Nutrition in Training Camps

Eating well and using nutritional supplements before and after workouts will help you get the most out of all your hard work for more muscle growth.

There is a constant struggle going on in your body and it will never end. It's a challenge to determine how much muscle you can build. On the one hand, there is muscle-protein synthesis, the body's process of increasing muscle mass with new proteins. On the other hand, there is muscle-protein breakdown, which happens when the body breaks down muscle proteins. These clash all the time, and the difference between the two (subtract muscle protein breakdown from muscle protein synthesis) is the sum of the muscle you've gained through your hard work and disciplined diet. Consuming the right nutrients and supplements at the right time is of great importance in order to maximize muscle-protein synthesis and minimize muscle-protein breakdown. And the only way to win this battle is to eat well around workouts. You can do this by consuming the right nutrients before, during and after your workout.

Before Training

Before training, you must prepare the body to build muscle (i.e. increase muscle-protein synthesis) and give it the fuel it needs to work hard enough to stimulate muscle growth. However, the type of foods you choose and the rate at which they are digested are of great importance. It should be consumed at least one hour before a meal to allow time for digestion. Food in the stomach can damage your workout by keeping the blood that needs to go to your muscles (you may need to find the timing by trial and error, if after an hour you still feel like you can't digest your food, wait longer before you start your workout and eat sooner before the next workout). It is necessary to allow time for digestion, but you should also avoid consuming fatty or fibrous foods because otherwise the digestive system will have to deal with them too much. Protein from isolated whey, fish or chicken is most beneficial in this process. As for carbohydrates, at that point, carbohydrate powders and rice inches are not suitable, as the goal is to increase energy, not insulin. Too many types of carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (i.e. those that digest quickly) can kill the fat-burning potential of training and even make you sleepy when you hit the gym. Slow-digesting types, such as some oats, would be more beneficial instead, as they slightly increase insulin, preparing your body for an anabolic response after training while protecting your muscles from excessive breakdown. As an added safety precaution, I also add some fat to my pre-workout meal. A tablespoon of peanut butter added to oatmeal slows the digestion of carbs and goes a step further in blood sugar control. In addition to 40 grams of protein and 30 grams of carbohydrates in your pre-workout meal, you can also consume 10 grams of fat.

During Training

Since insulin is the most anabolic hormone in the body, you must ensure that it is secreted as much as possible during training. To increase insulin, you will need to consume more nutrients, especially carbohydrates. But since you don't have to stop and eat while training, you can use an effective carbohydrate source like GH Factors. On the protein front, you need something easy to digest. BCAAs are available at this point, your body easily takes it and delivers it to your muscles when they need it most. Prepare yourself a drink with 5-10 grams of BCAAs and 40-70 grams of carbohydrates from the gainer. Use 1 liter of water for mixing. Since you will mix BCAA with the gainer, you can choose the unflavored version. Start drinking the mixture 5-10 minutes before training, but do not drink more than a quarter. Your goal is to preload your blood with nutrients so that when you start working out, the combination of the mechanical pressure of lifting weights and increased insulin will send nutrients straight to your muscle cells. With every rep you do, you're pumping protein and carbs into the area you're working. Keep drinking the mixture evenly throughout your workout.

After Training

Right after your workout, you can have a serving of whey protein to maximize muscle-protein synthesis. After all this, when you get home, you should consume a healthy meal within two hours. Here the preference is red meat and jasmine rice. You can also eat fish, chicken and turkey along with the rice you consume for carbohydrates. Start with 200 grams of meat (cooked) and 75 grams of rice. Increase the amount over time to 250 grams of meat and 150 grams of rice. The purpose of this is to maximize timing rather than increase calorie consumption. When you collect most of your daily nutrition around workouts, consuming these foods can increase muscle growth.

Meals with Sporika

Sporika works with experience chefs during training camps. Our hotels hosted tens of teams before, they are capable of preparing appropriate foods for the each meals of the teams. Moreover, we put team doctors and dietitians to the menu preparation process so teams can customize what to eat during their camp periods.