Front Door Delivery
Guide to Getting the Most Out of Your Pre & Post Workout
Why exercise?
Because work and physical activity have many health benefits, it is one of the best things you can do for your physical and mental health (1). An active lifestyle helps prevent physical illness and will even add years to your life. Do you suffer from depression, anxiety or stress? Exercise is a powerful tool to overcome that too! With 172 health benefits , our meals keep winning in numbers, but exercise comes in second 😉 So, perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is: why don’t you exercise?
How to prepare for a workout
What you do before and after a workout can play a huge role in the actual training results. To get the most out of your efforts, here's what you should do.
Get enough sleep
According to global data, none of the 48 countries that participated averaged the recommended 8 hours of sleep per night [2]. However, improving your sleep won’t just help improve your mental health — a good night’s sleep is also the unsung hero of muscle growth and fat loss! It might even be the reason you see other people at the gym improving faster than you. Plus, lack of sleep kills productivity, making you less energetic and motivated to accomplish the tasks you want to crush. As Dr. Charlene Gamaldo, Professor of Neurology and Medical Director of the Johns Hopkins Sleep Center, says, “You have to prioritize sleep.” [9] If you need help getting better sleep, check out our article . Spoiler alert: one of the best ways to improve your sleep is to exercise.
(Properly) Fuel Your Workout
According to registered dietitian and M.Sc. Lauren Manganiello, it's important to fuel your body before a workout for optimal results. [3] Working out on an empty stomach will cause your body to take the energy it needs from your muscle mass, which you're actually trying to build (even if you're trying to lose weight).So what should you eat? And when should you eat it? A lot of people say a lot of things, especially the gym gurus who praise themselves in the locker room and can make things even more confusing with their specialized routines.
However, one thing is certain: carbohydrates are your body's primary fuel source during high-intensity workouts. The body converts carbohydrates into glycogen, which is stored in your muscles and used to power your workout. A power workout results in better caloric expenditure (burning more calories) and more muscle growth compared to exercising in a "fasted state" (on an empty stomach). [10] [11]
Hydration is equally important. Losing just 2% of your body weight through sweat can make your workout feel significantly harder and make it harder for your body to recover afterwards [12]. Carlson-Phillips, MS, RD, and vice president of nutrition and research at EXOS recommends drinking 15–30 ml (½–1 oz) of water for every 500 grams (pound) of body weight per day. So if you weigh 80 kg, you should drink 2.4–4.8 liters per day! Luckily, Plenny Drink already contains 330 ml of fluids 💧
Heating
According to a study by FIFA-affiliated sports scientists, a proper warm-up before training or matches, such as the one developed especially for football players by FIFA, will result in 40% fewer knee, ankle, hamstring, hip or groin injuries. [13] A good warm-up will dilate your blood vessels, ensuring your muscles receive optimal oxygen. It can even save lives! Read on to find out how….
- Blood circulation improves, making more oxygenated blood available to provide the muscles with the necessary energy.
- Nerves that stimulate muscle movement are activated, which increases conduction velocity. Increased conduction velocity results in better muscle dynamics! Trust us, that's a good thing.
- Pulmonary ventilation is increased, allowing for better absorption of oxygen and separation of carbon dioxide (inhalation and exhalation).
- The sensitivity of the joints, tendons and primary senses increases, which benefits coordination and will prevent you from tripping and falling off a cliff.
How to recover from a workout
You’ve sweated bullets, logged your run, given that punching bag what it was coming to, or endured the mental anguish of a boot camp or CrossFit session. Well done to you! Now comes the fun part: the recovery period. The recovery period, as it turns out, is crucial to getting the results you want. Luckily, this basically boils down to our three favorite things in the world: eating, drinking, and resting! Let’s get into it.
Cool down
According to the American Heart Association, cooling down after a workout is just as important as warming up [8]. After physical activity, your heart is still beating faster than normal, your body temperature is higher, and your blood vessels are dilated (remember how we discussed this in the part about warming up?). Abruptly stopping all activities after a high-intensity workout could cause you to feel sick or even pass out. Cooling down will prevent that from happening, and it has other benefits as well:- Reduces stress and strain on your heart as it returns to beating at a normal rate.
