So, let’s start by talking about why you should be eating pre-workout, i.e. before a workout. Many people carry out what’s called fasted cardio, in an attempt to burn and lose body fat but in reality you need to fuel your body before each and every workout.
Ultimately, you should picture your body like a car – you can’t expect to drive 150 miles with no petrol in the tank, can you? If you’re looking to perform and train at your best, you need to make sure your body has enough fuel to do so. If you fail to provide yourself with the energy and nutrients required during exercise, the chances are you won’t see results as quickly as you should. Plus, over a long period of time, the likelihood of becoming ill or injured will be increased.
What are the benefits of eating before exercising?
Our bodies use carbohydrates and glycogen as the first source of fuel. This is because carbohydrates and stored glycogen can be converted into ATP (adenoise triphosphate, i.e. energy) faster than protein and fat. Therefore, filling up your glycogen stores pre-workout will mean you’ll have more energy to perform at your best.
Prevents Muscle Catabolism
When we exercise, glycogen stores are quickly used up and depleted, so the body looks for new sources of energy – our muscles. By breaking down hard-earned muscle, the body can utilise amino acids for energy. This is bad, as it puts our bodies into a catabolic state, which can prevent muscle growth and recovery.
Increases Muscle Anabolism
Eating the right foods pre-workout means you won’t only top up your glycogen stores, but by eating a good source of protein, you’ll also be able to promote muscle-protein synthesis and create an anabolic environment in the body.
What are the best foods to consume before a workout?
Pre-workout, it’s best to avoid too much fat. This is because, although high in energy with 9kcal per gram, fats are slow-digesting. This means, instead of making you energetic, they can actually make you feel sluggish and heavy.
Pre-workout meals containing protein provide us with a major benefit – the prevention of muscle catabolism. By consuming a good source of protein before a workout, you can give your body the amino acids (branched-chain amino acids in particular) that it needs to prevent muscle breakdown, whilst aiding muscle recovery and growth.
There are two types of carbohydrates: simple, high glycaemic index carbohydrates, and complex, low glycaemic index carbohydrates. But which one is best pre-workout?
This ultimately depends on your goal and the time of your pre-workout meal. Simple carbohydrates are great for 30 minutes to an hour before a workout, as they provide the body with fast-acting glucose as fuel. However, complex carbohydrates also play a role within energy metabolism. By consuming low GI carbohydrates around 2-3 hours before a workout, you can give your body a slow-releasing source of energy. This means you’ll be able to work out for longer and be less likely to have a dip in your blood sugar levels in the middle of your workout.
30 Minutes to an Hour Pre-Workout:
Consume light meals and foods which contain simple carbohydrates and some protein.
2-3 Hours Pre-Workout:
Consume a meal around 400- 500 calories containing a good source of protein (around 20g) and complex low GI carbohydrates (20-30g).
I hope you have found this blog useful. If you’d like to discuss in more details please get in touch via the usual channels.
Happy New Year and welcome to the first week of 2018!
It’s that time of year where everyone aims to have a fitness New Year Resolution, rather than finding yourself disappointed on 31 January 2018, because you were unable to stay on the wagon and keep to your New Year resolutions, here are some key health tips to help you set better goals and reach them!
For example, let's take the popular resolution of losing weight; maybe you added a few pounds over the festive period and want to get back to your previous weight or even lose more you can do this easily with the anagram CAPTURE. This anagram is great way of thinking about how you can achieve your goal.
Every goal should be challenging, otherwise it is just a task. Keep your weight loss goals achievable. A healthy, realistic goal for losing weight should be in the range of 1-2 kgs per month.
Find a way that keeps you focused. This may mean a daily reminder on your phone, a note on your fridge, or create a reward/penalty system to help stay motivated. You could also join a weight-loss organisation like Weight Watchers or Slimming World.
Positive thinking is key. It is not the same to think and say "I have to lose 1 kg" than "I want to fit into my old jeans." You are more likely to do things you want to do rather than something that sounds like a chore.
Track your progress. You are more likely to improve something that you are paying attention to. When trying to lose weight, it is best to go by Fat percentage measurements, tape measurements or even fitting into your old jeans than using a scale.
It is important to understand the process and requirements to meet your goal. When losing weight, is starting to run every day enough to drop pounds? How many calories should you cut from your diet? Should you even be considering cutting calories? This is where working with a knowledgeable personal trainer can help.
This point goes hand-in-hand with understanding the process to reach your goal. Using our example, would it be relevant to know when to eat your meals, and at what time should you have breakfast? Does sleep play a significant role when it comes to losing weight?
Try to get people around you on board with your goals. Tell a friend, partner, or family member about it. Maybe choose someone that may have a similar goal, this way you can train with and motivate each other. Make sure the people around you, especially those who are aware of your goal are positive and motivating to help you achieve your success.
I hope you have found this blog of use in helping you to get on track to achieving your health and fitness goals in 2018 and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions on this or any other health and fitness related subject.
