carbs vs. protein w/ heavier weight lifting and crossfit

Merrysix

My trainer said something to me about eating carbs or protein before an intense exercise session. I think it was to have carbs in my two meals before heavy exercises (like cross fit or heavier weight lifting) and then have more protein in the meals after the exercise. Does this make sense? What it the physiological reason for doing this? She is trying to encourage me to eat more complex carbs in my foot plan macros, but to plan the timing. I am eating at a calorie deficit, but really trying to do it right so I can get in the exercise with my busy work schedule, without being too tired or hungry.

Any ideas?

CarlydogsMom

What I understand from my trainer and doing quite a bit of googling is that when you are doing exercises that become anaerobic (where you burn off the glycogen stores in your muscles and you have "nothing left,"), your body seeks carbohydrates to replenish those glycogen stores. If not available in your system, it will basically tap into your muscles for whatever-it-is-it-can-use to replenish those stores.

So if you don't have carbs readily available when you go into anaerobic activity, your body essentially attacks your muscles for energy.

Weight-training, and HIIT training, get your body into an anaerobic state. It's probably a good idea to eat some form of carbs a couple hours or so before lifting/HIIT training. I also mountain bike ride, and my trainer said to keep up my carb stores ready for those hills that deplete my glycogen stores in my legs, to not only have a decent carb (and protein) meal beforehand, but to also pop jelly beans or gummy bears in my mouth while riding to be able to have simple sugars made available to my muscles quickly. In other words, don't eat sugars with fats, as that slows down absorption.

The whole concept of eating more carbs for my weight lifting, and popping stuff like jelly beans in my mouth as I ride my bike was mind-blowing. But Google "carbohydrates + anaerobic activity" to read more.

Regarding protein, while it's good to maintain protein intake at every meal, protein is especially important after anaerobic or intense activity, to help repair and rebuild muscle.

Another thing my trainer suggested was that chocolate milk is one of the better recovery drinks out there; has a good balance of all three: fats, carbs, and protein. Plus...it's chocolate milk. Kinda blew me away, and I looked into that too, and some research I found corroborates that.

Cherimoose

The average non-athlete probably isn't going to notice a difference between eating normal, balanced meals throughout the day vs. eating the way your trainer described. I'd eat however gives you the most energy.

knp80

CarlydogsMom wrote: »

What I understand from my trainer and doing quite a bit of googling is that when you are doing exercises that become anaerobic (where you burn off the glycogen stores in your muscles and you have "nothing left,"), your body seeks carbohydrates to replenish those glycogen stores. If not available in your system, it will basically tap into your muscles for whatever-it-is-it-can-use to replenish those stores.

So if you don't have carbs readily available when you go into anaerobic activity, your body essentially attacks your muscles for energy.

Weight-training, and HIIT training, get your body into an anaerobic state. It's probably a good idea to eat some form of carbs a couple hours or so before lifting/HIIT training. I also mountain bike ride, and my trainer said to keep up my carb stores ready for those hills that deplete my glycogen stores in my legs, to not only have a decent carb (and protein) meal beforehand, but to also pop jelly beans or gummy bears in my mouth while riding to be able to have simple sugars made available to my muscles quickly. In other words, don't eat sugars with fats, as that slows down absorption.

The whole concept of eating more carbs for my weight lifting, and popping stuff like jelly beans in my mouth as I ride my bike was mind-blowing. But Google "carbohydrates + anaerobic activity" to read more.

Regarding protein, while it's good to maintain protein intake at every meal, protein is especially important after anaerobic or intense activity, to help repair and rebuild muscle.

Another thing my trainer suggested was that chocolate milk is one of the better recovery drinks out there; has a good balance of all three: fats, carbs, and protein. Plus...it's chocolate milk. Kinda blew me away, and I looked into that too, and some research I found corroborates that.

Your body will seek to burn the excess fat before your muscle when in glycogen depletion that's the whole principle with low carb diets. Eat your carbs first thing and then small amount at lunch. After exercise if you do resistance training you must eat a simple fast acting carb with protein. If just aerobic exercise protein alone will suffice.