- Avoid dizziness and the uncomfortable feeling of blood pooling in the extremities.
- Vacuum your living room
- Wash your clothes
- Dance around the house
Hydrate
If you do it right, working out should make you sweat profusely. This means you're not only losing water, but also electrolytes — minerals that are electrically charged (sodium, calcium, potassium, chloride, phosphate, and magnesium). They're in your blood, urine, tissues, and other body fluids and help balance the amount of water in your body and pH levels. But they also move nutrients into and out of your cells [19]. So you can imagine it's important to replenish them.There’s a lot of talk about what to drink after a workout, as plain water doesn’t seem to cut it: it doesn’t contain the carbohydrates needed for fuel (glycogen) replenishment, it doesn’t contain protein for muscle repair, and it doesn’t contain electrolytes for water retention. [15] But guess what? Chocolate milk has all of those things! Traditional sports drinks may contain carbs and electrolytes, but they don’t contain any protein, and according to a 2010 study, that’s why chocolate milk is a better choice than traditional sports drinks. [16] If you’re looking for a vegan alternative to chocolate milk, check out our Plenny Shake Chocolate. It’s got all the benefits of chocolate milk and more!
Another alternative to plain water is beer. Wait? Yes, beer! Beer contains carbohydrates and electrolytes, and studies have shown that it doesn't negatively affect your hydration levels [17]. But don't start drinking like it's your best friend's wedding – moderation is key. Too much alcohol suppresses your muscles' anabolic response and could therefore have a negative effect on the recovery process. [18]
Refuel
Much like a pre-workout meal, a post-workout meal can help you get the most out of your workout. After all, we want to get the most out of our efforts, right? As we discussed above, during a workout your muscles will use glycogen for fuel. How much? depends on the type of workout, of course, but generally endurance sports (swimming, running) will deplete more glycogen than resistance training (weightlifting and other strength training). According to a 2008 study, consuming 0.5 to 0.7 grams of carbohydrate per pound (1.1 to 1.5 grams/kg) of body weight within 30 minutes of training results in adequate glycogen resynthesis (or “reproduction” for all you simpler types). [21]Working out also causes muscle protein breakdown (MPB) – it damages your muscles [20]. The rate at which this breakdown occurs depends on the type of exercise and intensity, but research suggests you should consume 0.14–0.23 grams of protein per pound of body weight (0.3–0.5 grams/kg) within 30 minutes of your workout. If you want to dig deeper into your necessary daily protein intake, check out our article “How Much Protein Do I Need?”
An example: if you are a 75kg person, you will need about 100g of carbs and 25g of protein to properly recover. When you consume carbs and protein at the same time, you will stimulate insulin secretion, which promotes glycogen synthesis, resulting in even better recovery results! [22] A great way to combine carbs and protein in one meal is with Plenny Pot – a meal of our Creamy Cajun Pasta , for example, contains 45g of carbs and 20g of protein. With some fruit (banana, pineapple, grapes, mango, apple, or figs) for dessert, you’ll get the perfect nutrients for optimal recovery.
Rest your bones
It’s important to note that working out basically means exhausting your body – your energy stores are depleted, your muscles and other tissues break down, and your body becomes fatigued. Therefore, you need to give your body time to recover – you can easily overdo it. Did you know that there’s actually something called overtraining syndrome [6]? It’s a state of physical fatigue and poor performance caused by, well, overtraining. Generally speaking, athletes train to increase performance. Performance increases are achieved by increasing training intensity, but especially in endurance sports (running, swimming) there’s a fine line between achieving maximum results and going too far [7].More reasons why rest is important:
- Proper rest prevents fatigue. If you don't give your muscles enough time to recover, your glycogen stores won't have been replaced, resulting in muscle fatigue and soreness that leads to decreased performance.
- Rest reduces your risk of injury. Overtraining your body can result in injuries caused by falling, dropping a weight, or misstepping, such as at a ravein. Overtraining can also cause strains, sprains, knee injuries, elbow injuries, or back injuries, which can result in having to take weeks of doctor-ordered rest. So take it easy, tiger.
