How to Use Nutrition To Get Bodybuilding Results

How to Use Nutrition To Get Bodybuilding Results

Small Front Image copy 2
Read more

How to Bulk the Right Way

Bodybuilding is all about getting big – but not at the expense of getting fat. Unfortunately, that’s what often happens when many bodybuilders bulk up….

Small Front Image copy
Read more

What’s the Best Meal Plan to Gain Muscle?

It doesn’t matter how hard you train in the gym. If you are not putting the right nutrients into your body, your muscle-building results are…

Small Front Image copy
Read more

How Much Protein Do You Need To Build Muscle?

300 eggs. 20 chickens. 15 gallons of milk. 25 pounds of Tuna. That’s what a recent news report tallied that the line-up at a physique…

Small main image
Read more

HACKS FOR HARDGAINERS

Are you giving it all your all in the gym, only to find that your net results in terms of muscle gain are, to say…

Small Main Image copy 1
Read more

FINALLY: A PROTEIN YOGHURT FOR BODYBUILDERS!

  Yoghurt has a lot going for it. It’ s packed with protein, it’s full of probiotics and it’s high in calcium. That potentially makes…

Small Front Image copy 2
Read more

Why Can’t I Lose Fat? Nutrition Secrets for Bodybuilders

  Why Can’t I Lose Fat?   Many athletes and bodybuilders find that they are eating completely healthy, but still aren’t losing weight. What’s going…

Small Main Image copy 1
Read more

Vegan Nutrition – How to Get All Your Required Nutrients from A Vegan Diet

Vegan Nutrition It seems like it’s the latest trend to go vegan. However, it’s not just a trend but a full-on lifestyle change for many…

header copy 2 1
Read more

Plant Based Proteins VS Dairy Proteins

Finally, a plant-based protein that measures up from International Protein. Coming out of 20 years of solid nutrition and industry experience, International Protein is about…

Small Main Image copy 2
Read more

Maintaining Muscle Mass During Coronavirus

Bodybuilding & COVID With Australia closing gyms during the COVID-19 pandemic, bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts have had a lot of questions about how you can…

dark contrast photo of back side of young beautifu G4XFS2R
Read more

The Zone Diet

Wanting to keep your hormones in check to avoid mood and weight fluctuations? The Zone Diet could be the answer you’ve been looking for. This…

Who better to ask about how to get optimal nutrition for your workout routine than International Protein’s co-founder and Aussie Muscle Guru, Christine Envall? Christine is a 3 x World champ in bodybuilding contests, and she’s qualified in Food Science & Nutrition so she knows all about what it takes to stay lean and build muscle.

When to Take Protein

We all know that we need protein to help our muscles recover from our challenging workouts. The amino acids can help our muscles repair and build so that we dont lose muscle mass. Thats why first of all, we asked Christine about when to take protein to best achieve the results youve been searching for.

Pre Workout

What happens to your body when youre working out is that the process of recovery starts as soon as you complete the first exercise. The first deadlift, the first leg press, whatever it is! Thats why protein consumption prior to working out can be essential for growth.

Ideally, you should be taking a time-release protein such as a mix of whey protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, egg albumen and casein, 1 – 1 1/2 hours before your workout.  This multi-phase release of protein can assist in muscle recovery over a longer period of time and will increase the recovery of muscle tissue throughout your workout.

Avoid using only faster-releasing proteins prior to a work-out, such as whey protein isolate (WPI) especially if your workouts last more than 60 minutes.  Instead, reach for a blend that includes Casein and even includes free form or peptide BCAA’s to prevent your body from breaking down your muscles and to give you energy during your workout.  Forcing your body to use its own muscle tissue for energy can slow your gains.

Make sure that you do take the slower release protein at least 1 hour before your work out as less time, like 30 minutes, is not enough for it to start kicking in.

Protein Synergy is the ideal protein to take for your pre-workout. It contains a range of amino acids and rapid release proteins with slower release ones in there too. Protein powders with a blend of proteins are good as they will release at different times, providing you with energy for longer.

You could have a meal before your workout, but most people find it hard to function at their peak when they have food in their stomach. Thats why protein powder is usually what people go for.

