Eating or Having a Shake During Workout?

How many of you pause during longer workouts to have a protein or energy bar or a few sips of a protein shake? Obviously you can’t consume too much or you will throw it back up, but there are times when I feel like I could finish my workouts stronger if I got some nutrition halfway through, especially now that I’m doing more Olympic-style lifting.

I workout 30 minutes after I get up. I have some caffeine and a piece of bread with honey on it pre-workout and sip 40-50 gms of whey with some added glycine throughout my workout.

Use Biotest Plazma as an intra workout drink.

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I will sometimes sip some whey protein during the session if it’s early or long. But typically just water.

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This is the easiest and best solution in my view. Though not the cheapest!

If you are not taking insulin the shake you ingest will be absorbed after a few hours. We do not function on the stuff we ate this morning, we function with a delay on stuff we ate yesterday. If you feel in your mind as a placebo effect that it would help - do it. I take pre workout as a placebo also, everything that makes you feel better or confident is worth it.

If you are natty and not taking slin, 1)the shake will be absorbed after the workout 2)as a natty you shouldnt train that long that you get hungry mid session, imo.

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@hankthetank89 I think it is worth adding some nuance to this. Are you responding solely with regards to a protein shake or are you making this statement in general with regards to intra-workout shakes?

My understanding is far from complete but as far as I know, insulin stimulates glucose uptake by altering the sub-cellular distribution of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) from intra-cellular stores to the plasma membrane, a process known as GLUT4 translocation. Muscle contractions also facilitate glut4 translocation.

A protein shake may take too long to digest to be of much utility, but some of it may still enter your bloodstream during the training session depending on when you begin drinking it. Meanwhile, EAAs and powdered carbs should in theory enter the bloodstream even quicker.

Anecdotally, if I train without an intra-workout nutrition shake my recovery will take longer than with. Is that all placebo? Maybe, but I don’t see to be alone in having seen this effect.

@nealdog for resistance training I’ll have something akin to Plazma like @RT_Nomad suggested (importing it is too costly, so I make my own out of similar ingredients). For long duration exercise, such as climbing days outdoors I opt for proper food to stave off hunger.

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I don’t see a problem with that.
Could be good if you’re prone to getting hypoglycemic during workouts although a simple carb would do just fine as well.

I was thinking about protein mostly, but when you put it like this i started to wonder where did the intra workout stuff came from, and as far as i know, intra workout shakes were popularized in the 90s and early 00s by Miloš. The problem with Miloš is that he also has an insulin protocol that says - 20ius pre workout and 20ius after workout. Basically his intra workout shakes has aminos and sugars, because if you pin 20ius of slin with pre-workout meal, you will be going hypo every 20mins into your workouts - hence the need for intra workout shakes.

If a natty eats a normal meal 1 hour pre-workout, i dont see how some extra whey would do anything. And if we talk about sugars and aminos - i dont think a natty should train SO LONG that his pre workout meal is already gone.
The whole theory of intra workouts were poplarized by guys who did pre-workout insulin shots and insulin is known to push the nutrients into cells with turbo speed.

As i said - i dont see the theory behind it but i also said - if it does something for you, it doesnt matter if its placebo or not - DO IT.
Back in the old days we tought watching porn before training spiked our testosterone. It doesnt matter if it does or does not - if your can benefit from it, even placebo is good.
I was just mentioning that i dont see the science behind needing EAAs if you have eaten some hours before a workout and dont take insulin.

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I think you might be spending too much time in the pharma forum, bud.

Not everyone has the same eating schedule. Some people eat more or less before workouts, some people have to eat right before and can’t stuff themselves, some people workout fasted, and some people get nauseous when they don’t have some carbs before or during the workout.

Furthermore, if it was introduced by a guy who was taking insulin before and after his workout, then eating before and eating during would simulate that.

You eat → blood glucose rises → beta cells of the pancreas detect that change and release insulin → negative feedback loop occurs as blood glucose lowers and insulin stops being produced.

Same thing is happening during your workout. Carbs raise your BG levels and your pancreas compensates by releasing insulin. So by eating a while before your workout, you’re getting an insulin peak before your workout, and by having carbs during your workout, you’re getting an insulin peak after your workout.

I don’t know what this means, but as I said before, different people train for different periods of time and eat on different schedules.

You can eat all you want, and hydrate all you want the night before - if you do any sort of endurance work - triathlons, long periods of climbing as @Voxel mentioned, long bike rides (50+ miles) - and you don’t have intra-workout nutrition, usually in the form of carbs, you’re going to cramp up and shut down at some point. So this is just not true. What we eat the day of exercise is absolutely a contributor to our function.

Depending on the person, you may not need anything intra-workout, but the OP’s question wasn’t about needing anything, it was asking if in his case it might help, and the answer is, it might.

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ah, i was under the impression it was about gym… if its marathons, definetly, get some sugar.
i tought we are talking gym sessions with intra workout meals, and i believe that a natty shouldnt be in a gym for hours on end.

thats exactly the same answer i also gave him :slight_smile:

I think our definitions of “exactly” are a bit different.

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Sorry, english is my third language, i might not understand every word down to its deepest meaning.
You said - it might… i said - if he feels like it helps - do it… In my book, its the same thing, as he will probably do it because if IT MIGHT help, its better to do it than not.

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For most bodybuilding and general strength workouts, yes, I agree. But Olympic-style weightlifting workouts involve a larger amount of volume at moderate loads with greater frequency in order to get the technique down, along with some intense high-bar squatting for leg strength. So you aren’t getting smashed like you would if you did the same amount of work at greater relative intensity, but the workouts can get a bit time-consuming. I think that’s what leads to the craving for food or some other sustenance toward the end of workouts in my case.

Ah ok, i dont know much about Olympic stuff.
Well, as i said - if you feel that it helps - do it. It doesnt matter if we agree or not - if i would feel that doing anything would help i would do it, no matter what.

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Use fast carbs20-50 g (vitargo or cluster dextrin) and 15 g EAA

I wake up, then drink pre workout mixed with 40g of whey on the way to the gym.

Sometimes I really just run out of energy mid way abs have thought about using EAAs but also haven’t read enough about the science to know they are worth it.

What if your doing a workout that you can handle. Less long workout. And eating like a normal person after your workout.

what’s wrong with you guys ?

the supplements industry is really strong…

Some people eat a banana during. One guy on here used to eat a couple starburst during a workout. Doesn’t have to be a supplement.

Pat Casey ate meatloaf sandwiches during workouts.

So maybe we can all learn something.

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