Question: Should I drink a carb/protein shake after a cardio workout?
One side of brain (1): No. You just worked to start making your body tap into its fat reserves. Giving it more fuel now would defeat the purpose.
Other side of brain(2): Yes. You just fatigued your muscles, using their glycogen. If you drink the shake now you’ll get the same benefit of protein synthesis as if you were lifting.
You may not lose as much weight right away, but the increase in muscle will eventually catch up, plus your metabolism wont start to slow down from your body being forced to use its reserves (this is just a thought I had, I’m not trying to state it as a fact. feel free to call me a stupid troll if I’m totally wrong about that).
So yeah, I’ve got some stuff in my head for either side of the argument. What do you guys think?
i’ve often wondered this myself. We all know about the protein/carb shake after weight training, this has been flogged to death, but i too would like to hear other opinions on post workout shake after cardio or in fact any intense bout of exercise.
my own experience(currently dropping weight for a BJJ comp)is i continue to have a post workout protein drink after my workouts which are either conditioning, weights, cardio or mat work/technique (aka ross enamait infinite intensity. I simply drop the amount of carbs i put in and take this shake into account with the rest of the days eating. Results are the weight is still coming off
[quote]CappedAndPlanIt wrote:
Question: Should I drink a carb/protein shake after a cardio workout?
One side of brain (1): No. You just worked to start making your body tap into its fat reserves. Giving it more fuel now would defeat the purpose.
Other side of brain(2): Yes. You just fatigued your muscles, using their glycogen. If you drink the shake now you’ll get the same benefit of protein synthesis as if you were lifting.
You may not lose as much weight right away, but the increase in muscle will eventually catch up, plus your metabolism wont start to slow down from your body being forced to use its reserves (this is just a thought I had, I’m not trying to state it as a fact. feel free to call me a stupid troll if I’m totally wrong about that).
So yeah, I’ve got some stuff in my head for either side of the argument. What do you guys think?[/quote]
I used to have the mentality of option #1 for several years. I now have the mentality of option #2.
In terms of fat loss, I have lost the same amount of fat using either method. The sugars in a recovery drink aren’t going to blunt fat loss (keep in mind I’m speaking of my personal experience-everyone is different).
What I do notice is far better recovery and not feeling burnt and groggy later in the day after doing a hard HIIT session. Hope that helps.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Is your goal improved cardiovascular capacity or fatloss?
[/quote]
Hm. I suppose you’re hinting that a PWO carb/protein shake after cardio will better help improve cardiovascular capacity, and not having one will get me to fat loss goals quicker.
You make a good point (if that is, indeed, the one you’re making).
And looking at it through that filter, although I do want to lose weight, I think improving my cardio fitness is a much better, healthier goal.
I think I’m gonna start drinking a shake after my cardio sessions. Thanks Zap.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Is your goal improved cardiovascular capacity or fatloss?
[/quote]
Please expand on this. As i said i believe you can have the best of both worlds if you factor in the excess calories of a PWO drink into the rest of you days eating, unless you are on a super-low/zero carb diet
i always have 40g carbs & 20g WPI after exercise if im training once a day, half that & have it twice if i traing 2x p/day, regardless of where im at with my weight