When?
Within 30 minutes of finishing training.
Why so soon?
In this 20-30 minute window the good nutrition has a chance to be absorbed by the body. If you wait too long the body goes into starvation mode. This is worse because it will hold onto everything it gets after this point.
What?
Liquids are best.
It’s not good enough to say, “I’ll have a steak for dinner” as your reload after training. For two reasons:
- It will be too late by the time you eat.
- Solid food, even if consumed straight away, takes ages to break down and you’ve missed you window anyway.
How much?
There’s 2 things you need after exercise. Protein and Carbs. In varying amounts depending on your body weight. See table:
Protein: 0.33 – 0.55 grams/kg Carbs: 0.55 – 0.88 grams/kg
See attachment: 60g of protein, 85g of carbs. I’m around 75kg so I only take half a scoop per serve and that will be sufficient for recovery.
| Body Weight | Protein (g) | Carbs (g) |
| 60kg | 20 – 33 | 33 – 53 |
| 70kg | 23 – 38 | 38 – 61 |
| 80kg | 26 – 44 | 44 – 70 |
| 90kg | 30 – 49 | 49 – 80 |
What’s best?
Whey protien/carbohydrate powder that you can carry to training in a shaker, add water and away you go. A big bag costs around $100 ($2 per serve) but this will save you big time by avoiding starvation, one time I came home from the pool and spent about $20 on food because I didn’t have my powder. Don’t do this!