Training without fixing your diet is one step forward and two steps back

Scarcity in the midst of plenty

Even though we have plenty of food in our part of the world these days, most people are deficient in certain nutrients.

It is mainly a lack of protein, the source of amino acids – the basic building blocks of the body in muscles and organs. Some people don't even reach the minimum recommended intake of 0.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Then there is the lack of vitamins, minerals, fibre and the so-called healthy fats – omega-3 fatty acids.

On the other hand, the general population often eats energy-dense foods, which are mostly full of simple carbohydrates (sugars) and less healthy saturated fats. These cause many lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, overweight and obesity. That said, we still need them to function healthily – in reasonable amounts, of course.

Energy swings

You've surely noticed a big drop in energy and a wave of tiredness some time after eating something very sweet. It happens because a large intake of sugar forces the body to release a lot of insulin, which processes the sugar and sends it into the cells. Your blood sugar then drops sharply and you feel tired.

Complex carbohydrates are released from the digestive tract into the blood gradually, they don't cause this “sugar rush” and your blood sugar level stays even. Good sources are vegetables, oats and some kinds of fruit, such as bananas.

When and what to eat before training

It's very individual and also depends on what exactly you eat. Some people don't mind training on an empty stomach, others need to feel they ate something a while ago.

If you eat a normal lunch, the ideal time to train is roughly one to two hours after it. If you have a protein bar or a banana, 30 minutes is fine too. But I definitely don't recommend heavy, fatty meals, such as schnitzel, roast duck with potato flatbread and the like. After a meal like that, your body focuses all its energy on digestion.

And what about the early birds who are at the gym at six or seven, don't feel hungry yet, but like to fire themselves up with a coffee?

Coffee is a source of caffeine, which suppresses fatigue and has been proven to improve performance. If you're overweight or obese and train in the morning on an empty stomach, there's a case for it: once you use up all your glycogen stores during the workout, your body starts burning fatty acids – your fat reserves. If you want to build muscle, though, I'd recommend eating first. Make it something easy to digest, such as oats or a protein shake.

And what to eat after training?

Your muscles are constantly breaking down and building protein at the same time (protein synthesis), regardless of whether you're training at that moment or not. Training also causes muscle damage. If you want your muscles to grow, protein synthesis has to come out on top. For that, we need to supply the body with amino acids, which later make their way into the muscles. Their best source is protein, and it doesn't matter whether it comes as food or as powder.

Protein powders have one advantage over food: they're practical and efficient. You digest them faster, and you don't have to bring chicken breast with rice to the gym in a tub and ask whether they'll heat it up for you.

If you train in the evening and want to eat after your workout and still sleep well, bear in mind that if you finish at nine, you won't feel like sleeping until around eleven. Your body will be revved up and it takes a while to settle down again. Either way, the same applies as for a four o'clock session – the priority is protein, which an easily digestible shake takes care of without giving you nightmares.

Zellen müssen trinken!

The old German saying has it right: Cells need to drink! Staying hydrated matters all day long, since we're three quarters water. As for drinking during training, several factors come into play. In the winter months we don't sweat as much, so our water intake will be lower than in summer. On the other hand, some athletes drink a litre of water per session in the summer months, and it doesn't have to be forced at all, because they sweat a lot.

There are no specific tables for preventing dehydration. Just bring a bottle of water with you and take a few sips after every set. But it's also not a good idea to drink only before training and then not until after.

For ordinary workouts plain water is enough, but if the session is really exhausting and we've sweated out a lot of minerals, we can also have an electrolyte drink.

Good advice is worth its weight in gold

The internet is full of quality information and even fuller of pseudo-experts, like-chasers and scammers. Telling good information apart, especially in an area like nutrition and training, is hard. How do you find your way through the maze of information as fast as possible and identify what's actually relevant?

The biggest problem I see is that not every topic is covered in enough depth or from other angles.

I read an article about BCAAs, branched-chain amino acids. They're essential, meaning the body can't make them and has to get them from food. The article claimed that supplementing BCAAs is pointless and has no benefit, because you can get enough of them from protein.

They were right about that, but they forgot to look at it from the angle that if your daily protein intake isn't sufficient, it can only help. It's been shown that with a suboptimal protein intake, supplementing BCAAs, especially leucine, increases protein synthesis.

Still, don't forget that BCAAs alone won't build muscle – you need all the amino acids for that.

In general, steer clear of oversimplified facts, a bombastic tone and the word detox.

And finally, one proven way to sabotage the hours you've sweated through

Don't fix your diet and eat on impulse. Joke over.

If you put effort into training and don't sort out your diet, you're throwing money and time away. But diet shouldn't only concern people who train – it concerns everyone. “You are what you eat” still holds true centuries later – everything we put into ourselves shows in how we look, how we perform and how healthy we are overall.

What I do notice is that people who already train have the basics of healthy eating down, automatically watch what they eat, or their coach tells them which way to go.

It's true that the ideal source of vitamins and trace elements would be plenty of fruit and vegetables, but we know how it goes in reality. The right supplements won't hurt, and everything from the greengrocer's is a perfect bonus on top.

The traditional supplements include vitamins D (especially in the winter months) and K, calcium and omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are easy to get from food too – the richest sources are fish oil and ground flax or chia seeds.

See you at the gym and in the grocery aisle!