Anabolic nutrient timing
Anabolic nutrient timing
This article looks at optimal macronutrient timing that can help athletes improve the results of their training through targeted nutrient intake. This specific timing can help athletes achieve full, optimally hydrated muscles that are overloaded with nutrients and glycogen.
Carbohydrates and insulin
When athletes consume carbohydrates at the right times, this macronutrient can help them perform at their best. Carbohydrates serve to replenish glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, while providing the body with sufficient amounts of blood sugar for immediately available energy. Carbohydrates work in conjunction with insulin.
Insulin is one of the most powerful hormones in the human body. When carbohydrates are used properly and the timing of carbohydrate intake is right, great things can happen with the carbohydrate-insulin relationship. In this context, it is important to realize that timing is everything when it comes to insulin.
If you trick your pancreas into releasing insulin at a time when insulin sensitivity is low, you create an environment in your body that is anything but beneficial. Low insulin sensitivity describes a state in which the muscles are not prepared to absorb and store glucose.
This is unfortunately a common scenario for physically inactive people who consume too many carbohydrates. If this scenario occurs regularly over a long period of time, it can result in permanent insulin resistance. When this happens, the cells of the muscles and other tissue types of the body no longer respond to the presence of insulin in the blood. This condition is associated with pathological obesity and diabetes.
An increase in muscle mass is due to a complex interaction involving muscles, liver and blood. In addition, the amount of amino acids present within muscle tissue is also an important factor.
In order to maximize muscle growth and athletic potential, an athlete must take every opportunity that allows them to direct the internal environment of the body towards anabolism (muscle building). Consuming a meal does not necessarily mean that what you want to achieve from that nutrient intake will actually happen. Eating protein, for example, does not automatically mean that the nutrients and amino acids contained in the food consumed will be used for muscle growth.
How to keep your body in an anabolic state
The core of anabolic nutrient timing is insulin and nutrient manipulation, which stimulates the pancreas to release the powerful hormone insulin. If you master this technique, you will be able to keep the body's metabolic pathways in an anabolic state.
Whey protein is the most common form of protein when it comes to protein supplements, and it also has some advantages over other forms of protein when it comes to anabolic pathways in the body. Whey protein can be used in conjunction with insulin secretion to ensure that the body maintains existing muscle mass and builds new muscle mass. Controlling the amount of insulin present in the bloodstream is key to success in anabolic nutrient timing.
Insulin is released into the bloodstream by the pancreas when the food you eat stimulates the release of this hormone. Insulin is not secreted in significant amounts in response to every food. It is primarily secreted in response to carbohydrate-rich foods, with foods with a higher glycemic index causing a higher insulin secretion than foods with a low glycemic index.
Insulin helps the body replenish glycogen stores by actively transporting nutrients into muscle cells via the sodium-potassium pump located on the surface of muscle tissue cells. In this way, insulin helps to keep the body in an anabolic state while preventing catabolic breakdown of muscle tissue.
However, it is important to understand that the presence of insulin not only promotes muscle cell anabolism, but also general cell anabolism. As a result, if the muscle cells are not ready to take up nutrients because their glycogen stores are completely full or the physiological environment is not right, the fat cells are always open to storing energy in the form of body fat.
There are two important aspects when talking about manipulating insulin secretion. The first aspect is the correct timing of consumption of high-glycemic carbohydrates, which stimulate insulin secretion. The second aspect is the addition of protein to carbohydrates during the beneficial physiological window.
Protein consumption provides the body with the right building material for optimal muscle growth and recovery. When muscle stores have been depleted by exhaustive resistance training, muscle cells are in desperate need of amino acids.
When insulin levels in the blood are high, insulin will transport the protein into the muscle cells. Insulin has the ability to transport protein and carbohydrates into muscle tissue, but eating protein alone will not stimulate significant insulin release.
If you follow the guidelines of anabolic nutrient timing, this will increase the amount of protein you consume with your post-workout meals. Additionally, it is important to note that some proteins have a higher biological value than others and therefore not all proteins are created equal.
Whey protein provides the bloodstream with a quick boost of amino acids needed immediately after training. Scientific research shows that whey protein is used to provide energy when insulin levels in the blood are low, which is obviously not the desired state. The amino acid profile of whey protein has a high proportion of glyconeogenic amino acids, which can easily be used for energy.
This may make whey protein seem like a poor protein choice at first glance, but these same amino acids are also crucial for stimulating protein synthesis, which is necessary for muscle growth and repair. The difference between using the supplied protein as an energy source or for protein synthesis is the correct manipulation of insulin levels in the blood.
The supply of protein with carbohydrates after training
To ensure that the protein supplied is used correctly and anabolism is promoted, it should be used when insulin levels in the blood are as high as possible. When insulin is present in large quantities, the levels of precursors that enable gluconeogenesis are drastically reduced.
