If you are trying to learn how to build muscle with HIIT then you may have noticed how much confusion surrounds this popular training method. Despite it's huge popularity, many people make some crucial mistakes when designing their high intensity interval program.
Nutrition is a key factor in improving your results from any high intensity workout program. The pre-workout period is an area where most people have no idea how to get the best nutrients for their muscles, so this is what we will be focusing on today.
Before you workout you need to ensure that your body has been supplied with the best nutrients to perform the tough session ahead. If you do this then you can potentially increase your results by up to 30%, so it is worth taking a few moments to look into the latest science on the subject. []
Before you can work out what you should be eating prior to a high intensity interval workout you need to look at what type of food your body uses for fuel during this type of exercise because it's slightly different to regular training. While long, steady state cardio primarily burns fat stores, albeit at a very slow rate, high intensity intervals uses your carbohydrate stores for fuel.
If you have done your research you will already know that the major benefits of high intensity interval training take place outside of the gym, during the recovery period after your workout. This process, known as EPOC, is where your body tries to protect what's left of it's carbohydrate reserves and focuses on burning body fat for the fuel it needs in order to function properly. Carbs are your body's primary energy source, so when you have burnt through most of your body's reserves it's going to work hard to protect what little it has left, switching the focus on other nutrients instead. This magical post-workout effect can last a whopping 14 hours if you get it right.
As you can see, what we want to be doing in the gym is depleting your carb resources as quickly as possible so that we can force the body to enter the afterburn effect immediately when you finish working out. So, for this very reason, it would be foolish to eat a big bowl of oatmeal before you trained.
Does this mean you should train on an empty stomach?
Not quite. While performing interval training on an empty stomach is slightly more beneficial than performing it with a ton of carbs in your system, there is an even better way to increase results further. The biggest mistake people tend to make when watching their carbohydrate intake is forgetting to increase protein intake. As a result their body burns off a lot of muscle. To avoid this, simply increase your protein intake. This can be done by hitting the gym after a whey protein shake instead of a carbohydrate heavy meal.
One other minor mistake many people make is to go with BCAA supplements after a session. Recent studies confirm that consuming Essential Amino Acids (EAA's) instead of BCAA's will increase results further. While any branched chain amino acids supplement will provide you with three of the key amino acids for building lean muscle tissue, they neglect the others. Amino acids function as a team, therefore taking EAA's would be much more functional.
Furthermore, consuming your serving pre-workout as opposed to post-workout has been shown to increase muscle uptake by around 27%. Combined with a whey protein shake, you'll be able to protect your body from any lean tissue breakdown and fight off any feelings of hunger while performing high intensity training and burning through those carbohydrate reserves.
Getting the right kind of nutrition into your system before you train can be crucial when performing HIIT sessions on a regular basis. Learning how to build muscle is often a game of opinion, with many exercise enthusiasts lost in a sea of misinformation. By looking at the very latest science on the subject, you can get more from every session in the gym.
Nutrition is a key factor in improving your results from any high intensity workout program. The pre-workout period is an area where most people have no idea how to get the best nutrients for their muscles, so this is what we will be focusing on today.
Before you workout you need to ensure that your body has been supplied with the best nutrients to perform the tough session ahead. If you do this then you can potentially increase your results by up to 30%, so it is worth taking a few moments to look into the latest science on the subject. []
Before you can work out what you should be eating prior to a high intensity interval workout you need to look at what type of food your body uses for fuel during this type of exercise because it's slightly different to regular training. While long, steady state cardio primarily burns fat stores, albeit at a very slow rate, high intensity intervals uses your carbohydrate stores for fuel.
If you have done your research you will already know that the major benefits of high intensity interval training take place outside of the gym, during the recovery period after your workout. This process, known as EPOC, is where your body tries to protect what's left of it's carbohydrate reserves and focuses on burning body fat for the fuel it needs in order to function properly. Carbs are your body's primary energy source, so when you have burnt through most of your body's reserves it's going to work hard to protect what little it has left, switching the focus on other nutrients instead. This magical post-workout effect can last a whopping 14 hours if you get it right.
As you can see, what we want to be doing in the gym is depleting your carb resources as quickly as possible so that we can force the body to enter the afterburn effect immediately when you finish working out. So, for this very reason, it would be foolish to eat a big bowl of oatmeal before you trained.
Does this mean you should train on an empty stomach?
Not quite. While performing interval training on an empty stomach is slightly more beneficial than performing it with a ton of carbs in your system, there is an even better way to increase results further. The biggest mistake people tend to make when watching their carbohydrate intake is forgetting to increase protein intake. As a result their body burns off a lot of muscle. To avoid this, simply increase your protein intake. This can be done by hitting the gym after a whey protein shake instead of a carbohydrate heavy meal.
One other minor mistake many people make is to go with BCAA supplements after a session. Recent studies confirm that consuming Essential Amino Acids (EAA's) instead of BCAA's will increase results further. While any branched chain amino acids supplement will provide you with three of the key amino acids for building lean muscle tissue, they neglect the others. Amino acids function as a team, therefore taking EAA's would be much more functional.
Furthermore, consuming your serving pre-workout as opposed to post-workout has been shown to increase muscle uptake by around 27%. Combined with a whey protein shake, you'll be able to protect your body from any lean tissue breakdown and fight off any feelings of hunger while performing high intensity training and burning through those carbohydrate reserves.
Getting the right kind of nutrition into your system before you train can be crucial when performing HIIT sessions on a regular basis. Learning how to build muscle is often a game of opinion, with many exercise enthusiasts lost in a sea of misinformation. By looking at the very latest science on the subject, you can get more from every session in the gym.
About the Author:
Author: Russ Howe PTI coaches classes in the gym and online. If you'd like to know how to build muscle or need help with performing a good hiit routine, his tips will get you on the right track.
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