No gym. No yoga studio. No swimming pool.
The shift to the home workout has begun!
The post has been developed in partnership with Florida Citrus, however all opinions expressed are my own.
For most of us, our daily routines have changed quite a bit. We may have had a defined routine such as ‘gym-commute-work-commute-home’ or ‘commute-work-commute-gym-home’ routine before. Now, the lines between work and home are likely blurred. Myself, I’ve been guilty of continuing to send work related emails at 9/10 pm at night! Clear divisions between work, home and exercise, makes it easier to plan meals and therefore pre and post workout nutrition. However, with the lack of these clear divisions, our pre and post workout nutrition may be suffering!
Let me help provide you with clear guidelines around how to fuel yourself properly for your at-home workout.
My go-to pre and post run item meals. Read on to find out why!
Assessing Your Nutrient Needs for Your Workout
When assessing what you should be eating before and after a workout, there are a few important factors to consider. These include: Intensity and Timing Before Exercise, which would determine the types of nutrients that you would choose in your pre/post workout options.
Timing Before Exercise
Depending on the time you have between working out and eating, you will be better off with some nutrients over others. Some nutrients take a lot longer to break down and provide the body with energy, so we will want to be strategic when we rely on these foods.
For example, before a workout, you want to primarily relying on carbohydrates for fuel. The type of carbohydrates will depend on how long you have before a workout. You will want to chose a quick digesting carbohydrate that contains simple sugars such as fruit, if you have a half hour or less before a high intensity workout. If you have longer, go for a complex, more slow-digesting carbohydrate. Unless you have over 2 hours before the workout, you don’t want to eat a ton of fat or veggies before moving, as they take a lot longer to breakdown.
When I go for my long runs, my go-to beverage is this smoothie with @floridaorangejuice, as the base! The carbohydrates in 100% orange juice come only from the naturally occurring sugars in the oranges – with no added sugars. In addition to potassium, Florida OJ also provides folate and magnesium in half a
cup (120 mL).All of this will help me get into the best place nutritionally, before my long runs!
Intensity refers to the rate at which the activity is being performed or the magnitude of the effort required to perform an activity or exercise. It can be thought of “How hard a person works to do the activity”. The intensity is an important factor to consider before and after exercise. Before exercise, your body is looking for the appropriate fuel to help make the most of the exercise. After exercise, your body is looking to rebuild or even just restore any nutrient stores in the body that were used during your training.
Exercises such as yoga, walking or a light dance class would be considered a low intensity workout. A home video that is a HIIT workout or a running would be considered higher intensity.
Please reference this chart below for pre and post workout guidelines! Happy exercising 🙂