Nutritional Advice to Keep You Training

One of the key elements to effective and successful fitness programs is nutrition. If you do not eat the right foods for you, then 15 minutes in to your body weight training and you feel drained, weak and ready to quit. Your nutrition plays a big role in how you feel during and after your workout. Feeling good about working out is a great motivator and keeps you going. Here are a few tips on nutrition to help you feel like sticking with your training program.

Before Your Training Session

How long you eat before a workout session is an individual decision. For some, eating prior to exercising can make them nauseous, so they have to eat a long time before training sessions. Most people find eating about an hour before to be beneficial. The key to your pre-training meal or snack is to eat a good combination of protein and carbs, but nothing to heavy. Some ideas that might work include:

• Yogurt with fruit or granola
• Oatmeal with walnuts and fresh fruit
• Nut butter and an apple
• nut butter on toast
• Boiled eggs and toast
• Grilled chicken breast and veggies
• Chia Seeds, Hemp Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds

You need the combination of carbs and protein to give you energy, build muscle mass and feel great all the way through the workout.

After Your Training Session

What you eat following calisthenics or other high energy exercises is again an individual thing. Many people feel famished once they have a good workout in and others want to do anything but eat right after a workout. But even if you wait for an hour to an hour and a half after your exercises, you need the right foods to rebuild and restore what your body used during the workout. This is the time you want to load up on carbs and add some protein. Some suggestions include:

• Banana and Peanut Butter
• Turkey sandwich on whole grain wheat bread
• Cheese (low fat) and crackers (whole grain)
• Hummus and fresh veggies
• Honey
• Protein powder
• Greek Yogurt

I myself like to go with the protein, honey, banana, and peanut butter mix. Its not only super tasty but it contains the simple carbs (from honey and banana) to restore glycogen in my muscles after using it in the training, protein (from the powder and the peanut butter) to rebuild and recover, glutamine (from the banana) to prevent soreness and healthy fats (from the peanut butter). Consuming protein packed snacks or shakes within two hours of a good workout will give your body what it needs to rebuild the tissues that were broken down during exercises. This is where the “gains” happen. Also when you sleep but that’s for another post. Make sure you don’t skip this part!

It’s up to Individual Choices

By using and adapting these tips to your specific needs and goals, your body will thank you by offering you the stamina to continue training with the intensity you are accustomed to. Each person is different and has their own set of nutritional needs. But as long as you consume the types of proteins and carbs that work for you, you should be able to keep up with your training regimen for the long