Food: before, during and after physical exercise

Many athletes wonder: what should I eat before training? And during exercise? And after training?

Obviously, to answer all these questions it will be necessary to analyze case by case, but... good news! There are some general patterns that you can follow without fear of making mistakes.

Keep in mind that there are many factors that can influence what is better to eat, such as the sport you practice or your health and physical situation. So, don't take this text at face value! In any case, reading this article will allow you to have several basic ideas about what to eat, when and how.

Once this is cleared up, let's get started.

What - and how - to eat before training?

Before practicing sports we will need to have a nourished body, in a situation in which our cells and muscles are able to perform well and thus minimize the risk of injury. For this purpose, the nutrients we eat (carbohydrates or sugars, fats and proteins) must be in optimal quantities and proportions.

Fats

We must know that lipids are the last element for obtaining energy, a very efficient but very slow energy: it takes longer to start up to nourish our muscle cells. Fatty acid oxidation is activated 20-40 minutes after starting sports and… it is almost impossible to deplete the lipid reserves in our body.

On the one hand, we already have fats distributed throughout the body, and this means that we have practically inexhaustible stores. If we eat fat before training we will only have to put the stomach to work and decrease the movement of blood to where we want it to be transported: the muscles. Therefore, the intake of fat before exercising is not highly recommended since it will slow down our digestion. Apart from that, our lipid stores already provide us with this nutrient constantly, so you should not have any fear that it will run out.

Sugars

Speaking of sugars, the truth is that we have small reserves in the liver and at the muscle level. However, These glucose stores are not large enough to meet the needs of our body in a day of training.or physical, so we should eat a slow-absorbing carbohydrate to charge our cells with energy and not feel tired or faint during exercise.

There are many examples of slowly absorbed sugars, but the most recommended are pasta, rice and bread. If they are whole, much better! Because whole foods are absorbed more slowly by our digestive system, therefore our reserves energy will cover more and better our needs during (and after) sports, thanks in part to its content in fiber.

Regarding the fiber, we must know that it has two basic functions: to lower the glycemic index of food (this is related to the absorption rate of a food and with the activation of insulin in our body) and clean our intestines.

A little-known example of the perfect pre-workout food: "10 benefits of chia seeds for your body and mind"

Protein

Last but not least, we have the protein. These play a fundamental role during exercise to avoid or slow down muscle destruction processes. In the protein section we must bear in mind that reservations only last 3 to 4 hours, regardless of whether we are talking about vegetable proteins (lentils, for example) or animal (a steak beef).

The only thing that we will look at when deciding whether to bet on vegetable or animal proteins will be in our blood group, since depending on the blood types we will be more or less tolerant to one type of protein or another, therefore digestion will occur more quickly or less. I will explain this point of blood groups and protein assimilation in another article in more detail, I do not want to entertain myself in this.

Having seen what and how we should eat before exercise, let's move on to the next phase: during sports activity.

What - and how - to eat during physical exercise?

At this point in the workout we start to sweat and notice how our muscles pump blood we will need to ingest certain nutrients that allow us to maintain a good level of hydration and Energy. It is during sweating that our body expels water and mineral components. This loss can be easily remedied by ingesting a isotonic drink. Isotonic water bottles contain rapidly absorbed sugars necessary to restore the levels of water and glucose that our body demands when exercising. If it is the case that the isotonic drink does not contain sugars, do not worry: you can add a couple of tablespoons of white sugar.

With regard to proteins during training, our body can only assimilate the protein already broken down into amino acids. The amino acid is the smallest unit in which a protein can be broken down, a chain of amino acids forms a protein. Two types of amino acids are responsible for repairing the microscopic muscle fibers of our body that are degraded when we do sports. On the one hand we have glutamine (which is the most important amino acid for the subject at hand) and which has a fundamental role in the repair processes of muscle fibers.

On the other hand we find the amino acids BCAA (Branch Chain Amino Acids), formed by the valine, leucine and isoleucine, three essential components in muscle metabolism. These amino acids can be purchased in specialized stores, and they come in shake form, which you can prepare at home and take it quietly during training. Important!: We have to monitor the origin of these products, since not all have the same quality.

Low-quality products can be dangerous to our health, be very careful!: this will also be a topic that I save for another article, because it deserves to be explained well. In any case, be very careful when choosing nutritional supplements: it is better not to take them than to take one that could harm your health.

Once we have explained what and how to eat during training, let's continue: let's learn how to nourish yourself later to sweat the fat drop.

What - and how - to eat after training?

Immediately after exercise we have a period of time of between 90 and 120 minutes during which our body is highly receptive to all the nutrients we ingest. This special time is called the anabolic window, and it also occurs in the morning when we wake up. Therefore, pay attention to what follows because it is very important.

The best option after exercise will be to have a shake of fast-absorbing carbohydrates, in order to cut the muscle destruction process. This is produced by the continuous stress on the muscle, which slowly damages the fibers during physical exercise until it creates micro muscle tears. In order for us to achieve an improvement in muscle quality (and therefore, in sports performance), we must go through this destruction process. Of course, it is not convenient for the muscle fibers to remain degraded and without food to repair themselves for a long time, hence the need for this first shake that I recommend.

Shortly after this first shake and before the anabolic window time ends, the ideal thing is to take a second shake, this time of protein, to be able to recover the muscular structure. You must bear in mind that it will depend on the quality of the protein that the absorption occurs more quickly and that we feel better at the digestive level. This is so because right after exercise we do not have much blood in the organs involved in the digestion process.

The blood is kept in the muscles to oxygenate them and repair the fibers, leaving the rest of the body a little starved, as happens with the stomach, which will have to make an extra effort to assimilate correctly the food it receives and thus be able to repair the muscle fibers. As a result of all this process, the quality of our muscles increases, which leads to progress in our general physical condition.

Later, before the anabolic window ends, we must ingest a fast carbohydrate to replenish muscle glucose stores. My personal recommendation is the one that contains the boiled potato or the sweet potato. As a protein source, we will follow the same pattern as before, looking at a food that suits us according to our blood group.

Diet and training: conclusions

As we have seen, eating before, during and after sports training is key to optimizing physical performance, recovery and muscle overcompensation. I hope this mini-guide helps you to improve the quality of your workouts and thus achieve your personal goals.

Now, the most important: to train!