Best foods to eat before and after a workout

Pre-Training

General advice for eating before exercise is to have a carbohydrate rich meal (e.g. pasta dish, sweet potato or rice) 2-4 hours before you start. Followed by a pre-workout snack e.g. Musashi 100% Whey 30-minutes before. This is more easily achievable when training later in the day, but it is not always practical before early morning sessions. In this situation, a ‘planned grazing’ approach can be useful. A small snack (e.g. banana) before training and top up energy by sipping Musashi Intra-Workout during your session. Following your training a Musashi Bulk Protein should be consumed within 30-minutes of finishing and breakfast e.g. oats or omelette within 2-hours. Grazing throughout the day on nutritious snacks is also a good tactic for those who are in a tournament situation, when time is limited between events and it’s not practical to train on a full stomach. Consuming small amounts of protein (20g) 5-6 times a day is also proven to maximise muscle building and lean definition. Musashi Deluxe Protein Bar contains 20g of protein providing rapid, easy to digest protein which can be easily be eaten before or after training.

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Post-Training

Consuming carbohydrate and protein during the early phases of recovery e.g. within 1-hour of finishing positively affects future exercise performance and is of benefit for athletes who complete multiple training sessions in a day or even heavy training on consecutive days. Endurance athletes generally focus on carbohydrate intake to restore energy in the muscles, whereas resistance athletes are mainly interested in post-exercise protein to increase muscle mass. However, all athletes will benefit from a combination of carbohydrate and protein. The biggest advantage of a protein shake is not that it can help you recover faster than foods, such as eggs or a chicken breast, but it provides convenient high-quality nutrition on the go. It is easier to drink a protein shake than to buy, cook and consume whole foods – when time is short. Musashi Bulk contains a combination of carbohydrates and protein, making it a nutritionally complete post-training snack. Another great post-workout snack is a protein smoothie (banana, berries, 4 tablespoons Greek yogurt, Musashi High Protein and ice). The right foods at the right time can make a difference to performance but the wrong foods at the wrong time can sabotage your efforts in the gym. A number of factors can interfere with pre and post nutrition strategies including fatigue, loss of appetite, poor access to foods and personal commitments. It is important to take a planned approach and ensure foods are convenient and easily available. High quality sports supplements provide a practical and convenient way to consume energy, especially when everyday foods are not available or cannot be tolerated. You can confidently include Musashi 100% Whey, Musashi Bulk Protein and Musashi Shred and Burn as part of your training program. Breen L, Tipton KD, Jeukendrup AE. No effect of carbohydrate-protein on cycling performance and indices of recovery. Med Sci Sports Exerc. (2010) 42:1140–8.