Sports Nutrition: What to Eat Before, During, and After Your Workout

Sports Nutrition: What to Eat Before, During, and After Your Workout

If you’ve been hitting the gym, keep on. But for starters, let’s remember one thing: there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to eating for progress. Every person has a unique profile, and according to their goals, what they eat will differ. Let’s dive into it.

All Is Relative

What you eat and how much you eat are all relative to your end goals. And when planning a nutrition plan, you should also heavily factor in your body type and your strengths when it comes to training. If you haven’t gotten a clue yet, we’ll ease you into it. 

Body Types

Don’t skip this; we repeat, do not skip this. Knowing your body type and how you gain fat/muscle is key to knowing what to eat and how much to eat. You might not be seeing the results you want with the same workout you’re doing with a friend because you don’t have the same body profile. 

Know your body type and tailor your nutrition plan to accommodate it. Work smarter, not harder. Also, we’re all unique, so the body types might be too generalized. However, it will at least give you a rough idea. Some people might be a nuanced mix of two body types, for example. 

And on a side note, if you want more time to go work out and build your body up, then use Studyfy’s paper writing service right now. You can get help with extra school work from a professional ASAP. Try it out; it’s worth it. Invest sometime in yourself. Now, let’s get back on track. You know your body best, and if you’re going through changes, don’t be too hard on yourself. Use your intuition and experience to determine it more accurately. Here are the types: 

Ectomorphs

These people are naturally skinny individuals. They have a fast metabolism, which is a blessing and a curse. Ectomorphs typically have a harder time gaining muscle mass. However, muscle mass isn’t everything. 

Ectomorphs can still gain a lot of strength, even if they might look less buff. As an ectomorph, you’ll need to get a lot of protein and go on a caloric surplus. This means you need to eat more if your goal is to gain muscle mass. 

If your goal is only to build strength and stay lean, then you don’t have to overeat. However, you still do need to eat more than the other two types at the beginning of your workout journey. 

Mesomorphs

Mesomorphs have quite an advantage when it comes to working out since they are naturally muscular. They gain muscle mass more effortlessly than ectomorphs and endomorphs. Isn’t that great? When it comes to nutrition, mesomorphs won’t need to be too extreme and can keep it in moderation. However, it’s important for them to still eat healthily. Eating junk doesn’t equate to anything in the end. All those who work out have to remember that diet is extremely important. Eat clean for the best results. This is a set rule. 

Endomorphs

Endomorphs are naturally bigger and tend to gain fat much easier than the two other types. So, when it comes to nutrition, endomorphs have to get into a caloric deficit. This means they might need to eat less at the beginning of their workout journey to shed any extra weight. This is inevitable if their journey is to sculpt and build up their muscles afterward.

Nutrition: Before, During, After 

Cliche time: Working out is 70% nutrition and 30% training. What you eat is extremely important. Spacing out your meals into five moderate to small portions in a day is the best way to spread out meals when trying to gain muscle. This is ideal instead of having 3 huge meals. However, the content of your calorie intake is even more important. 

Some nutrition plan templates to consider:

Gaining mass

Protein intake should increase. You can get healthy protein from a lot of food. Chicken and salmon are two good sources of protein. Try to eat high-protein, low-calorie foods. Yogurt, oat, and nuts are a great addition. They contain protein. Avocados too. 

As for carbs, try not to eat too much pasta, rice, or bread. The carb ratio should be much lower than the protein ratio in your meal. A good rule of thumb is half a cup or even less. And stick to whole grains like brown rice instead of white. 

Get healthy unsaturated fats from nuts, seeds, avocados, and even from dark chocolate. Protein intake for gaining mass and getting leaner has a formula. Keep this in mind: 0.7-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. 

This will vary if considering other factors, but that’s the rough estimate that studies have shown to be ideal for gaining mass. 

Getting Leaner

Getting lean means losing body fat but KEEPING your gains and maintaining their growth. To do this, it’s quite simple. Look up some minimalist trainers on Youtube. The easiest formula we could find is:

Caloric Deficit, Progressive Overload

This means that you should eat less (caloric deficit can sum up to 25% less food in a day, so around 2.5 meals less) but keep adding to your weights if you’re strength training over time. Adding more weight once you’re comfortable. Of course, protein should always be prioritized since you’ll want to keep your gains.

It’s very important to eat clean if this is your goal; no junk food is allowed. Meat, fish, whole grains, nuts, seeds, fruits, healthy oils, oats, and fiber-rich foods should all be in your diet. You can eat what you want when it best suits you, but be sure the quality of the food you’re eating is healthy and high. 

Final Thoughts

We hope this helped. Don’t forget that everyone has a unique experience and body. You have to decide what works best for you. Experiment and see what feels right for your body. As we’ve stated, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. However, eating healthy, getting lots of protein from the right sources, and eating whole foods instead of junk is a good place to start. Diet is everything when you’re training.

We hope you enjoyed the article ‘Sports Nutrition: What to Eat Before, During, and After Your Workout.’ What is your favourite workout meal? Let us know!

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