AUGUST NUTRITION CHALLENGE!
As part of our #fitnessisalifestyle campaign, I am going to create small nutrition challenges that you can work on each month! The goal isn’t perfection here.. it’s just to become a “little bit better” than you were yesterday. This is how we create new habits and lasting change. Let’s use each other for motivation and new ideas!
The challenge for AUGUST is:
Have A Post Workout Nutrition Strategy!
There are actually a lot of roads we can go down when talking about peri-workout nutrition. There’s what to eat pre, intra and post workout and then those recommendations will vary by individual depending on what your current goals are and what your training looks like. To keep things simple for this challenge, we will just be focusing on the POST WOD meal / meals assuming you are doing CrossFit workouts.
The purpose of post workout nutrition is to help you RECOVER, REHYDRATE, REFUEL, BUILD MUSCLE and IMPROVE FUTURE PERFORMANCE. It’s important to give your body the nutrients it needs to rebuild from the damage you just did. This will mainly require Protein and Carbs. The protein will help with muscle repair and growth and the carbs will help blunt the cortisol response from training and get you into ‘recovery’ mode along with replenishing your muscle glycogen so you can train again tomorrow with the same intensity.
As it can be hard to eat and digest a meal soon after your workout, I recommend liquid nutrition right away and to eat a balanced meal within 2 hours after training. A ‘balanced meal’ will contain protein, carbs (from veggies and a starchy carb) and some healthy fat.
Here are my general guidelines for your post wod drink, but these can be adjusted based on how you respond:
- Women: 15-30g Protein and 15-60g Carbs
- Men: 30-50g Protein and 60-100g Carbs
WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE??
My personal post wod shake consists of 1 scoop of PE Sports Beef Protein blended with 12oz coconut water and 1 cup frozen mixed berries and this gets me 18g Protein and about 35g Carbs. I usually also throw in a greens powder to get even more nutrients in there, but not necessary. I prefer the PE Sport brand (previously PaleoEthics) as I don’t tolerate dairy and they have Beef Protein. There’s is also one of the only protein powders that does not bother my stomach as there are no fillers or artificial ingredients.
So your challenge is to add or refine your post workout nutrition strategy! If you prefer not to use a protein powder, then just make sure you eat a balanced meal within 90min’s of training and that will be your strategy. Either way, make sure to log your results on SugarWod each Monday. This month I have 1 bag of PE Sports Beef Protein and Greens Powder to give a way!! You will get 1 entry each time you log your score and a bonus entry if you post a picture on FB or Instagram. Don’t forget to use #fitnessisalifestyle and #diablocrossfit.
If you have any questions at all, just ask me or post to the FB group.. I’m sure there’s someone else wondering the same thing 😉
Written by: Coach Jennifer Ismar
