Trying to maximize muscle gain/weight loss. Overall goal is gain 5 lbs muscle, lose 5 lbs fat. I’m naturally really skinny, so the weight loss will be easier for myself than for many (the only reason I have fat is desk job/beer).
But now I’m working out in the mornings . . . 30 min cardio, 30 min weight training, each muscle group to the max once per week.
I’ve gotten excellent advice on SMDB regarding all of the above, but one thing I can’t figure out is what to eat immediately after workouts.
Right now I’m eating very little so that I lose the weight first . . . just some lowfat yogart and a piece of fruit. Than I stagger my meals (2 half lunches) and never eat a few hours before bed.
Should I be loading up on food directly after workouts to give my body something to burn (right now I’m hoping that fat is the only option)?
Well, I would add some heavy duty protein - like eggs, for instance.
Some people will suggest that you should just eat the egg whites, however, many experts agree that the protein is better absorbed if you eat the whole thing.
Your goal after workouts is to recover from any real dehydration or shortage of glucose you might have. Water and/or Gatorade and something such as bread or fruit would be fine. Do this within the first fifteen or thirty minutes after you’ve stopped. It doesn’t need to be much, and calories in and of themselves aren’t really what you’re looking for–it’s more a matter of fixing the balance you disrupted by working out. Then again, my advice is for general exercise and not necessarily muscle-building…
During the hour or so immediately after serious weight-training, you want a mix of whey protein, sugar, and branched-chain amino acids. I use Biotest’s Surge, but if that’s too expensive for you, try a glass or two of skim milk. In the three or four hours after that, go low fat/high protein.
No reference, but I do remember seeing a study where they compared muscle gain from soy and other proteins. The guys using soy did gain muscle, but only about half as much as the guys taking milk protein.
There’s a considerable amount of controversy regarding the effects of the phytoestrogens in soy protein. I’ve yet to see anyone in the anti-soy crowd who doesn’t come across as a bit of a nut, but they do have some evidence. I’ll eat edamame and miso soup occasionally, but that’s about it.
I highly recommend “Nutrient Timing” by Ivy & Portman if you seriously want to maximize your nutrition/training program. There is a 45 minute window of opportunity after a workout to take advantage of the favorable hormone changes triggered by training (increased testosterone & insulin). After 45 minutes, these hormone levels start to drop. Solid foods can take 2 to 3 hrs to fully digest so your best bet is a whey protein drink with dextrose and maltodextrin. You might also want to look into creatine supplimentation. Tons of science behind the benefits of creatine for bodybuilders.
The protein in yogurt is mostly casein, which is absorbed more slowly than whey, but it is definitely better than eggs. Save the eggs for lunch.
Fruit is a poor choice for post-workout carbohydrates. Fructose cannot be converted directly to glycogen by the liver and is first converted to fat and then the fat has to be metabolized. You’d be better off dumping a spoonful of table sugar into plain yogurt than eating fruit after a workout. High glycemic index carbohydrates are the best bet to restore glycogen stores as soon as possible.
When you’re on a calorie-restricted diet, you need to make your calories count as much as you need to count your calories so food selection becomes critical. Fresh whole foods will give you the best nutrition/calorie ratio. Strive for a balance of about 24-43-33. 24% of your calories from protein; 43% from carbohydrates and 33% from fats. Fats are a critical part of good nutrition, so don’t overlook them. Fish oil and unsaturated vegetable fats (like olive oil) will help your hormone health and cholesterol balance.
Sorry, but wrong: fructose is transformed into glucose, glucose is the bulding block for glycogen (glycogen is just a string of glucose). Glucose can be transformed into many other things (fat among them), but the first thing the body does with fructose is flip a couple bonds and turn it into glucose.
When I was working out for muscle gain and weight loss, I would come home from my workout and throw a filet mignon on the grill, and while it was cooking, I would blend two bananas, a raw egg, a small scoop of whey protein, and a half-cup of frozen strawberries. The steak, egg, and protein powder were a pretty serious protein pile; the fruit took care of my sugar and starch needs. Between the meal and bedtime I’d drink up to two liters of water.
My workout was a combination of cardio and lifting – I started with a warmup stretch, a lap around the track, a half hour on a rowing machine, and then moved over to do two circuits on weights. It took almost exactly an hour and I usually had to walk around for ten minutes afterward before I trusted my ability to hold the steering wheel for the drive home. I lost 7 pounds (at six feet tall, 173 down from 180) and got pretty good definition doing that twice a week (Weds, Fri) for a year or so. Mondays were four to six mile runs in formation. Not as much fun.
Awhile back I came across the website of the nutritionist, JJ Virgin, who was working with Brandon Routh (new Superman) to help him put on 25 lbs of lean muscle and about 10% body fat. She kinda creeps me out in a “nutritionist for the stars!” kind of way, but her advice is pretty sound.
Her site talks plenty more about the Super-making diet. As for me, immediately after a workout, I usually just eat a banana.
This is untrue. I can speak from personal experience that being somewhat out of shape, eating well, and working out hard can produce significant muscle gains. During my Junior year of high school, from the end of football season through the end of the track season (6-8 months), I put on 33 lbs of mostly muscle (205 to 238). I’ve known many others who have had similar results as well. Of the two individuals whom I’ve known to use steroids, one gained about 95 lbs. in about a year (195 to 280) and the other about 65 lbs. (165-230). In both cases, when they stopped juicing, their weights normallized around 235 and 195 respectively.
In Brandon Routh’s case, he had a professional nutrionist and a personal trainer (both certianly more knowledgable than I was in high school), so it doesn’t seem remotely strange to me that he could gain 25 lbs of lean mass quickly without steroids.
From what I understand his training regimen was steroid free. It was all just based on one of the most expensive workout/nurtition regimens Hollywood can buy. He put on about 5lbs of muscle a month eating 200 grams of protein a day. That’s not too terrilby “quickly”. Faster than me, but I don’t have the luxury of having personal trainers working ith me 24-7.
What about the conventional wisdom that it’s virtually impossible to gain muscle mass faster than 5 lbs. per year. The remainder, the “experts” have always said, is mainly (well-disguised) fat.
BTW, Routh needed to put on 50 lbs. of muscle. Supes isn’t a bulked-up ectomorph.
Do you have a cite? I’d be curious to read more about that because it defies what I’ve seen in my personal experiences. (I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’ve just seen otherwise). It was my understaning that for every 5 lbs of muscle you can expect to gain 2-5 lbs of fat as well, but that with intense resistance training it’s possible to put on 2-4% of your initial weight in a 6 week period. I can find cites that say it’s rare for people to gain more than 25 muscle (extra weight not inlcuded), but 5 is awfully low for anyone who has seriously trained.
Oh, and I thought Routh was too small for Supes. He looked heroic as Clark, but the suit made him look like a weanie.
