Food Intake and Recovery

There are some great articles on T-Nation regarding food intake and recovery. Looking to see what everyone else does for recovery. Do you use a pre-workout drink like Surge or just whey? Speaking about supplements…what do you like to include that specifically caters towards your style of training?

Myself, I like to train with the heaviest weight possible for the desired number of reps. If I am not careful I get into an ‘overtraining’ state especially if I don;t get enough calories. I get a 20-30gms whey shake before my workout and 10gms BCAA’s and creatine. Then another 5gms of creatine and 5-10gms of BCAA’s and sometimes a little Endurox R4 if it has been a really tough one - like Thib’s “skinny leg cure” workout. I try to get at least 250 gms of protein per day and seem to instinctively cycle carbs - higher on off workout days. I also take some ZMA with BCAA’s and a whey shake before sleep at night.

As I said, if I miss a meal or snacks I get run down and see my lifts stagnate in the gym. WOuld love to see how others find or have found the right balance for them.

DrC

big solid meal two hours before

no “pre-workout” shake because it would just be vomited up half way through the workout

after the workout i have

2 scoops WPI
15 grams BCAA
1 banana
2 teaspoons sugar (or honey)

as for regular supplements

  • fish oil, if i didn’t megadose this i would be in constant agony from DOMS and joint problems not even considering the huge list of additional benefits it provides

  • zinc picolinate, getting 50+ mg of zinc from diet is very hard even with lots of animal products

  • vitamin C, may help with recovery or might not, i take it because it’s cheap

take sure shake n ZMA separate, Not a good idea to take the ZMA with calcium containing stuff, because it messed with zinc absorption or something like that.

Pre and during workout: Surge Workout Fuel full dose plus Surge Recovery (from zero to full dose depending on situation)

Post workout: Surge Recovery plus 1 scoop SWF

1 hour post workout: If the combination of training demands and immediate bodycomp goals (or too great a need exists from pushing close to CNS overtraining) then a trip to the CiCi’s pizza buffet, with 5 or 6 slices, or minimum of 4 if needing to hold calories down. This is a relatively low-fat pizza, only about 30% of calories from fat or something like that.

If not, then a more moderate P/C/F meal.

Pretty much depends if body comp is a concern at the time,
currently looks like this

1 hr pre training: alpha GPC, Tyrosine, ALCAR, Policosanol, DMAE, B6,

1/2 hour pre training: Whey

Immediately pre (during warm ups): Waxy Maize, BCAA, Citruline

During: Waxy Maize, BCAA, Citruline

Immediately Post: Waxy Maize, BCAA, Citruline,

20 Minutes later: whey, fruit

Mixed meal when I get home and then the pre-training neural combo at some point too.

When the pound increases in value I may have to invest in some workout fuel, though.

I’m 118lb, 5’3
all I take pre w/o is 8oz of milk. i dont want too much in my stomach when i workout. I like to workout right when i get up so milk gets outta my stomach pretty quickly beefore i hit the weights…is that enough for me?

[quote]shugrblossm2 wrote:
I’m 118lb, 5’3
all I take pre w/o is 8oz of milk. i dont want too much in my stomach when i workout. I like to workout right when i get up so milk gets outta my stomach pretty quickly beefore i hit the weights…is that enough for me?[/quote]

It depends, what are your goals?

Depending on how early you train, you may want more food if you’re attempting to build muscle.

At the very least, use Surge Workout Fuel if you’re pushing yourself hard during training.

Milk before lifting and cardio at 7:00am.
no milk when I do cardio first thing in the morning usually around 8:00

[quote]shugrblossm2 wrote:
Milk before lifting and cardio at 7:00am.
no milk when I do cardio first thing in the morning usually around 8:00[/quote]

Clearly you DONT know your nutrition…

ok then so how can a eat something before my w/o without throwing up during my w/o
I w/o first thing in the morning. I dont wait around. Could BCCA’s in my milk be enough.

BCAA’s and milk is certainly better than nothing. However, Surge would have a faster uptake and cover you on the BCAA side.

I’m suprised you can stomach milk before working out rather than food. What about a protein shake before working out?

[quote]Rach2784 wrote:
I’m suprised you can stomach milk before working out rather than food. What about a protein shake before working out?[/quote]

I agree with this. Maybe water, WPI and oats?

whey w/ milk or whey with just water.
(i could be wrong) but i heard that carbs are more important than protien b4 a workout. Protien’s more important post w/o. That’s why i thought maybe just BCAA’s w/ a liquid carb would be fine.

IMO, the whey with milk or water and oats pre-workout(slow digesting carbs for longer energy to get through workouts). Then a fast digesting carb with whey after (or just drink Surge and there’s no thinking involved) You need the fast digesting carbs for the insulin spike to get the protein into your system quickly.