CarlydogsMom

Here are a few links. I'm a little simplistic above, but the following might be interesting for you. Also, I do tend to agree with the second poster--in my case, I'm not this intense heavy lifter that goes all out, and getting adequate fuel from all sources is probably fine for people like me/casual lifters/exercisers. I do think, though, that my mountain biking has improved when I add carbs to my breakfast (whole-grain toast) rather than focusing on protein (just a couple eggs).

weightlossforall.com/exercise-fuel.htm

sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportsnutrition/a/Energy_Pathways.htm

btc.montana.edu/olympics/nutrition/fuel06.html

And in terms of your body burning its fat stores, your body will also target not just fatty tissue, but also intra-muscular fat as well while trying to recover ATP stores in an anaerobic state if there are no carbs available, thereby affecting your muscles as well. Low-carb diets do help promote fat burning, but when you get to the anaerobic state, all bets are off. It's not quite that simple as "it'll burn fat." There are different pathways your body uses.

Merrysix

I really appreciate all these helpful posts. It explains what my trainer is trying to tell me to do about the macros. I do find it funny that some people call us "non athletes" because we are not on some collegiate team, or because we are not "professional," or maybe because we are older. Personally, I think I'm an "athlete" because I take my exercise seriously (and it is serious fun), and in my book that makes me an athlete, at whatever level. I train so I can do hilly biking at high heart rate for 4 hours, or because I can do cross fit or boot camp, or lift weights to fatigue, etc, whatever. I understand that I am not on a varsity team in a Division I school, with two practices a day and competition every weekend -- but I might do boot camp and hilly bike riding the same day, etc.

plyadnov

See what your body likes more. Here is how I look at the athlete vs non-athlete comment: athlete who will burn 4K or more calories doing intense training will require a lot of carbs before their session. Having bagels, oat meal, etc. for breakfast or even the night before (carbing-up)...friend of mine did that prior to running a half-marathon. You and I are non-athletes in the sense that we need to consume loads of carbs prior to our workouts. Personally I have some carrots or an apple about half hour prior to my workout. Sometimes I also have a cup of coffee. After the workout I do whey protein because it is fast-absorbing compared to casein which is absorbed at a slower rate. In the past I used to do a protein shake where I mixed some fruit with protein powder, drank half on my way to the gym, rest after.

If your workouts last longer than an hour and are extremely intense, then by all means consume more carbs prior to working out...but I bet having a single serving of fruit will work just fine. Personally breads make me feel sluggish so I don't use those for energy...which brings us back to the first sentence I wrote. See what your body likes more and stick with it. But definitely eat something prior to your workout and consume protein right after.

Regarding chocolate milk. I've read similar things about it being one of the best post-workout drinks. Here's my "beef" with it: if you are trying to watch your macro-nutrients, it's easy to go overboard with fat or carbs.

Cherimoose

Merrysix wrote: »

I do find it funny that some people call us "non athletes" because we are not on some collegiate team, or because we are not "professional," or maybe because we are older.

None of the above. The main distinction is the duration of training sessions (often several hours) and the intensity (often maximal).
For athlete-level training over about 60 minutes, it's good to supplement with carbohydrates *during* the session, to prevent "bonking" and minimize muscle breakdown. And if you have 2 workout sessions per day, carbohydrates right after your first workout may improve glycogen replenishment. Avoid fat in the post-workout meal, since it can delay digestion. That's irrelevant for non-athlete-level training.

Merrysix

Again, very helpful information and explanations. Thanks. I think my trainer is trying to get me to slightly up my carb macros in regular meals before exercise, and then focus on more protein in meals afterwards. And it is helping. But if I exercise intensely for more than 1 hour, (usually hilly bicycling now) I use the formula of 100 calories for each additional hour. I even use things like Hammer gels and Shotblocks (not sure of spelling), which I would never use otherwise, but seems to work well for me on the bike. Regular higher carb fruits would probably work well too, but I would find them hard to eat on the bike.

lemurcat12

Sounds kind of like Eat to Perform, which if memory serves is something like complex carbs pre workout and a combination of protein and fast-digesting carbs post workout.

I've never found that timing stuff like this makes a huge different in my workouts and I am better off just making it simpler and using my meals as the pre and post workout meals, but worth a try.