What is the best postworkout diet?

[yohimbe]

I'm a racquetball player looking to pack on some muscles. What do you recommend for a muscle building postworkout meal (i.e. immediately after workouts)?

If it helps, here's some info about me: I weigh about 150lbs. I've been weight training for about 2 years now. I currently drink a 23g whey supplement along with a 5g matrix of creatine + glutamine drink after I'm done taking a shower at the gym. (Both supplements direct me to take them immediately following my workouts on an empty stomach.) What else (either whole foods or supplements) should I be taking? Would you recommend a meal replacement shake to take along with my whey drink and creatine drink?

[wedgylx]

you're basically asking the most controversial question there is....

I'd recommend trying a carb source post-workout with your shakes. I use Low GI carbs like wheat bagels, but many use high GI carbs like dextrose. Either way 40-60g of carbs would be worth a try.

An hour after my shake I usually have a quality meal like chicken breast with brown rice and broccoli

[max von]

i agree with wedglyx and follow basiclly what he does. I can not do the dextrose thing as it causes me to bloat up and feel like someone just dumped cement in my stomach

max von

[italionstallionl]

ive been doing high GI carbs-maltodextrin and dextrose along with protein and have been getting good gains, after i am through with my powdered carbs im gonna try low GI like wed, i think it is all just personal so give one a try for a while, then go for the other, see which worked better and use that

[dinoiii]

Y:

I am curious of a couple things.

(1) What is your training frequency? Include Racquetball, aerobic, + resistance sessions.

(2) What is the duration of your training? Your PWO meals will likely VARY for each type of taining modality.


Some things to keep in mind. Carbs are not the only thing that induce a insulin surge and in your sitution - you will likely find carb - glycogen replenishment of more benefit for your aerobic training ... racquetball + cardio/endurance routines versus your resistance.

Concurrent modalities like you are insisting will NOT be as easy as the simple addition of a few extra supps, but I think there are some mind-muscle things to consider so I do not rule out extra stuff. The "classic" supps will all likely be able to benefit you in different ways. Read all you can about BCAAs (including info on this forum in supps section), glutamine, and creatines. You can also take a look into glutamine vs. glutamine peptide post which may be of benefit to your situation. You may also consider some nootropics considering your apparent very active schedule.

At 150 lbs., how many calories are you consuming daily?

[yohimbe]

I. Workout sessions
A. Frequency
I train/exercise typically 6 of 7 days of the week. I weight/resistance train 4 times per week (on Mon, Tue, Thurs, and Friday). On the other hand, I do cardio 6 of 7 times per week.
I primarily play racquetball as part of my cardio routine, playing on everyday except Friday. (My weight resistance OFF days are Wed, Sat, and Sunday. These days, I do 45-60 minutes of cardio such as cycling, swimming, stair climbing, or racquetball.
B. Duration
I typically do at least 45 minutes of cardio. Although cardio sessions can be as long as 2 hours (with some multiple mini breaks in between.)
My weight training sessions last about 45 minutes. (I do 8-12 reps of 4 sets per exercise and load 70-80% of my one repetition maximum.)


II. Food I Typically Eat on the Weekdays

I don’t keep count of the number of calories I consume. :( But I can tell you what I eat on a typical weekday and you can let me know if that’s too little or too much calories.

For breakfast, I have rice with two eggs topped with tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, broccoli, and bacon. I drink water and swallow a multi-vitamin.

After some time passes and am ready to go to the gym, I drink a bottle of Gatorade and eat a banana (or a Cliff Bar).

During my cardio, I drink more Gatorade. I have another Cliff Bar after I’m done with cardio if necessary. After cardio, I hit the weights.

Immediately after I workout, I typically drink a whey + creatine + glutamine (WCG) drink. 30 minutes to an hour after I drink this stuff, I have a Subway sandwich, usually the chicken, bacon, ranch sandwich w/ tomatoes, lettuce, onions on six inches of honey oat bread.

For dinner, I’ll have a plain baked potato and chicken, either a slice of chicken breast with melted cheese or 4 hot wings/buffalo wings. I drink milk too.

I always stay up hours past my dinner, in which I’ll get hungry again. I’ll have an after dinner snack, consisting of some nuts and raisins, scoops of peanut butter, or beef jerky.


By the way, thanks for all the advice. I’ve decided to buy a weight gainer powder to add to my current postworkout (PWO) meal. For my Whey+Creatine+Glutamine drink, I plan to add a scoop of weight gainer stuff so I get roughly 25 grams of carbs from that scoop. As I eat my Subway sandwich, I’ll eat 25 more grams of carbs getting these carbs from a wheat bagel, etc. What do you guys think about my plan to adding 50 grams of carbs to my PWO diet?

[max von]

yohimbe

that looks good to me if it feels good to you keep it up good luck

max von

[caniplaywith_madness]

just a tip. potatoes are a very high gi (glycemic index) carb meaning they raise blood sugar quickly. you might want to exclude that from your regular diet.

[wedgylx]

just a tip. potatoes are a very high gi (glycemic index) carb meaning they raise blood sugar quickly. you might want to exclude that from your regular diet.

I agree here, substitute in some brown rice and have oats with breakfast (just so you dont get too sick of rice)

[max von]

Wedglyx

what about sweet potatoes i heared that if your going to have a potatoe you should have one of them

max von

[wedgylx]

Wedglyx

what about sweet potatoes i heared that if your going to have a potatoe you should have one of them

max von

They are MUCH better than regular potatoes, i eat them alot then I'm home.

[max von]

Wedglyx

good cause i heared they were good and i started eating them instead of potatoes got one right good to hear

max von

[yohimbe]

Why do you recommend carbs that will not increase your blood sugar (insulin) level quickly? You make it seem that these high GI carbs are detrimental to bodybuilding gains.

I've read that high GI carbs are not good for for diabetics but I am not a diabetic. Proponents for incorporating high GI carbs in your diet appear to be manufacturers of creatine transport supplements. There are many creatine transport supplements (e.g. EAS Phosphagen HP) that involve drinking a high load of sugars that will cause a spike in blood sugar levels. Because of this mechanism, manufacturers of creatine transport supplements are in favor of quick rises in blood sugar levels. With this logic, I wouldn't mind telling someone that it's okay to eat a potato and pop a creatine capsule.

Perhaps the best question is, what are the pros and cons of increasing your blood sugar level quickly?

[max von]

yohimbe

i find for me personally that if i spike my insulin level to high that it causes my boday after a work out to suck up any food i take in to fast. At such a fast rate i causes me to miss out on some of the valuable nutriants that my body needs. Your body continues to burn calories up an hour after your work out and my fear is that if i have a big spike it will use up all the supps i just took in before they have a chance to be fully absorbed and used by my muscles to heal. Also on a side note when i take a high GI i tend to get very bloated for that reason i do not use a product like phospogen as it causes me to retain alot of water. Just my body and my reasoning eveyone is different

max von

[wedgylx]

Yohimbe,
In meals, the higher the GI of a carb the worse it is when it comes to body fat gains.

As for post-workout, the most common usage for carbs is obviously high GI. I however beleive that low GI are just as good in terms of my gains and even better in terms of body fat.

As for creatine, whey protein is a good transporter as well. But why even bother with monohydrate? When a Dicreatine or esterfied creatine product is used, carbs arent necessary at all.

If you want to get cut up or just bulk cleanly you need to cut high GI carbs out of the diet.

[max von]

wedgkyx

good answer thats what i was trying to get at

max von