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alexseanchai posting in

exercise_every_day

Okay, officially hit the point where the temperature difference between exercising and not exercising is irrelevant, and also too much ow from not exercising.

*twenty minutes of yoga*

Well that was fun. Owww. *dumps bucket of water over head*

I've heard that it's best to eat protein right after exercising, to help build up muscle mass. I've also heard that the study that found that was unduly focused on men, and a similar study with women says take or leave protein but definitely eat carbs. What have y'all heard and what's your personal experience?

(PIZZA. Garlic-oregano-basil crust. This place smells fantastic.)

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From:

muck_a_luck

I accidentally stumbled onto a real body buiding website one time and read a little bit just for funsies. It was definitely pitched to men, and it was all about HOW MUCH DAMNED FOOD you have to eat to really bulk up. All the time. Right after working out. BEFORE BED.

On the same note, the guy who wrote The New Rules of Lifting for Women commented that you will not "bulk up" unless you eat to bulk up. Which is why most women probably mostly gain tone and definition without getting huge like guys - I'm guessing we don't eat like guys.

All that said, I don't know the specific answer to your question, except you might want to google chocolate milk and muscle rebound. Apparently there is some perfect balance of protein/carbs in the perfect glass of chocolate milk, and you are supposed to drink it some specific amount of time after exercise. Drinkiing the milk at the right time supposedly gives you maximum efficiency on muscle rebound. However, at least one article I read said that chocolate milk is so caloric that if you are exercising as part of a weight reduction program, and maximum rebound efficency isn't that important to you, the calories might not really be worth it.

Edited Date: 2010-08-11 12:39 pm (UTC)

From:

rydra_wong

Which is why most women probably mostly gain tone and definition without getting huge like guys - I'm guessing we don't eat like guys.

AFAIK, that's primarily due to hormones, not food. There's a fair amount of individual variation, but basically, if you don't have male levels of testosterone, your ability to gain muscle bulk is going to be relatively limited compared to someone who does, no matter how you eat.

Though interestingly, testosterone correlates pretty well with muscle mass but not with strength, which is why many women (and some men) can get very strong without being hyooge.

From:

alexseanchai

Ooh, goody, excuse to drink chocolate milk. Thanks!

I have one of Those Metabolisms such that it's only a couple years ago that I got up to a healthy weight for my height. Calories are not really a problem. (If anybody figures out a way to trade metabolisms, I'll swap with the first person to ask. My food habit's expensive.)

From:

rydra_wong

AFAIK from my reading, and I hope people will correct the stuff I've got wrong:

You definitely need to make sure that you get enough protein in your diet in order to gain muscle mass. I don't know whether it's been proved conclusively that it's more effective if you get some of it in the "magic hour" after strength training, but it makes sense and can't hurt.

Re: carbs, eating them afterwards is mainly about ensuring that your muscles have enough glycogen to go on to do other stuff, if your reserves have been exhausted, and making sure that your body doesn't start to consider breaking down protein for fuel (unless you get into the intricacies of possibly wanting an insulin boost to improve muscle absorption of nutrients). So carb refueling becomes important if you've been exercising for long enough (at a significant level of intensity) that you've actually drained those reserves.

Personally: I don't feel like I need to refuel after exercise which is low-intensity or brief, though I'll usually grab a snack after a long yoga class.

But I tend not to get enough protein in my diet for muscle gain even when I work at it, so I do drink a whey protein shake when I climb or do heavy weight-lifting.

And I try to get a solid meal (protein and carbs) a.s.a.p. after climbing, which tends to leave me feeling wiped and ravenous; I figure my body is pretty unambiguous about what it needs then!