- Rest supports healthy sleep. Regular physical activity will improve your sleep, but you can overdo it. Exercise increases the production of hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which can give you energy [23]. However, constant exercise will cause an overproduction of these hormones and only lead to fatigue and exhaustion.
How long you should rest after exercise depends on the workout and your fitness level. It's best to talk to a professional to make sure you're getting the rest you need, but a general rule of thumb is to take one day of rest after a day of exercise.
"That's great, guys, but maintaining a healthy lifestyle (or even exercising) is easier said than done..."
Sure, we get it – we all have rent or mortgages, not to mention romantic relationships to take care of, housework to get done. Not to mention grocery shopping, cooking…. Oh wait. We already took care of that with our easy, quick, and tasty nutritionally complete meals! So it’s really just a matter of prioritizing and optimizing . Is your physical and mental health important to you? Yes? Then prioritize! Are you short on time and want to get the most out of your workouts? Then optimize! Luckily, we can help with both 💪
If you need help stopping procrastination, we have a handy guide with practical tips for you . Done procrastinating and ready to embrace that new active lifestyle? We discuss exactly how to do this in our article on habit formation!
Sources
1) Craft, L. and Perna, F. (2004) "The Benefits of Exercise for the Clinically Depressed", The Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry , 06(03), pp. 104-111. doi:10.4088/pcc.v06n0301.
2) Sleep Cycle (2014). New Zealand got the most sleep of all countries.
3) 10 Things to Do Before, During and After Every Workout | Fitness | MyFitnessPal (2018). Available at: .
4) Dit zijn de effecten van een warming-up (2020).
5) Warm-Ups, Cool-Downs, What Works, What Doesn't (Published 2017) (2017).
6) Kreher, J. and Schwartz, J. (2012) "Overtraining Syndrome", Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach , 4(2), pp. 128-138. doi: 10.1177/1941738111434406.
7) How to Identify (and Recover from) Overtraining (2018).
9) Sleep Expert Dr. G on the Weight Loss-Sleep Connection | Fitness | MyFitnessPal (2018).
10) 13 Ways to Get the Most Out of a Workout, According to Research (2021).
11) How to Fuel Your Workout (2020).
12) Popkin, B., D'Anci, K. and Rosenberg, I. (2010) "Water, hydration, and health", Nutrition Reviews , 68(8), pp. 439-458. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2010.00304.x.
13) Warm-Ups, Cool-Downs, What Works, What Doesn't (Published 2017) (2017).
15) Chocolate Milk as a Recovery Drink - (2018).
16) Ferguson-Stegall, Lisa; McCleave, Erin; Doerner, Phillip G. III; Ding, Zhenping; Dessard, Benjamin; Kammer, Lynne; Wang, Bei; Liu, Yang; and Ivy, John L. (2010) "Effects of Chocolate Milk Supplementation on Recovery from Cycling Exercise and Subsequent Time Trial Performance," International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings : Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 25.
17) Jiménez-Pavón, D. et al. (2015) "Effects of a moderate intake of beer on markers of hydration after exercise in the heat: a crossover study", Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition , 12(1). doi:10.1186/s12970-015-0088-5.
18) Parr, E. et al. (2014) "Alcohol Ingestion Impairs Maximal Post-Exercise Rates of Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis following a Single Bout of Concurrent Training", PLoS ONE, 9(2), p. e88384. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088384.
19) Topics, H. (2020) Fluid and Electrolyte Balance: MedlinePlus , Medlineplus.gov .
20) Kumar, V. et al. (2009) "Human muscle protein synthesis and breakdown during and after exercise", Journal of Applied Physiology , 106(6), pp. 2026-2039. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.91481.2008.
21) Kerksick, C. et al. (2008) "International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: Nutrient timing", Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 5(1). doi:10.1186/1550-2783-5-17.
22) C, P. et al. (2010) "The role of post-exercise nutrient administration on muscle protein synthesis and glycogen synthesis", Journal of sports science & medicine , 9(3), p.
23) Australia, H. (2018) Cortisol, Stress and your Health , Blog.hif.com.au.
