Hi friends,
I have noticed some T Nationers like to have a significant amount of fat in the pre-workout meal. I was wondering what is the role of fat in such meals?
At the moment if I train in the morning I only have a coffee and BCAAs. Would there be any benefit to adding some coconut oil to that coffee or maybe just have a tablespoon of peanut butter? When I train in the evenings my last meal before working out would be a high protein, high carb and relatively low fat.
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[quote]theBird wrote:
Hi friends,
I have noticed some T Nationers like to have a significant amount of fat in the pre-workout meal. I was wondering what is the role of fat in such meals?
At the moment if I train in the morning I only have a coffee and BCAAs. Would there be any benefit to adding some coconut oil to that coffee or maybe just have a tablespoon of peanut butter? When I train in the evenings my last meal before working out would be a high protein, high carb and relatively low fat.
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Adding MCT’s can serve as a fuel source for your workouts. MCT’s are not stored in the body and are a preferential fuel source when ingested because of that. In the morning, and in a fasted condition, the MCT’s can also help to protect protein degradation by serving as an energy source. Also, they have the potential to indirectly affect protein synthesis by sparing the BCAA’s you ingest allowing them to work towards protein synthesis.
Is peanut butter a source of MCT’s?
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Thanks for the reply by the way.
Has there been much research into the role of MCT’s in fasted training. Anyone got any experiences to note?
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[quote]theBird wrote:
Thanks for the reply by the way.
Has there been much research into the role of MCT’s in fasted training. Anyone got any experiences to note?
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For clarification, I should have stated that MCT’s are unlikely to be stored as fat in the body, as opposed to cannot be.
I do not believe Peanut Butter is a high source of MCT’s, but a simple google search will likely tell you the answer.
What would be your goal of MCT’s in fasted training? If you take MCT’s you are no longer in a fasting state. It would likely aid in preventing muscle catabolism. But, at the same time it’s going to bring fatty acid mobilization for use as energy to a halt.
The idea of adding some fats to the pre-training meal is to slow the release of the meal down so that you don’t end up going hypoglycemic shortly into your training session.
Most will find that a protein/carb meal alone will cause this as they get into their training. Adding the fats solves this problem, you don’t need anything drastic, i typically add a half a tablespoon of almond butter to cream of rice.
Thanks for the advice friends.
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