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The Coconuts and Kettlebells Fitness Plan

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While this may come as a surprise, workouts don’t have to be hard, time-consuming, or unenjoyable to be effective. In fact, you can build strength and improve your body’s functional capacity just about anywhere with workouts that easily fit into your schedule. Sound too good to be true? The good news is—it’s not. By ditching the idea that there is only one way to get fit, and instead pursuing what you enjoy and what works best for you, you’ll be able to create a sustainable fitness plan that flows with your changing desires and needs.

You may notice this approach is incredibly similar to the recommendations made in Part I about how to figure out what macronutrient ratios and specific foods work best for your body. This is because bioindividuality—or the idea that you respond uniquely to different inputs depending on your genetics, background, and lifestyle—plays into everything, including your fitness. If a fitness program doesn’t serve you physically, mentally, or emotionally, there’s nothing wrong with you. It’s simply a sign that whatever you’re doing isn’t the best fit. With this change in thinking, “shoulds” and shame take a back seat to “What is going to serve my body today?” What will serve your body on a given day will depend on a variety of factors, including your experience level, time constraints, injuries, current health conditions, sleep quality, and overall stress. All of these things can fluctuate both in the short and long term, which makes flexibility a necessary part of the pursuit of fitness.

With the Coconuts and Kettlebells Fitness Plan, you’ll create a template that is structured and easy to follow while also learning how to incorporate the appropriate amount of flexibility when needed. By engaging with fitness in this way, it becomes a part of you. Depending on the day, movement can be restorative, a way to play and have fun, or an opportunity to push yourself and explore new boundaries. Your fitness template will serve as the perfect complement to the nutrition plan you chose to follow and the mind-set shifts you make as you pursue health. Instead of seeing health and fitness as a destination to be achieved, you’ll be able to focus on the journey—and enjoy the process.

WHY MOVEMENT MATTERS

Before diving into the details of the plan, it’s important to understand the benefits of movement. In recent years, the fitness industry has become inundated with special products, programs, and challenges that promise quick results and lasting happiness. By helping you get the “perfect” butt and achieve “a tight and toned midsection in 14 days!,” you are guaranteed to finally love your body. While it’s not always easy to see, these claims are designed to make you feel shame and judgment for not looking a specific way. If you believe you are inferior or not good enough, there’s a good chance you’ll buy whatever is being marketed and sold—no matter how unrealistic it seems. Unfortunately, these “solutions” have nothing to do with health and leave people feeling less happy with themselves than when they started.

Pursuing fitness because it makes your body healthy, strong, and resilient facilitates a much more empowering mind-set. Looking at the bigger picture, it’s clear that movement positively impacts nearly every bodily system. Yes, regular exercise increases lean body mass and strengthens muscles and bones. But it also changes the way your genes function, including the ones that play a role in energy metabolism, insulin response, and inflammation. In addition to being able to carry all the groceries into the house in one trip, you’ll also be better equipped to combat diseases such as cancer and depression. Here are some of the biggest reasons to make exercise a part of your weekly routine.

1. EXERCISE PREVENTS DISEASE

Regular exercise reduces your risk of developing a number of health conditions, including heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and dementia. By decreasing chronic inflammation, it also helps the immune system fight off colds and other infections.

2. EXERCISE SUPPORTS MENTAL HEALTH

When you exercise, your brain releases neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These chemical messengers improve cognitive function and boost overall mood. By changing your brain chemistry in both the short and long term, exercise can help combat anxiety and depression.

3. EXERCISE IMPROVES SLEEP

Exercise helps you fall asleep faster, improves sleep quality, and increases sleep duration. Given what we know about the importance of sleep, this can affect everything from alertness and productivity to tissue growth and repair.

4. EXERCISE MITIGATES STRESS

In appropriate doses, exercise releases endorphins, relaxes muscles, and relieves tension. It also provides an outlet for dealing with anxiety and worry, which improves your ability to cope with mental and emotional stress.

5. EXERCISE BUILDS CONFIDENCE

One of the most powerful benefits of exercise is improved self-esteem. It helps you feel empowered by what your body does, which is much more impactful than simply focusing on the way it looks. Engaging with activities that allow you explore what you can do makes you more confident in other areas of your life.

