summarise this:
We're the same age, years ago I was sort of neurotic about the idea that I had to ingest
2:18:15
a certain amount of carbohydrates and proteins within two hours then it was 90 minutes of training.
2:18:20
I confess I get, if I train hard, so I'm talking about the resistance training not the running. But the resistance training, 60 to 90 minutes later,
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I'm really hungry. But there have been days when I just skip and then the hunger passes and then later I eat more.
2:18:35
I might eat twice as much later that's just the way sometimes schedules go. But what are your thoughts in terms of
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the nutrition science, the training related effects of the post-training meal?
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Is it something that you try to get? Is it something you think people should pay attention to?
2:18:52
- So that science has actually probably been the one that's changed the most in my lifetime, honestly,
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because, again, we're at the same age and I was falling for the same trap
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where I would really be focused on like, I'm risking speeding tickets driving home from the gym
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to make you sure I got an anabolic window. Like I did all that, I really did.
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But thankfully that's been sort of debunked in your body isn't just rushing through these certain periods of time
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to utilize the nutrients in our body, but are able to partition them and use them over a long, much greater duration.
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Up to now, they're saying, three to four hours after training, five hours after training, you could still see the benefits of replenishment.
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A lot of that is just I think there's a consistency element to it
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that just utilizing a post workout window or a post workout meal,
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even if it's within two hours or one hour is just integrating the habit of saying, listen, I just did this activity
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and now want to replenish some of what I lost the energy that I used to perform the exercises that I did.
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And just getting into the routine knowing that the engine is ultimately fed by what we put in it.
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And the concept of replenishing the fuel lost is still a concept that I think again,
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different in mechanism but still important in terms of fueling the overall performance. So the pre-workout period of time
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gives us a chance to actually have a longer window because if those nutrients are obtained pre-workout,
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it's not like they're gone in that hour that you've trained, they're still there and available for your body to use.
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So I think it's important to get one of the two right or at least make sure you're consistently
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having one or the two or you might risk going through all these periods
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of having no nutrition to support your efforts. Not only will your workouts potentially suffer
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in terms of the output, but then you're also not providing your body any ability to capitalize on an opportunity to feed it
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and refuel and recover. So I'm not very dogmatic about what specifically to eat
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pre or post workout. But I do think you should have protein surrounding your training,
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whether that be ahead of time or after. Protein could be a little bit hard to digest for some people.
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So if you do that pre-workout and then you're finding your workout is slogging because you don't feel good
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then suddenly you put that after your meal. But this whole concept of the urgency of time
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has thankfully been removed and we can just learn to eat a little bit more responsibly
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and drive more responsibly so we're not trying to rush home from the gym and risk killing people on the way.
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But I think it's great because I think that that was something that it just showcases a belief that people had for so long
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that has since been proven to be not that important. And there's a tip of the cap towards research in a good way
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where it's like, all right, I think we could all agree that this isn't necessarily true anymore. And look at yourself and say,
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oh my God, I did that so often. I bit that one hook line and sinker but then realize,
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okay, we could always make a change. And the good thing about nutrition is those changes can happen the very next time you go to eat
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and you'll start to see the benefits of that. So I'm not a big believer in that strict approach
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to pre or post-workout. I mean, even as far as pre-workout supplements,
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a lot of people don't take them. A lot of people don't like them, they don't take them, they don't like, they're not necessarily even being used
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as the new nutritive side of the pre-workout. They're just more used to fuel the workout.
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- For me it's water and some form of caffeine. - Yeah. I mean, it is whatever,
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again, I think it's important. I do think it's important to maintain a high level of output. So if your pre-work attrition requires
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a stimulant in order to help you do that or if your pre-work nutrition is causing you to have a harder time to train
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because you're feeling full or stomachache or something else, then that that's not achieving what you're trying to do.
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The ultimate goal is to still be able to perform at the highest level. So whatever your nutrition is required to allow you to still do that,
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that is probably the most important factor of all of it. - Great, I love the very clear and rational approach.
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Don't ingest anything right before your workout or near your workout that's going to make your workout worse.
2:23:27
Yeah, and it's so simple and yet you don't hear this because I think people will think, oh, they must have a pre-workout
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they must have a post-workout. - No, again, even if the benefits that are to be had from whatever's being suggested
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is going to be easily offset by the fact that you can't perform at an output capable of driving any change.
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So that would pretty much negate the fact that you're not outweighing those benefits
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of whatever nutritive approach you took and is struggling through your workout. - For me, the best pre-workout is a good night's sleep,
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hydration, caffeine, and music. - Yeah, there you go. I mean, that's a simple formula.
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- It works. And then post what I do I do find I get quite hungry and want to eat quite a bit more and... - Well, that's a natural response the body's going to
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and most people want to do that and I think it should be fed. I work out as you know, again, a lot of my postings on Instagram will happen
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at 10 o'clock at night, 10:30 at night, 11 at night, 'cause I am actually training there and that's where I'm taking those little breaks
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in between sets to actually film or post something. But like, I then go inside and eat dinner. So I'm eating at 11 o'clock at night.
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It's not necessarily ideal, I'm not recommending that as a tool for anybody. I think it dispels one thing,
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I've never been a believer in Kenny carbs after six. - That makes no sense to me. - [Jeff] Zero sense. - Based on all the new,
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all the signs of metabolism that I've seen makes no sense. I think as long as you can, sort of like napping.
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I talked to Matt Walker, one of the great sleep researchers wrote why we sleep, et cetera, and has his own podcast about sleep, tremendous researcher,
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public communicator about sleep and he said, naps are fine provided they don't interrupt your ability to sleep well at night.
2:25:00
Simple. Some people can sleep from eight to 9:00 PM and then go to bed at midnight and not a problem. Other people they take a 30 minute nap after lunch
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and they can't sleep at night. Same thing with- Caffeine's a little different because Matt would argue the architecture of sleep
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can be disrupted, et cetera. But if you can eat dinner late and eat carbohydrates late, I actually need carbohydrates at night
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in order to be able to sleep. Whenever I've done a low carbohydrate type regimen in the evening, I have a hard time falling asleep.
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I'm just too alert. And so I eat carbohydrates in the evening to restore glycogen but also in order to make sure that I can fall asleep.
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- I actually can, again obviously it's already late at night, by the time I'm done eating, but like I can fall asleep within 5, 10 minutes
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of finishing my meal. Because I do think that they have that same effect on me, but I'm never,
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I'm not bothered by the feeling of fullness. I'm not unable to sleep because of a feeling of fullness.
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But I do like the fact that I feel as if I'm at least replenishing
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what was lost through my hard training. And I do like to back it up with a dinner. I don't need to eat smaller amounts.
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Some people can't have that much. I will say after a hard leg workout, I don't have the same appetite that I do after let's say,
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an upper body workout. It can really disrupt my whole feeling of wellbeing.
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- You want to eat less after you train your legs? - [Jeff] I do, yeah. - Oh, wow, I'm the opposite. - No, 'cause I could feel sick to my stomach.
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- You're clearly training harder. I've seen the way you train, you do train very intensely. - Yeah.
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I think it's important. I mean, I think that... Again, it's that trade off between, if you're not going to train for a long period of time