Pre-Post workout strategies

You have heard this before, but I think it worth mentioning this again, as success leaves clues. This is my seventh competitive season as a natural bodybuilder, and in every competition, I have always placed in the top three (5 x 1st 3 x 2nd 4 x 3rd) and I believe the reason for this is due to how I train and more importantly how I recover. I will outline it as simply as possible.

1) Post-workout nutrition is more important than pre-workout if you had to choose. The reason I say this is that when we put the body in a highly stressed state it is looking for metabolites (nutrition) to help it restore energy (glucose) to repair and build muscle cells (amino acids) and it requires various enzymes to be replaced (vitamins and minerals as co-factors along with amino acids) If I recover "better" I get to train harder.

So post-workout I use "organic" whey concentrate (which is NOT the same as regular non-organic whey concentrate) along with Greens and an adaptogen blend. I do this as it provides amino acids for repair and remodeling, it provides alkaline nutrition for recovery purposes, and it also provides herbs/ botanicals that help regulate my body's stress response so I can ADAPT to the level of training, being able to push myself harder over time (which translates to better results).

One hour after my post-workout I consume an organic meal replacement to further support the recovery process, and then about two hours later I have a healthy meal, again, focusing on recovery.

2) Intra-workout nutrition is simple for me, I use a clean blend of BCAA's (branch chain amino acids) and a clean source of electrolytes that support my training. This process allows my cells to work effectively without compromise and with no loss of muscle or a reduction in intensity. I prefer this to just drinking water.

3) Pre-workout, I use a clean product that creates vaso-dilation, meaning that it relaxes my blood vessels allowing for much better delivery of oxygen and nutrition to my working muscles, and it allows for easier clean up of waste products. I mix this with my organic meal replacement about one-hour pre-training so that when I hit the gym floor I ready to crush it.

The benefit of having dense nutritional products is that it diminishes the need for extra calories in my diet, which means there is less weight to lose at stage time. I still love to eat, and I don't restrict myself on enjoying food, I am just smart enough (the jury may be still out on that one) to recognize if I try and rely on knife and fork food to keep me healthy, I am going to find myself in trouble. So at age 53, I am still putting on muscle naturally, still competing against 30-year-old males, and I am growing older slower than the majority of the population. So for me, it is always about healthy choices first, my sport comes second, which is why I will be standing in the winner's circle again next year