I lift at night, because it’s the only time my work schedule allows. by the time i lift, most of my eating is done, over 3500 calories, mostly protein/fat and small amount of carbs. with that being said, after eating all day, is the post workout nutrition really that important? I already have all those nutrients in my body from the whole day, shouldn’t they be used after lifting? I always eat post workout, because it’s what we are supposed to do, but I’m just trying to figure out if it’s that important.
imo, it would be good to get at least one large solid P+C meal in after working out.
you may even want to consider skipping breakfast and/or making your other meals of the day smaller, so that you can still eat the same amount of calories while including a large post workout meal.
also, i’ll assume since you’re eating 3,500 calories you’re trying to put on weight. in that case, why fear the starch? low carb bulking, while currently en vogue, rarely results in impressive physiques. I’d try to get at least 30% of your daily calories as carbs (which, at 3,500 calories, is only ~260g)
I work out at night also. I experimented & tried to get all my calories before my workout, then go to bed with an empty stomach in a attempt to lose weight for a fight. I tried it for a lil over a month. I did lose weight pretty fast, I didn’t notice any strenght lost, sluggish through out the day & I was grumpy as hell.
Honestly, I wouldn’t do it again. I love the feeling of eating after working out! I guess it’s the glucose rushing to my brain or the feeling of winning some sort of prize PWO.
It’s Very Important!
Check out any of Berardi’s material for some insights into this. It doesn’t matter what time of the day you train, you must consume an anobloic nutrient mix post workout. Window of opportunity n all!
Yes, it’s VERY important.
I second Worzel. Look up Berardi’s articles on the topic.
I used to work out at night, I would still have a PWO shake, granted it wasnt as big as it was when I worked out during the day but still got my protein and carbos, I feel so weak if I dont have a shake PWO.
Is building muscle important? It’s the single most important meal/shake of the day (pre and peri-workout nutrition is making a strong kick for the top spot).
Think of it like this. You spent 6 hours cleaning your truck. After you finish, your buddies convince you to go mudding. Would you need to clean your truck again if you wanted it to look good?
Eat somthing PWO before bed.
And I wouldn’t skip breakfast the morning after, either.
I most definitely would NOT skip breakfast in order to get the same amount of calories in! This is ‘robbing peter to pay paul’.
And yes it is very important… Assuming the goal is to build weight and size - I would suggest that if someone was training late at night with only 1 hour between the end of a session and bed, then a good protein shake with whey and casein in along with simple carbs and maybe some oats in would be great.
If you get up to piss maybe some BCAA would be a good idea too.
If however you have a good 3 or more hours after training before bed, then i’d suggest a PWO shake with whey and simple carbs followed an hour later by a more whole food meal… with plenty of fibre, carbs and protein in, or plenty of protein and some healthy fats (depending on diet type).
If you are dropping weight i would suggest utilising BCAA with extra Leucine before bed with a whey and carb shake directly after training… the carbs would need to be accounted for of course in your daily allowance. I get the feeling you aren’t doing this stuff however…
You’d have to be pretty big to successfully cut on 3500kcals a day… so i assume the opposite is true. If so, don’t be dropping meals to fit in more food/calories… what are your goals? This is kinda important in determining how you would choose to eat.
B