Anytime you exercise, you do so in order to try and

maintain good health. You also know that you have to

eat as well, so your body will have the energy it

needs to exercise and maintain for the everyday tasks

of life. For making the best of your exercise, what

you eat before and after you workout is very important.

No matter if you are going to be doing a cardio

workout or a resistance workout, you should always

make it a point to eat a balanced mix of protein and

carbohydrates. What makes that determining percentage

of carbs and protein you consume is whether or not

you are doing cardio or resistance exercise and the

intensity level that you plan to work at.

The ideal time for you to eat your pre workout meal

is an hour before you start. If you plan to work

at a low intensity level, you should keep your pre

workout meal down to 200 calories or so. If you

plan to exercise at a high level of intensity, you

will probably need your meal to be between 4,000

and 5,000 calories.

Those of you who are doing a cardio session will

need to consume a mix of 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein.

Doing so will give you longer sustained energy from

the extra carbs with enough protein to keep your

muscle from breaking down while you exercise.

For resistance exercise, you'll need to eat a mix

of 1/3 carbs and 2/3 protein, as this will help

you get plenty of energy from the carbs to perform

each set you do and the extra protein will help

keep muscle breakdown to a minimum while you

exercise.

Eating after you exercise is just as important as

your pre workout meal. Anytime you exercise,

whether its cardio or resistance, you deplete energy

in the form of glycogen. The brain and central

nervous system rely on glycogen as their main

source of fuel, so if you don't replace it after

you exercise, your body will begin to break down

muscle tissue into amino acids, and then convert

them into usable fuel for the brain and the

central nervous system.

Keep in mind that mostly during resistance

exercise, you'll break down muscle tissue by

creating micro tears. What this means, is that

after a workout, your muscles will instantly go

into repair mode. Protein is the key here for

muscle repair, as you don't want muscle breaking

down even further to create fuel instead of

lost glycogen.

Once you have finished a cardio session, you'll

need to consume mainly carbohydrates, preferably

those with high fiber. Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat

pasta, and northern fruits are excellent sources.

Also, try to consume 30 - 50 grams of there

types of carbs after you exercise. After your

cardio workout, it is fine to eat within 5 - 10

minutes.

Once you've finished a resistance workout, you

will need to consume a combination of carbs and

protein. Unlike cardio workouts, resistance

workouts will break down muscle tissue by creating

micro tears.

You'll need protein as this happens to build up

and repair these tears so that the muscle can

increase in size and strength. The carbs will

not only replace the lost muscle glycogen, but

will also help the protein get into muscle cells

so it can synthesize into structural protein, or

the muscle itself.

After your resistance exercise, you should wait

up to 30 minutes before you eat, so that you won't

take blood away from your muscles too fast. The

blood in your muscles will help the repair process

by removing the metabolic waste products.

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