Nutrient Timing for Athletes: Maximizing Performance and Recovery
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper! There is a lot to be said by simple phrases like this, especially for athletes. I get quite a few questions about diet as a Biokineticist and endurance coach with athletes. Here are a few ideas to consider in your endurance training diet and nutrition approach:
Idea 1:
Nutrient Timing
The great father of endurance coaching and responsible for TrainingPeaks platform, Joe Friel speaks about “nutritional periodization” or put in other words nutrient timing. It's the idea of what context the macronutrient is being consumed under. For example, consuming carbohydrates during exercise is that it will be used by muscles to create energy while consuming carbohydrates outside or far away from an exercise session is that it is more likely to either be stored as glycogen or adipose tissue (especially large amounts that create big surges with insulin release).
It's the idea of pairing your macronutrient intake with how your body uses it throughout the day, including before, during, and after exercise. Becoming leaner, stronger, and better-fueled is the ultimate goal. So let's explore that a little deeper with the next two ideas.
Idea 2:
Eating during Exercise
One of my favorite sayings for athletes looking to lose weight is “Chase performance and lose the weight, chase weight loss and lose performance”.
One study (1) has shown that consuming carbohydrates during a workout results in consuming fewer calories after the workout as well as fewer calories during the day than compared with athletes who didn't consume carbohydrates during their workout.
You will indeed burn more fat during a workout if you don't consume carbohydrates. However, in the same study (1) mentioned previously, the lack of fat burning during the workout when carbohydrates were consumed was made up for greater fat burning after the workout. THATS RIGHT!
Idea 3:
Eating after exercise
Remember what we spoke about earlier with nutrient timing and context. Eating immediately after exercise means that macronutrients are partitioned towards muscle tissue and not fat tissue. Muscle tissue becomes sensitized to uptake glucose and protein independent of insulin action. This means greater protein synthesis and glycogen storage which will be key to being ready for the next training session and performing at a higher level. It has been shown that this window is more along the lines of 2 hours and not 20-30mins as originally thought of a few decades ago.
The thermic effect of food adds to fat burning which is when the body uses energy to digest food especially protein can cost additional energy as well because carbohydrates are partitioned towards being stored as glycogen, in total these two ideas will result in losing body fat compared to an athlete who skips recovery food after training. Protein consumed with carbohydrates has been shown to enhance glycogen resynthesis in muscle tissue (4:1 ratio of carbs to protein)(2).
Actionable steps:
Start with carbohydrate intake during high-intensity interval sessions or exercise duration over 2 hours. 2-4 hours before eat around 80-100 grams of carbohydrates in the form of a meal. During exercise aim for 30-60 grams in the form of either a sports drink or gels. Within 2 hours after exercise aim for around 1-1.2 grams of carbs/kg plus around 1g of protein per 4 grams of carbs.
If you want help with further questions, discussions, consultations, or coaching. Please don't hesitate to reach out to darrin@thethreshold.coach
@darrinjordaan
@wattfarming
Train Hard and Prosper!
Darrin Jordaan
MSc (Med) Biokinetics WITS
HMS (Hons) Sports Science UP
BK 0016934
CSCS
UCI Level 1 Cycle Coach
IronMan certified coach
References:
Melby, C. L., K. L. Osterberg, A. Resch, B. Davy, S. Johnson and K. Davy. 2002. Effect of Carbohydrate Ingestion During Exercise on Post-Exercise Substrate Oxidation and Energy Intake. International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism 12(3): 294-309
Berardi, J. M., T. B. Price, E. E. Noreen, and P. W. Lemon. 2006 Postexercise Muscle Glycogen Recovery Enhanced with a Carbohydrate-Protein Supplement. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 38 (6): 1106-13