Fuel Tomorrow's Workout Today
The gains you make from Tuesday's or Wednesday's workout depend on what you do after Monday's. Sound weird? Here's the science.
Before we knew much about exercise science and nutrition, athletes and bodybuilders figured out that carbs and protein after training made a difference. Later, we learned that pre-workout nutrition, as well as intra- or during-workout nutrition, also enhanced performance and accelerated gains.
Combine pre-, intra-, and post- into one all-inclusive prefix: peri. Peri-workout means everything immediately surrounding your training session.
Biotest was the first supplement company to formulate a peri-workout drink (Surge (Buy at Amazon)). The general idea was to fuel workout or sports performance, combat cortisol's negative effects, stimulate muscle protein synthesis, reduce soreness, and trigger the right amount of anabolic insulin at the right time.
Now, a new study highlights the importance of workout nutrition from a different angle: next-day performance.
The Study
In this study, active men performed high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on a stationary bike. Specifically, the participants performed 10 intervals, each lasting 2 minutes, at an intensity of approximately 94% of their peak power output.
Some participants received a carb drink – maltodextrin and fructose mixed in a 2:1 ratio – after the training session. Others received a placebo drink (flavored water, no carbs). Importantly, their total carb intake for the whole day was matched. Some just got immediate carbs post-workout, while others had their carbs later.
What happened? Glycogen levels and certain molecular responses were roughly the same, but the post-workout carb drinkers performed far better the next day when the same workout was repeated. The no-carbs-after-training group couldn't perform as many intervals and reported higher perceived effort, indicating reduced exercise capacity.
What Can We Learn?
When we think about peri-workout nutrition, we usually think about the more immediate effects, like fueling the training session, getting a pump, triggering more muscle growth, etc. We're usually not thinking about the next day's workout, except maybe in terms of soreness.
This study reminds us that what we do today affects later workouts, too, and carbs are a big part of that. This study used only a couple of simple carbohydrates, but more advanced carbs (HBCD) and the right amino acids (leucine) would amplify the positive effects.
Biotest Surge (Buy at Amazon) contains both, plus a host of other performance enhancers. While the study above focused narrowly on post-workout intake, other studies point to the importance of peri-workout intake, which Surge takes care of, too.
Reference
- DĂaz-Lara, Javier, et al. "Delaying Post-Exercise Carbohydrate Intake Impairs Next-Day Exercise Capacity but Not Muscle Glycogen or Molecular Responses." Acta Physiologica, vol. 240, no. 10, Oct. 2024, article e14187, doi:10.1111/apha.14187.