Question: Should I have a protein shake right after I exercise? Do I add carbs to it?
Answer: You always hear about carb and fat “timing” …and people always preach about getting a protein shake directly after exercise, but this advice can be a little misleading. And even though the post workout window is one of the 3 most important times to consume protein….If your goal is to burn fat, I recommend you delay the post workout protein shake for at least 30 to 60 minutes AFTER exercise.
Although having protein right after your workout is a “healthy” choice, it can potentially block fat loss by spiking insulin. Yes, protein can raise insulin too. And if insulin spikes too soon, it can blunt the post exercise calorie burn and block growth hormone release from higher intensity exercise sessions.
Always remember…
Insulin and Growth Hormones are antagonists so they don’t get along. They compete against each other. That’s why it’s so important to “time” your food intake properly. In theory, the absence of insulin along with the presence of these “fat burning” hormones will spare muscle and help you burn more fat and calories during this brief post workout period. That’s why I recommend you ride the fat burning wave for 30 to 60 minutes after high intensity workouts.
You can’t burn fat in the presence of insulin. Growth hormone helps you burn fat and if you’ve trained with intensity, you will have some naturally occurring growth hormone present after your workout.
A word of caution: Do NOT try this approach if you’re not healthy or have sugar issues. Get cleared by your doctor and build a foundation of basic conditioning first. But if you’re an exerciser and your belly flab won’t budge, this hormonal metabolic trick will help give you the edge. It’s not a “game-changer” by any means, but it’s something I’ve had success with for years now. (Keep in mind, if your goal is to gain muscle this trick really won’t be necessary. You would intentionally want to spike insulin for faster muscle growth and repair directly after exercise.)
Besides insulin and growth hormone, there is one other hormone that literally controls EVERYTHING related to fat-loss. If you don’t keep this particular hormone balanced and at healthy levels, it can stop fat burning altogether.
This hormone is leptin. You can read a post about leptin here. In a nutshell, when you ‘diet’ your leptin levels drop and so does your fat burning potential. There are a few ways to keep these levels from dropping and you’ll want to read about them in detail. Head to this post for more on that.
If you want to try the protein that I use. you can check that out here.
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Question: What’s coming up May 7th Shawna?
(Okay, so I made that question up so I could tell you this.. ;))
Answer: I’m super excited for my upcoming program called Challenge Fat Loss that you’ll see available May 7th!
This is a program that will definitely help boost your growth hormone and fat burning potential.
Challenge Fat Loss is all about doing challenging workouts to burn fat 24/7. The focus is on workout performance with the added benefit of fat loss. I find when people take their eye off the scale and start training like they mean it, then fat loss is a happy coincidence.
The program is grounded in science and will be explained in detail. Follow along workouts are 20 minutes or less using minimal equipment.
Stay tuned for more on that and a few teaser workouts before the program is launched.
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And the winner is….
Thank you for all of you who told me about your pull up successes and challenges! I see that you DO know how to comment on a blog after all.
So where have you been all this time? I feel like I’m writing to myself!
Your comments help me provide you with the content you need to improve your pull ups, workouts, heck, life in general (ha, as if I could provide that..). In any case, I love to know what you need so that I can better provide it. Ask and I’ll do my best to give it to you!
EVERYONE that commented on THIS POST (before April 19/2013) will be emailed a little something from me. It’s a special report of my favorite pull up tips and three of my favorite back workouts.
It’s my way of saying thanks and ‘don’t be a stranger!’