HOW TO USE THE COCONUTS AND KETTLEBELLS FITNESS PLAN

To help you engage with fitness in the way that works best for you, the plan has two components. First, you’ll learn how to create your own fitness plan using easy-to-follow guidelines. The plan you create will serve as a template you can use long-term, as you’ll be able to make adjustments to it when your goals change or you progress in your fitness. The second component is three done-for-you fitness plans you can start following immediately. Each four-week plan is designed to improve overall fitness according to your experience level and is great to do alongside the 4×4. You can use either of these options when pursuing fitness, or a combination of both. For example, you may chose to follow one of the four-week plans initially, and create your own template to follow after that. Do what works best for you and helps you move toward your goals.

CREATING YOUR OWN PLAN

Creating a fitness plan that is balanced, effective, and exciting begins with the star of the show—you! This means that how much, how often, and what you do as part of your workout routine may look different from what someone else is doing, and that’s perfectly okay. Constantly comparing yourself to others or your “former” self does nothing more than cloud your ability to listen to your body. To achieve success, the best thing you can do is what fits your current needs and abilities. If that means simply doing one or two workouts per week, then that’s a great place to start. Progress occurs in small, incremental shifts and doesn’t need to be forced.

To create a plan that incorporates the right amount of stress for your body so that progress can occur, there are four key elements to consider: frequency, dose, type, and rest.

1. FREQUENCY

The first thing to determine when creating your own template is how many days you’ll work out per week. While many things will affect how often you work out, a good place to start is your experience level. Here are some basic guidelines to follow when assessing how often you should be exposing your body to exercise:

A workout can be one from this book or another activity you enjoy doing that focuses on strength or conditioning, such as cycling or a group fitness class. (For more information about workout type, see here.) Your workout frequency may be slightly different from these guidelines if you have goals outside of improved health and fitness or certain limitations, such as injuries or chronic health conditions. Also, the number of times you work out each week may fluctuate, and that’s perfectly okay. If you were able to get in only one or two workouts a few weeks in a row because of time constraints or additional stress, your efforts have not been in vain. To maintain fitness, your body needs consistent exposure to activity only in small doses. Focus on doing what you can, and increase the number of times you work out per week back to baseline when you are able to.

2. DOSE

Dose is simply the duration of your workouts. While fitness memes may convey otherwise, you do not need to “push through pain” or keep going until you “puke, faint, or die” in order to build fitness and strength. Furthermore, you don’t need to work out for hours a day to see results. Studies show that doing shorter bouts of intense training greatly improves both aerobic and anaerobic capacity and increases lean body mass. We’re talking four-minutes-total kind of short. This doesn’t mean you should do only high-intensity workouts, or that longer, less-intense training isn’t beneficial. It simply means that shorter workouts can be powerful and effective, especially when your time is limited. In short, there is no such thing as “It’s not worth it unless I can spend at least thirty minutes working out.” When pursuing fitness, assess the time you have and focus on making the most of that time.

AEROBIC CAPACITY: The maximum amount of oxygen the body can use while exercising. The more you exercise, the more efficient your cardiorespiratory system becomes and the more oxygen your body can utilize during workouts. This translates into being able to work out harder and longer.

ANAEROBIC CAPACITY: The maximum amount of energy the body can use without oxygen. You use your anaerobic system during short, intense exercise bouts. The more high-intensity activity you do, the quicker your muscles will be able to recover after hard lifting or sprint efforts and the more you’ll be able to maintain speed and intensity.

A concept called the minimum effective dose can provide insight when assessing what dose is right for your body. The minimum effective dose is simply the smallest dose that will produce a desired outcome. An example of this concept can be found in boiling water. Water boils at 212°F at sea level. Applying more heat to water doesn’t make it “boil more,” and heat applied beyond what is needed to boil the water is redundant. When pursuing fitness, the minimum effective dose recognizes that workouts are a form of stress and that exposing your body to more of it comes at a price. This is especially true if you’re already under a lot of stress in other areas of life. The body perceives all stress the same—whether it’s from work, family issues, or workouts. By being intentional and purposeful with workout time, you’ll eliminate unnecessary stress, which will allow you to recover and make adaptations more efficiently. In short, more is not inherently better, nor does it always lead to “more” results.