Eating high-glycemic carbohydrates at the right time in combination with protein creates the optimal anabolic environment. Simply consuming protein is no guarantee that the amino acids supplied will be used to repair muscle tissue, and consuming carbohydrates alone is no guarantee that these carbohydrates will replenish glycogen stores and provide energy.
Athletes need to consume their carbohydrates after exercise to keep blood insulin levels rising quickly while the metabolic pathway supports anabolism.
Low blood glucose levels and low insulin levels cause a release of catabolic hormones, which is not a desirable scenario for athletes. The post-workout window will allow for replenishment of glycogen stores and blood glucose levels if utilized properly. It is during this crucial period that recharging with nutrients has the highest priority from a physiological perspective.
To make the most of this valuable moment, you should consume a portion of simple carbohydrates. These carbohydrates should be consumed in liquid form to facilitate digestion. You should consume around 0.5 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight immediately after training, which corresponds to around 40 grams of carbohydrates for an 80 kilogram athlete.
If you are trying to increase insulin levels in the blood, you should preferably use juice that has a high sucrose to fructose ratio. Grape juice and orange juice are examples of liquid carbohydrate sources that fit this description. Instead of juice, you can also use maltodextrin, dextrose, Vitargo or a mixture of these carbohydrate sources. The carbohydrates contained in these juices and carbohydrate products cause a rapid and significant rise in blood sugar levels. Sports drinks such as Gatorade, which contain more than 10% sucrose and maltodextrin, will also effectively raise blood sugar levels.
Anabolic nutrient timing consists of two steps. The first step is completed when blood glucose levels and insulin levels have been raised by consuming the carbohydrate drink described above. When insulin levels reach their maximum value, it is the turn of the protein, which represents the second step.
Adding protein to the carbohydrate drink supplies the muscles with amino acids, taking advantage of the insulin boost. Adding whey protein, which is a very easily and quickly digested protein, to the carbohydrate drink creates an optimal anabolic environment. This combination provides muscles that are exhausted and depleted by training with a highly effective nutrient mixture consisting of glucose and amino acids.
In addition, this combination causes an increase in insulin levels in the blood, resulting in maximum uptake of glucose and protein. The glucose is transported into the muscle cells and stored there in the form of glycogen, which is the energy store of the muscle cells.
The protein stimulates protein synthesis in the mitochondria of the muscle cells. The mitochondria are the so-called power plants of the cells, which provide the energy for all human activity. The more mitochondria a cell has, the more endurance it will have. Resistance training increases the number of mitochondria in the muscle cells.
As a cumulative result of the liquid mixture of carbohydrate and protein, exercise-induced muscle catabolism is halted and muscle anabolism is increased. This liquid protein-carbohydrate drink is the first of the four meals that should be consumed after training in order to achieve maximum muscle building and the best possible recovery.
The second meal after training
The second post-workout meal should be consumed approximately 30 minutes after the initial liquid mixture of carbohydrates and protein. This second meal should be low in fat to minimize gastric retention time and contain easily absorbed carbohydrates combined with a low-fat protein source.
The second post-workout meal is similar to the first in terms of macronutrient composition, but the food choices are slightly different. At this time, the best sources of carbohydrates are foods such as potatoes, white rice, cooked oatmeal or pasta.
Unlike the first meal, which consists of a protein-carbohydrate drink, the second meal should be a solid meal. The second meal could be grilled chicken or grilled fish with rice or lean meat with pasta. This meal ensures that the amino acids from the whey protein consumed during the first meal are used for muscle anabolism and not for restoring blood sugar levels.
The second meal after training should not be too large. Scientific research shows that cellular anabolic mechanisms are maintained for up to three hours after intense resistance training. You should feel satiated but not overly full after the second meal.
By this time you will have had a drink immediately after training and a small meal 30 minutes later. Of course, you have to give the nutrients a chance to pass through your stomach. The meals mentioned above are deliberately kept small but rich in nutrients in order to avoid too long a stomach retention time and thus delayed digestion. After these two meals, you still have another two and a half hours to use the post-workout anabolic window to your advantage.
The third and fourth post-workout meal
After eating the second post-workout meal, you should wait about an hour to eat the third of four meals. If you feel that a solid meal at this point would put too much strain on your digestive tract, you can also eat another portion of whey protein and a small baked potato or something similar.
You can be creative with your choice of carbohydrates as long as you make sure that the third meal remains a small meal. You now have one and a half hours left to eat your fourth and final anabolic meal. When it comes to the timing of the fourth meal, you should rely entirely on your gut feeling, but you should definitely consume this meal within the last half hour of the anabolic time window.
You should therefore eat four small meals within the 3-hour time window after training. The initial liquid meal and the three solid meals should each contain 40 grams of protein and 20 to 30 grams of carbohydrates. The use of anabolic nutrient timing enables a continuous flow of amino acids, which specifically promotes muscle anabolism. Anabolic nutrient timing is an excellent tool that is sure to help any athlete make progress.