Clockwork Feedings: Building Muscle Fast with Nutrient Timing- Part 1

Eat more protein. Eat more carbohydrates. Do more sets. Do fewer sets. Exercise in the morning. Exercise in the evening. Enough already! What's a bodybuilder to do with all of the different philosophies that permeate book upon book and magazine article upon magazine article? For a natural bodybuilder, it can get so frustrating at times that one wants to abandon the whole sport in search of something more relaxing and less challenging--right? Wrong. Yet, it is true that for the natural bodybuilder discouragement can seem almost like a weekly, if not daily problem. Is it really possible to continually build new muscle? Without hesitation, the answer is a resounding "yes." I have always loved the science of bodybuilding. I have always been engrossed by the study of how the body produces new muscle. >From the time I was a little boy I have always been fascinated by the science behind achieving the leanest, most ripped physique your genetics will allow. There is only one thing that I love more than the intellectual study of the science behind bodybuilding and that is the actual bodybuilding itself. Nothing can be more gratifying than blowing your body up with a mind-blowing pump. But, unfortunately, the problem is this: sometimes it can seem like the pump didn't lead to anything permanent. Have you been there? Can you relate to anything that I've expressed up to this point? If so then pay close attention to what I'm about to share with you. Without the application of proper nutrient timing you could be wasting your time in the gym and cutting your results by as much as 75%. That's right, a whopping 75% or worse. It will not be my objective in this article to explore the entire methodology behind nutrient timing. I'll try my best to that in a future article. My main objective is to get you to see the importance of nutrient timing and put into practice the consumption of pre/post workout nutrients. I will also do my best to make it all real simple and save the scientific lingo for the academic arena. Most bodybuilders aren't interested in the molecular and chemical structures of substrates, they really just want to know the why, the what, and the when. Give it to me in plain English, man! So I will. Before we move forward with the why, what and when, let's begin by defining the term nutrient timing. Nutrients are the substrates by which we live and are made (macro/micro nutrients such as; protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, etc.). Along with water, they are the life-giving sources which fuel us and keep us alive. Muscles will not grow unless macro and micro nutrients are present. Nutrient "timing" speaks to the specific times in which we should ingest certain foods to help create an optimum anabolic state known as muscle hypertrophy (protein synthesis). This is when your body is building new muscle and gearing up for the next load or workout. For maximum utilization, those nutrients should be in the form of a beverage for quicker digestion. So then, first let's talk about the why. The reason I stated that you could be wasting your time in the gym is because most eager bodybuilders overtrain. In fact, the majority of bodybuilders in general are guilty of this. If you think that spending more time in the gym will result in more muscle then you are seriously mistaken. Muscle is not made in the gym. Muscle is made during the recovery period between workouts. Why is that important to know? Because most will train again without yet having recovered from the previous workout and in so doing, never give the muscles a chance to grow. I can recall hearing a professional bodybuilder once say, "I would rather have a good day of eating than a good of training." What he meant by that statement was that without adequate recovery, you might as well not step back in the gym at all. I agree, unless of course, your goal is to get smaller and lose muscle. Then by all means go ahead and overtrain. However, we know as bodybuilders that is not our goal or intention. So it is imperative to discipline yourself to put recovery at the top of your muscle-building program. It has been written that Mike Mentzer of heavy duty training fame was one of the first to vocalize the importance of post workout carbohydrate loading. Mike's carbohydrate of choice was ice cream. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but Mike was one of my first real bodybuilding idols. Hardcore and heavy is what he practiced and preached and I have never believed anything else was quite as effective as that system--with slight modifications to accommodate individual needs and genetics. We are all wired up differently and we must take that into account whenever we discuss any system or program. When I hear of someone being completely dogmatic and pragmatic with regard to any particular philosophy and methodology, I tune them out and filter what they say in light of their presuppositions. No two people are the same. We must be willing to adapt to compensate for those differences. However, our basic systems are built the same way and require the same fuel. The fuel is needed most following a workout and also just before the workout to ensure that muscle-building catalysts are priming the pump for the recovery to follow. If they are not there, your muscles could be your body's source of energy during your next workout. In other words, muscle will be used for fuel. That's not good at all and is actually defeating the very purpose for which you train. The next question you might have is this: what should I be taking? We touched on that a little bit already by discussing the post-workout carbohydrate ingestion of Mike Mentzer. The optimum post workout nutrient beverage would be one that contains Protein (slow-digesting and instant), Carbohydrates (complex, fibrous and simple sugars). Without getting into all of the reasons for this combination, remember that carbohydrates replenish muscle glycogen stores which are dramatically drained following a workout, and the protein will begin the muscle-building/re-building phase. If either of these are missing, your recovery and growth is hindered drastically--if not completely. The last thing I want to address is the specific timing involved. Some think that they can wait an hour or two before they ingest their post workout nutrients. Do not do that. There is a window of opportunity that follows an intense weight training session that can't be found at any other time. It is at that time that the muscle cells are the most nutrient receptive. In fact, the simple sugar in the post carbohydrate beverage will actually cause an insulin surge to open up receptor sites on the muscle tissue cells themselves which will initiate an incredible anabolic environment. While some argue the science behind the exact amount of time permitted to elapse before the benefits can be truly utilized, it is safe to follow a logistical plan that ingests the nutrients immediately following the workout, then again every 45 minutes for up to three hours following the workout. Studies have shown that it is during this window of time that the nutrients ingested will go solely for muscle building and cannot be accumulated as fat. I hope that I've shown you the importance of nutrient timing. There is much that could be said to the science of it all but if you're not making this principle a training priority, then none of that matters anyway. In the future I will share more specifically the nutrient array and the exact timing/substrates of pre-workout anti-catabolic intake. Needless to say, nutrient timing is one of the most important aspects of bodybuilding.