Mr. Berardi: Nutrient Timing

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

A few quick questions, if you don’t mind.

  1. how long after my post workout drink should I wait before starting my feedings in the Growth phase?

  2. What about non-workout or cardio days?

Thanks

2

Yeah, those are good questions.

3

45 minutes to an hour is a ggod time to wait for your 1st ? in general.

As for ? #2 I am not sure exactly what you are wanting? Clarify please.

Hope this helps.

Phill

4

To clarify #2: How should meals be set up on non-workout days? Should they all be P/F? And what about days where only cardio is done?

5

Mr. Berardi has touched on this!
He wrote this in a former appetite for construction column:

[QUOTE]Of late, I’ve been employing this strategy with fantastic results. What I’ve been doing with many of my athletes (even endurance athletes) is suggesting that they consume P+F meals throughout the day on non-training days and P+C only during the first few hours post-exercise.

More specifically, their P+F meals come in the form of complete protein (about 30-35% of total dietary energy on workout days) and a mixture of different fats (about 30-35% of total dietary energy on workout days - with the total daily fat breakdown being about 33% saturates, 33% monounsaturates, and 33% polyunsaturates) along side a big helping of vegetables (and/or small amounts of fruit).

Again, these types of meals are consumed all day on non-training days and outside the workout and post workout periods on training days.

The workout and immediate post-workout drinks, of course, consist of sipping a protein and carbohydrate blend. And the one to two (depending on goals, zero to one P+C meal if leaning out and one to two if trying to gain mass or if you’re an endurance athlete) post workout meals would also consist of P+C (the amount of carbohydrate should make up the remaining 30-35% of dietary energy).

Therefore, if you’re familiar with the original Massive Eating article, you recognize the P+F and P+C strategies; I haven’t really altered them. However, what I’ve done is shift them around throughout the day by recommending P+C meals during the workout drink and throughout the first few hours after the workout (i.e. post-workout drink and 1-2 meals post workout).

Believe it or not, with this system, many of my trainees have actually achieved the ever elusive goal of simultaneous muscle gain and fat loss.[/QUOTE]

If you choose to incorporate carbohydrates I would suggest you consume them In the first meals during the day. Some research points to better insulin sensitivity earlier in the day.
On top of that: flip flopping between carb rich and fat rich meals would put you in the unfortunate situation of high levels of triglycerides(fat) in your blood while ingesting carbs. This overlap stemming from the long digestive time for fats can be minimized by keeping the carb meals and the fat meals in seperate “blocks”.

To summarize: non training days eat all your carbs early in the day and then switch to P+F meals. Don’t switch back and forth between high fat and high carb meals.