. But that's it, guys. I'll see you in the next video. Again, comment down below any videos you want me to do in this style. Keep it real. I'm outta here. Peace.