Mob: 07812 341436
I’m Hugh, your in-house personal trainer and I’m going to advise you on the things you can eat to help you get fit, lose fat and lead a healthy lifestyle. As part of the Personal Training service I provide at the Minories, and Threadneedle Street business centres, I also give nutritional advice because even before setting foot in the gym what you eat should be addressed first. In fact healthy living and diet most of you may avoid probably thinking that if you work-out hard and often enough it will not matter what you eat and drink – wrong!
Along with my fitness plans I can tailor with you to help your reach your personal fitness goal, the following steps will help you control your blood glucose levels and bloods fats as well as reduce fat, gain muscle and regulate your weight, creating one healthy lifestyle where you can see the changes to your mind and body.
1. Eat regular meals based on starchy carbohydrate foods Carbs such as Oats, wholemeal pasta, potatoes, rice and cereals will help you to control your blood glucose levels. Wholegrain / wholemeal cereals will help to maintain the health of your digestive system and prevent problems such as constipation.
2. Cut down on the fat you eat Saturated (animal) fats, is the main type of fat that is linked to heart disease. Instead choose mono-unsaturated fats, e.g. rapeseed oil.
As much as we like to try to use less butter, margarine, cheese, processed sauces and fatty meats, and replace them with low fat dairy foods like skimmed milk and low fat, low sugar yoghurts. Even your cooking method counts, grill, steam or oven bake instead of frying or cooking with oil or other fats.
By eating less fat and fatty foods it will also help you to lose weight and limit the amount of visceral fat around your organs.
3. Eat more fruit and vegetables Aim to eat a healthy combination of fruit and vegetables, which will provide you with vitamins and fibre as well as to help you balance your overall diet. A portion is, for example, a piece of fruit or a serving of a vegetable.
4. Avoid using sugar and eating sugary foodsThis does not mean you need to eat a sweet-free diet! Sugar substitutes such as Sucralose and Stevia can be used as an ingredient in foods and in baking as part of a healthy diet.
Try to avoid drinking fruit squashes, concentrated fruit juices and fizzy sugary drinks, which cause blood glucose levels to rise quickly and are also bad for your teeth. If you do fancy the odd can of Coke then don’t make it a regular occurrence.
5. Use less salt Most foods especially of the processed variety contain a high level of salt already so adding salt to cooking can raise your blood pressure. Try flavouring food with herbs and spices instead of salt.
6. Drink alcohol in moderation! For example, a small glass of wine, half a pint of normal-strength beer and one 25ml of spirits is approximately one unit. Never drink on an empty stomach, as alcohol can make hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose levels) more likely to occur. Last of all if you chase your drinks do so with low calorie chasers and do not use fruit juices.
7. Don't be tempted by ‘diabetic’ foods or drinks.They are expensive, unnecessary and have no added benefit for people with diabetes, maintain a healthy diet and speak with your GP about the best foods to help you get more out of your food without being making yourself ill.
8. Lose Weight at your own pace – it’s not a race!If you are overweight, losing weight will help you to reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. Aim to lose weight slowly over time (1-2 lbs per week) rather than crash dieting. Even if you don't manage to get to your ideal weight, losing a small amount and keeping it off will help with your blood glucose control and improve your overall health – you will start to feel a improvement over time.
A healthy diet is better than a fad diet in a magazine!
Following the latest celebrity diet isn’t going to help you in losing weight, by starving yourself from the foods you need to get energy from, and to look after your overall health in the long-term, that new diet is going to do nothing but make you feel sluggish.
So if you follow the 8 previous steps successfully you can kiss goodbye to the following things that I’m sure everyone has done at some point to ditch a few extra pounds!
1. Stop Dieting!
Diets are by their nature temporary and potentially dangerous especially high Protein, low or no Carbohydrate variety. Try to eat consistently and sensibly avoiding excessive alcohol or fruit juice drinking. Remember it is all about balance!
2. Detoxing? What’s the point?Detoxing is just another marketing ploy to encourage you to spend your hard earned cash on unnecessary and sometimes harmful artificial fat reducing products!
You may see online that people are having weight just falling off them by just taking a tablet or shake each day, but think about it, what is that doing to your body and what will happen when you stop?
That’s all for now folks! Hopefully all this advice will help you in reaching your weight and fitness goal safely.
Look out for more of blogs on exercise and healthy living. As well as blog posts I am also available for personal training sessions FREE for all BE Offices clients in Minories and Threadneedle business centres, please do not hesitate to get in touch for more information or sign up to a health induction here.
Following the success of BEFIT NOW offering FREE personal training sessions to our clients at Minories and Threadneedle, we thought that being healthy and looking after your diet is just as important as your fitness!
These weekly blogs will look into how to improve your health, diet and fitness in quick meal plans, what to look out for with some specific health issues and some fitness regimes you can do even at your desk.
Just to put a name to the face if you have not been able to get your free health check-up and inductions with Hugh Brown the BE Offices personal trainer this is your chance to get to know him a little bit more.
Hugh is a highly qualified with a long list of success and satisfied clients but far more importantly than that he's a really nice guy waiting to build a fitness plan and training schedule for you to achieve your goals. his experience ranges from free weights, boxing training and coaching, to strength building and nutritional and lifestyle advice.