POST-WORKOUT
Your Perfect Post-Workout
tailor your post-workout to your individual needs
Introduction
You just got buried by training. You want to maximize that session by getting all the nutrients you need to ensure you recover as fast as possible.
In order to do that, you need to take advantage of the post-workout recovery window. This window is a window of time where uptake of needed energy substrates is essential.
While everyones goals and needs will differ somewhat, almost everyone can benefit from getting the nutrients they need post-workout.
Why should you take a post-workout shake?
Basically, you’ve depleted energy reserves and therefore need to replenish those depleted reserves.
With those depleted reserves comes tissue that has been damaged. The energy substrates that facilitate this recovery need to be replenished.
Does the post-workout prescription depend on the person? Yes. It depends several factors including:
Your Goals
How you handle carbs
Your training
Your allergies
First, let’s start with how your goals affect this.
Goals - What do you want?
Your ultimate goal should be propagated by process goals.
If you do not have daily interventions — your process — your ultimate goal will be impossible.
what are your goals: Gain or Lose?
Gaining or losing really comes down to net caloric levels: how much you take in minus how much you burn.
If you want to gain the goal should be a net positive, take in more than you burn.
If you want to lose you should be at net negative, burn more than you take in.
Your post-workout shake can really place you in a position to leverage that.
We are by no means advocating replacing a well-balanced diet with a shake. However, utilizing a quality post-workout shake can help you supplement the protein and other macronutrients you need to reach you goal.
Which leads us to macronutrients and how your body handle’s these.
The impact of specific macronutrients on hormones, specifically carbohydrates and fat.
Protein post-workout can be a game-changer (barring allergies).
Carbohydrates and fat are a different story.
We like Carbohydrates. They are important for replenishing glycogen, which initiates mTOR pathways (protein synthesis), but there are things to consider:
Can you tolerate them and are you insulin sensitive or resistant?
If you are insulin resistant, meaning you do not absorb insulin well in your muscle tissue, you should not utilize a lot of high glycemic carbs.
If you are insulin sensitive, you want to double down on the most anabolic hormone in your body: Insulin. The higher glycemic the better.
Higher glycemic carbs: are composed of more simple sugars, break down faster in your digestive tract, and release a bunch of insulin from your pancreas.
Post-workout the ability to absorb insulin stimulates Glycogenesis (glycogen creation) which allows for muscle cells to regenerate faster.
How do you tell if you are insulin sensitive?
The complex way is to evaluate fasting blood glucose, HA1C and insulin blood levels.
The simple way is body composition.
if you are above 10% for male and 20% for females, you are probably not going to tolerate high glycemic carbs ever.
So we need to find another solution.
What about fat?
fat actually slows gastric (Stomach) emptying
So if you are trying to get rapid absorption of high glycemic carbs, you need to avoid fat at all costs.
In terms of post-workout, we can generally say that fat and carbohydrates should have an inverse relationship.
Another question for determining the proper macronutrients to ingest is…
What type of workouts are you doing?
What kind of exercise matters.
You probably do not have as much need for post-workout nutrition if you do a light mobility class versus if you are doing an aggressive Accumulation block and deplete a lot of glycogen.
We’ve provided a simple breakdown of what each block’s demands mean for your post-workout decisions
Phosphagen system (Intensification Block)
Uses a lot of simple sugars but typically does not tap into glycogen stores all that much. So overall need for carbohydrates, albeit important, is not needed as much.
Glycolytic system (Accumulation Block)
Is extremely glycogen dependent so the need for carbohydrates increases.
Oxidative workouts (Aerobic Conditioning Classes)
Utilizes all fuel substrates so having a balance of three and getting in calories post-workout is needed.
So we’ve established an idea of when, where, and what post-workout shakes are a good idea. Let’s dive into some particulars.
Allergies
The truth is whey protein is the gold standard of post-workout.
It is a complete protein (all nine essential amino acids) and it digests really quickly.
The problem is not everyone tolerates Whey well. Some people actually have a whey allergy.
Typically people that workout aggressively and have a lot of overall stress have a stressed gut and become allergic to a lot of foods, specifically lean proteins like whey, egg whites, or something like lean chicken breast.
If that is the case, we need to find an alternative digestible complete protein.
Options from there include:
Plant sources (plant is not a complete protein so needs to be a blend of hemp, pea, or rice. Never soy as that is massively allergenic).
Beef isolate (which is a complete protein in itself).
Another component is where it is sourced.
If it is beef or whey it should come from free range/pasture raised cattle. If it is plant it should come from organic sources.
Keep in mind that there are other things in the powder such as dyes, sweeteners, emulsifiers, and/or preservative agents that could all cause gut issues.
To add to that, if you have an issue mixing with dairy. Best bet is water to mix, but you can also try non-dairy milk alternatives. Bear in mind that the almond milk you love could be filled with bad stuff too, so be thorough on all allergenic properties of the foods you eat.
Common signs and symptoms of allergic response to whey or anything else:
Stomach bloat
Increased body and face temperature
Rash/acne
Achy joints
Disrupted bowel movements
Now that we’ve covered allergies, let’s talk about potential servings/doses.
What your post-workout shake Looks Like:
Accumulation Block
Insulin Sensitive:
Protein: Whey, Plant, or Beef - 10-20grams
Carbohydrate: Quadi Carb - 40-60grams
Mix: Water, Organic Real Fruit Juice, Fruit, Maple Syrup, Non Dairy Milk
Insulin Resistant:
Protein: Whey, Plant, or Beef - 10-20grams
Carbohydrate: UCAN - 20-40grams
Mix: Water, Non Dairy Milk
Intensification Block
Insulin Sensitive:
Protein: Whey, Plant, or Beef - 20-40grams
Carbohydrate: Quadi Carb - 20-40grams
Mix: Water, Organic Real Fruit Juice, Fruit, Maple Syrup, Non Dairy Milk
Insulin Resistant:
Protein: Whey, Plant, or Beef - 20-40grams
Carbohydrate: UCAN - 10-20grams
Mix: Water, Non Dairy Milk
Conditioning
Insulin Sensitive:
Protein: Whey, Plant, or Beef - 20-40grams
Carbohydrate: Quadi Carb - 20-40grams
Mix: Water, Organic Real Fruit Juice, Fruit, Maple Syrup, Non Dairy Milk
Insulin Resistant:
Protein: Whey, Plant, or Beef - 20-40grams
Carbohydrate: UCAN - 10-20grams
Mix: Water, Non Dairy Milk
summary
When it come’s to training and recovery, post-workout shakes can be a great addition to your regimen to improve results.
That being said, there are some key factors to consider such as:
Your goals (weight loss/gain)
Your insulin tolerance (insulin sensitive/resistant)
Your training (what energy system demands?)
Your allergies (Is whey, plant, or beef the best option?)
Your dose (Proper ratios of macronutrient)
Once you’ve reviewed these factors, you will be able to better leverage your post-workout to achieve results.