Post Workout

WPI is rapidly absorbed, making it a common protein to take post-workout. Take this directly after a hard session, or within 30 minutes of your workout.  You can take protein in the next 2 hours but the longer you wait, the less effective it becomes. Many people load their shaker, throw it in their gym bag and consume a WPI, immediately after finishing a workout; It absorbs instantly.

It’s best to follow this up with a meal of solids, such as pasta, rice, sweet potato/potato or even wholegrain bread within the following 60 – 120 mins so you’re ensuring an intake of essential carbs.

Usually, you have to travel home, take a shower, and then make the meal to consume enough protein to be effective, so preparing a Shaker of International Protein’s Amino Charged WPI is the ideal solution.  To get some quick carbs in during that first 30 minutes, International Protein’s Extreme Carbs is designed to be used with the Amino Charged WPI.

Alternatively, go for a portable carb source like fruit such as an apple or a banana. Recovery does require carbs as well as protein and adding in fruit can increase absorption of protein as well.

The Importance of Nutrition

If you continue working out without the right nutrition, then you can lose size and muscle. When youre not eating right its easier to over train and this can lead to injuries and burn out. Dont underestimate the power of nutrition.  Even with consistent training, your body will look different when youre training for a competition because of your nutrition, even if you dont change up your workout routine! Generally, your exercise regime will stay consistent and its nutrition that determines whether or not your abs and other muscles can be seen.

Nothing happens in isolation and what you eat today impacts tomorrows workout. If you feel depleted, you may have stressed your body too much or eaten food thats not helpful for you.

Another part of the equation is when to take rest days and what to eat on those days. Just because youre not training doesnt necessarily mean that you should be eating less. You may just need a day to recover by eating foods which are good for recovery. This can help get your body back to top performance.

On rest days you dont need to change your nutrition, but you may want to switch up your supplements. For example, you wont need a pre-workout supplement because you wont have an outlet for that energy. Continuing to take protein is fine because your body is in recovery mode, but you wont be working out so you might skip either your usual pre or post-workout protein shake, or just eliminate the carbs you would have consumed post-workout and just take in the protein.  I’m a big fan of keeping the protein the same on your rest day to ensure you optimize recovery on that day.

There is a difference in nutrition if youre focusing on your look for a competition or if youre just focused on being healthy. If you are all about competition, you may want to eat less on rest days to ensure a calorie deficit. It all depends on your goals and if you want to increase your weight or look leaner.

Techniques to Drop Body Fat

Here are just a few of International Protein’s top tips for dropping body fat if you need to look leaner for a competition or get down into a certain weight class.

1. Eat evenly across the day

Try to eat 5 or 6 meals evenly across each day. Fasting is not such a great idea as if you’re fasting for 16 hours, you’re only eating for 8 hours of the day and you risk putting your body into a negative nitrogen balance that can lead to muscle loss.  You need delivery of nutrients throughout the day to feed your body. 3 of your meals could be slightly larger but try to maintain consistent calories for each meal. For example, if you’re eating 3000 calories, you could do 6 meals at 500 calories per meal. Changing it a little is fine, like one meal being 300 calories and another 700. However, they shouldn’t fluctuate too much.

2. Plan Your Meals

Take the time to plan out your meals and how many calories each of them adds up to. Many people diet by dropping out a food group like carbs, but this isn’t scientific and doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll lose weight. it’s all about the maths of your food and eating everything in the right proportions. For Christine’s 5 daily meals, she eats a balanced meal with a combination of protein, carbs, and fats. She would never eat all protein or all carbs in any given meal.

3. Keep Track of Calories in Your Food

Christine loves a good spreadsheet, and she uses that to add in the nutritional information of any foods that she regularly eats. This gives you something to go off when you’re planning your meals. Packaged foods in Australia now have nutritional tables anyway which helps find out how much sugar, protein, and other elements are in your food.

4. Weigh Your Food

A big mistake that many people make is not weighing their food. You may think that you can figure out how much you’re eating by looking at it, but that’s harder than you’d think. Even with a measuring cup, it’s a bit of a guestimate. Instead, use food scales to weigh your food. Then you know that you’re taking in exactly the right amount of the foods you need.

Thanks for reading this International Protein article about nutrition and how to get the best results in the gym. Please ask any questions you have about nutrition in our comments section below or listen to our podcast episode all about nutrition for bodybuilders.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Posted in