Most advice will focus on the “Post-Workout” category, but pre-and intra-workout nutrition can make a huge difference to your performance, especially during endurance training and events.

1. PRE-WORKOUT - Before your training session or event.

2. INTRA-WORKOUT - During your training session or event.

3. POST-WORKOUT - After your training session or event.

Nailing all three categories is crucial to breaking through training plateaus and helping you set new PBs with ease, which is why we’re covering all three in this guide.

And to make things even simpler, we’re going to break our recommendations down even further into Resistance Training & Endurance Training, so you can see what you need to be focusing on and when depending on your current training load and goals.

RESISTANCE TRAINING

The key to nutrition and supplementation for Resistance Training is ensuring your body always has sufficient protein and amino acids available to fuel muscle growth and repair. The aim of your training is to cause tears in your muscle fibres that need to be repaired to “force” your muscles to grow. Your nutrition and supplementation have to provide the building materials necessary for these repairs to occur.

PRE-WORKOUT

If you train early in the morning, don’t worry about not having time to eat a meal beforehand - your body can utilise the food you ate the previous evening. However, this would be the only scenario we would recommend you resistance train fasted, simply to ensure there’s no delay between your body needing readily available protein for muscle growth and the protein becoming available after digestion.

As such, our recommendation is to have a meal with 30-40g of protein and a fast-acting carbohydrate such as toast or cereal, or to consume a protein shake at least 1 hour before your training session - this will give your body enough time to digest the meal and ensure it is not “sitting heavy” in your stomach. Depending on the time of day, we may also recommend ingestion of between 2-6mg/kg of body weight Caffeine an hour before training - your exact dosage will be unique to you, so we recommend starting with 2mg/kg of body weight and increase from there if you do not feel an effect. Caffeine’s main benefit outside of increased energy levels is that it has been shown to reduce the perceived level of exertion during exercise i.e. it will make your workouts “feel” easier. Just don’t be one of those guys sipping a Monster during your session - you don’t feel caffeine’s full effect until an hour after ingestion, so if you’re sipping during your session you won’t get the benefits until you’re walking out the door.

We also recommend you ensure you’re fully hydrated before a resistance training session, as dehydration can decrease your training performance. Aim to consume enough water so that your urine is clear BEFORE your training session.

INTRA-WORKOUT

Intra-Workout nutrition & supplementation are not vital for resistance training, especially if you have properly fuelled your body before your training session However, if you are deep into a cutting phase and on a low-calorie intake, ingesting

Essential Amino Acids has been shown to have a muscle-sparing effect i.e. taking EAAs during your workout will stop your body breaking down muscle tissue for energy. As such, ingesting 0.14 g/kg of body weight of EAAs during your workout can be beneficial during the later stages of a cut.

Similarly, consuming a fast-acting carbohydrate powder during your workout when you are deep into a cutting phase will help to keep energy levels high during a training session. It is unlikely you will become dehydrated during a resistance training workout. However, we would always recommend you have a 500ml+ bottle of water with you and take regular sips throughout your workout to ensure you stay hydrated.

POST-WORKOUT

The “Anabolic Window”, where you have to smash a protein shake within 30 minutes of training or you’ll “lose all your GAINZ” is an exaggerated myth. In reality of the Anabolic Window is much less exciting.

Your body is primed for muscle growth and recovery in the period after your training sessions, but research has shown this period is much longer in length than previously thought – ingesting protein even up to 24 hours after your workout will still supplement the muscle growth that can be achieved, just to a lesser degree. In other words, you do not need to worry about chugging a protein shake as you walk out the door of the gym, but the sooner you consume protein after a workout the greater the effect.

Again, aim for 30-40g of protein and, if you really want to maximise your gains, combine this with 40-50g of fast-acting carbohydrates, which research has shown can further bolster muscle building post-exercise. We’d also recommend you take Creatine post-workout. While the timing of Creatine supplementation is less important than taking it consistently every day, it is absorbed faster post-workout and with food, so is simple to add to your post-workout shake - 5g is all you need.

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