Post workout intake

[Lux]

As there are some knowledgable people on here i'm going to ask a question which has been asked a thousand times before but it still interests me!
I'm especially interested in real experiences and facts that anybody has.

Post workout, shakes or whole foods?

Is it REALLY neccessary to have a whey/dex/water shake? Is there any evidence that rapidly absorbed proteins post workout are more beneficial than slower releasing whole foods?
I havn't consumed a post workout shake for around a year as i normally eat a meal within an hour of finishing training. Could i have REALLY made more gains with shakes? I sometimes feel this pw shake idea is clever marketing by supps companies? As there are so many people that use these, its hard to get an impartial view on this!

I personally would rather consume the #cals in whole foods rather than #cals in dex and whey. Maybe i'm wrong? Why do you NEED to try to replenish your muscles asap when you don't intend on training for another 24-48 hours and even training the same muscle for another week?
This is not posted to cause any arguments but i would like to hear peoples views and experiences. Thanks in advance

[Tim Wescott]

Lux,when I first moved here to upstate NY from Massachusettes a couple of years ago,the protein powder up here was over twice what I would have paid back in Mass.

I decided to eat whole food after training as I wasn`t going to pay that amount for powder........not that I couldn`t afford it,I just felt as though I was being robbed.

I normally would eat a chicken breast, or a can of tuna,1/2 cup of brown rice,or a baked potato, that I would carry with me,plus a lot of water,immediately after training.

I honestly noticed no difference........I know it makes more sense to take in water,whey,and dextrose, as they all digest very quickly but I felt/noticed no difference.

I have since been buying the powder again and now take about 50 grams of whey,50 grams of dextrose,and water post-training........just a lot more conveinient,but still ,I gain slow but steadily and have noticed no difference from the whole food post-workout.

Maybe it is a ploy from the supplement companies,who knows........I did this for over a year every training day so I had plenty of time to notice any differences.

One thing I`ll say is that drniking it is just faster, and more convienient!!

Just my experience with it for whatever it`s worth.

[taffer]

well i dont like pure dex/whey post-workout for health and micronutrition reasons, i think taking in pure sugar for the largest carb hit of your day is pretty silly, not to mention you can get dex from natural foods that have alot more vitamins/minerals to aid in recovery and growth

there is alot of high-GI vs low-GI debete, i choose to follow a lower-GI meal, it makes me feel alot better as opposed to a higher-GI alternative with no difference in results

if you choose to follow a higher-GI route, i would suggest limiting the amount of dextrose powder you use, but get it from natural sources, such as milk, banana's and grapes, fruit is excellent post-workout, also milk for its anti-catabolism properties (remember half of the carbs in milk are dex! you get 5-6g of dex per 100g of banana too)

ok a lower-GI route, same thing really, but without the dex, and you may wanna go for some basmati rice, sweet potato, oats, banana, low-fat carb sources

high-GI works, but low-GI also works, there is no difference in protein synthesis between the 2 over a 24-hour period (higher-rates of glycogen synthesis dont result in high rates of protein synthesis)

[taffer]

Tim said:

I gain slow but steadily and have noticed no difference from the whole food post-workout.

Maybe it is a ploy from the supplement companies,who knows........I did this for over a year every training day so I had plenty of time to notice any differences.

Just my experience with it for whatever it`s worth.

yeah i think people focus on the post-workout meal a bit too much, if your going to have 100g of dex post-workout, you better have a damn good diet to back it up, because if the rest of your diet is crap, that 100g of sugar aint going to do any favors
alot of people forget that protein turn over is a 24-hour thing, and its more important that you have a consistant diet over weeks, months and a even years

[bodyfx]

I am a firm believer in a post workout whey shake, but do not feel that pure dextrose is a necessity along with it, as any high GI carb will do. I more often have whey + grits, white rice, or a white potato, than whey + dextrose/maltodextrin. I do believe that the quick infusion of amino acids that whey provides over whole food protein will lead to more growth over time.

[str8flexed]

bodyfx said:

I am a firm believer in a post workout whey shake, but do not feel that pure dextrose is a necessity along with it, as any high GI carb will do. I more often have whey + grits, white rice, or a white potato, than whey + dextrose/maltodextrin. I do believe that the quick infusion of amino acids that whey provides over whole food protein will lead to more growth over time.

agreed, I hate drinking my carbs.

recovery of protein synthesis is totally dependant on amino acid concentrations so getting the aminos to the peripheral tissues ASAP should provide the greatest advantage.

-layne

[Maximum6]

i heard tim eats spam and tacos

unclejesse eats oreo cookies and milk

and youngblood making frequent visits to KFC.

[bodyfx]

str8flexed said:

agreed, I hate drinking my carbs.

recovery of protein synthesis is totally dependant on amino acid concentrations so getting the aminos to the peripheral tissues ASAP should provide the greatest advantage.

-layne

And the advantage that it provides is not something that will be measurable from day to day, but over a length of time will eventually lead to great lean mass accrual.

[youngblood]

www.worldclassnutrition.com/nitrominebyprd.html

I take this stuff. I'm very happy with it. I'll generally take 5 pills before training, then 15 afterwards. I also have the powder form of it, and when I take that, I use 2 scoops immediately after training.

I'm curious on Layne and/or BodyFx's thoughts on Nitromine. It's "only amino acids," but to me the "gold" lies in the delivary and time of delivary of the stuff.

There was an interview with Eric Serrano, who created Nitromine on PlanetMuscle.com, but the site or at least that's down now.

[str8flexed]

YoungBlood said:

www.worldclassnutrition.com/nitrominebyprd.html

I take this stuff. I'm very happy with it. I'll generally take 5 pills before training, then 15 afterwards. I also have the powder form of it, and when I take that, I use 2 scoops immediately after training.

I'm curious on Layne and/or BodyFx's thoughts on Nitromine. It's "only amino acids," but to me the "gold" lies in the delivary and time of delivary of the stuff.

There was an interview with Eric Serrano, who created Nitromine on PlanetMuscle.com, but the site or at least that's down now.

well i don't see how it would be special delivery, the GI has to break down the capsule or coating for it to be absorbed so that can only delay entry into the bloodstream; i'd rather have a whey protein isolate as the powder will be digested faster and you get the same amino acids. That or take in a BCAA powder. I'm currently using Xtend from scivation and I like it... pretty cheap for a BCAA powder too.

-Layne

[str8flexed]

bodyfx said:

And the advantage that it provides is not something that will be measurable from day to day, but over a length of time will eventually lead to great lean mass accrual.

ding!

[bodyfx]

str8flexed said:

ding!

dong!

[naturalguy]

It just makes sense to have a liquid meal as opposed to a whole food meal. A whole food meal requires digestion which requires blood to rush to the stomach to aid digestion. Not exactly ideal post workout. Also it takes the nutrients alot longer to get where they need to go.

Will it make a huge difference? Probably not but I like to have every edge I can.

[Tim Wescott]

naturalguy said:

It just makes sense to have a liquid meal as opposed to a whole food meal. A whole food meal requires digestion which requires blood to rush to the stomach to aid digestion. Not exactly ideal post workout. Also it takes the nutrients alot longer to get where they need to go.

Will it make a huge difference? Probably not but I like to have every edge I can.

I agree Eric,and while I have employed both liquid and solid food meals PW,I`m quite positive the liquid digested faster but I truly noticed no difference in either method and I did them both long term at different times......weirdly enough!!