Nutrition and Your Workout - written by Phil Tucker

When people decide to get in shape they will often focus exclusively on the workout itself. They will plan meticulously how much they will lift, what rotation of exercises they will do, which body parts they'll hit and how to spend their time recovering. They'll figure out the exact growth chart they want to follow, prepare their notes, and then hit the gym with utmost intensity and focus. However, they will often forget to support their workouts with the proper nutrition before, during and after the exercise. This means that they're not going to get their best benefits, as nutrition is instrumental in ensuring that you get the best preparation, workout intensity, and post-workout development. In today's article we're going to talk about some of the basic and essential nutrition steps that you should be taking if you really want to make sure that you are getting the most out of your time in the gym.

The first aspect to consider is the preparation phase, which is where you actively plan your nutrition before hitting your workout. You need to ensure that you don't hit the wall while exercising, which is what happens when you burn through all your muscle glycogen and are left with no reserves of energy. To ward this off, be sure to eat a banana and maybe a granola bar with peanut butter about thirty to forty five minutes before the workout. Further, you should drink a small amount of coffee before exercising so as to benefit from the stimulating effect that caffeine has upon your system, helping you mobilize fat reserves better and improve your energy levels.

The first piece of advice may seem superfluous, but it's fundamental to any positive experience in the kitchen: relax and have fun. The more you relax and enjoy yourself, the more fun the process of cooking will be, and the more delicious the results. Play some good music, give yourself plenty of time, work with fresh ingredients, and the results are guaranteed to come out tasting better for it.

Second, make sure you have plenty of space in which to work. Trying to do your chopping on the small corner of a crowded table will only lead to disasters and accidents. Not only that, but try to prep all your ingredients before you get started so that you can dive right through, and not risk burning something as you rush to chop the next needed ingredient.

Third, don't worry about following recipes to the exact milligram. Instead, allow yourself to act freely, shooting for accuracy but also knowing that a little bit more or less of a spice won't ruin the world. Learn to measure things with your eye, develop your instinct for how much you need. It will make everything easier.

During the workout you need to ensure that you maintain hydration. This doesn't mean you should be gulping water after every rep, but be sure to hit the water fountain frequently for a mouthful of water. Further, you should definitely be taking creatine as a supplement as this has been found through numerous studies to help increase the amount of ATP your muscles can use so as to improve the short term intensity of your reps.

Finally, after your workout you should immediately take a recovery drink that is composed of three parts carbs and one part protein, which has been found to be the ideal combination of nutrients to help your muscles begin regrowth and regeneration and optimize the amount of glycogen that is placed back in your muscle cells for the next workout.