Most men who hit the gym are familiar with plateaus. You know, when you just can’t seem to gain any more muscle mass? While your weightlifting routine is partially to blame, a lot of men overlook another important factor: nutrition.
During a workout, your body breaks down muscle glycogen as well as muscle protein structures. Therefore, following exercise, your body needs to replenish its energy stores and repair muscle tissue to allow for new growth. In order to do this, you'll need to consume enough carbs to promote substantial insulin release. That’s because it's your body's insulin that is responsible for shuttling carbs and amino acids back into the muscles.
So, how exactly can we give our bodies the carb and protein it needs?
As a general rule of thumb, you'll want to consume about 0.8 grams of carbohydrate per 2.2 pounds of body weight within 30 to 60 minutes after your workout. Any longer and you may miss your "window of opportunity" (the time period in which your muscles will benefit most from nutrition). You'll also want to take in about one-third or one-half that ratio in protein or about 0.2 to 0.4 grams per 2.2 pounds of body weight.
However, it's not just the amount of these nutrients that's important -- it's a little bit more complicated than that -- which is why AM has decided to rank its top 10 post-workout foods for you to keep handy after you hit the gym.