How to Find Your Ideal Dose

  1. After figuring out which days are best for you to work out, determine how much time you have to dedicate to each workout.
  2. Choose either a workout from this book or another workout you enjoy that is specific to your goals and can be completed within your allotted time. Remember to also give yourself sufficient time to warm up and cool down.
  3. If you have more time after the workout is completed, add a few mobility exercises that target your problem areas (see here).

3. TYPE

The type of workouts you choose to do will vary based on what you enjoy and your goals. In this book, workouts are categorized as strength workouts or conditioning workouts. Of course, many workouts facilitate adaptations in both areas; however, each category provides guidance as to which type is dominant. As a general baseline, if your goal is to improve overall health and fitness, you’ll want to include a combination of strength and conditioning workouts each week. This will keep your workouts varied by challenging your body in different ways. Here are some basic guidelines to follow regarding what type of workouts to do each week depending on your workout frequency:

  • 2 workouts per week → 1 strength workout, 1 conditioning workout
  • 3 workouts per week → 2 strength workouts, 1 conditioning workout
  • 4 workouts per week → 2 strength workouts, 2 conditioning workouts
  • 5 workouts per week → 3 strength workouts, 2 conditioning workouts

If you have more specific goals or needs, you can shift the workouts you do to include more of one type of workout. For example, if you’d like to focus on building upper body strength, you can include more strength workouts in your routine. Or if you’d like to focus on being able to run three miles without stopping, you can include more conditioning workouts in your routine. Over time, the type of workouts you do will fluctuate as you pursue new goals and achieve them. This is a great way to pursue fitness long term and make improvements in a progressive, balanced way.

STRENGTH WORKOUTS: use resistance to make muscles, bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments stronger. For strength workouts, you’ll use more challenging weights and perform repetitions with control.

CONDITIONING WORKOUTS: use structured patterns of work and rest periods to build aerobic and anaerobic capacity. In this book, conditioning workouts are typically higher in intensity and incorporate functional movements. As a result, you’ll be using moderate loads in order to perform repetitions faster.

ADDING OTHER WORKOUTS

The workouts in this book are efficient and easy to do at home. While they are incredibly effective, they are by no means your only option for building fitness. For a fitness plan to be exciting and sustainable and serve you long term, it’s important to include other types of movement you enjoy doing. This could include everything from martial arts to a pole-dancing class. If you’re new to fitness, finding activities you enjoy may take some time and experimentation. A great place to start is to ask friends, family, or neighbors what they enjoy and would recommend. When trying a new activity, give yourself at least a week or two to get acclimated before deciding if it’s right for you or not. Often, once you become more familiar with something, you start to gain confidence and have fun doing it.

When adding another workout, simply plug it into your template according to what category it best fits under. If the workout demands intensity or includes periods of working hard and resting, it can be categorized as a conditioning workout. Some examples of conditioning workouts include CrossFit, indoor cycling, kickboxing, dancing, or playing soccer. If the workout exposes your body to challenging loads, it can be categorized as a strength workout. This could include weight training at the gym, a gymnastics class, Olympic lifting, TRX training, or Pilates.

RESTORATIVE MOVEMENT

An additional type of activity that will greatly benefit your body is restorative movement. Restorative movement helps to reduce pain, improve recovery, and mitigate stress. Examples include walking, gentle yoga, and mobility exercises (see here). You can do this type of movement the same day as your workouts, on rest days, or in place of a workout if your body needs more time to recover. During more stressful times, you can also shift to doing only restorative movement for as long as you need to until your body is ready to take on more vigorous activity. As a general recommendation, it’s best to do some type of restorative movement one to three times a week. Think of it as an opportunity to add nourishment to your joints, muscles, and bones, and to improve your body’s functional capacity. Restorative movement, like walking, has been shown to increase range of motion and circulation, improve mental health, boost immune function, and clear out accumulated waste product. For this reason, you will benefit from doing it whenever you want for as long as you like.

4. REST

Rest is one of the most important aspects of a fitness plan because it allows your body to adapt to the training it has been exposed to. In other words, training doesn’t make you stronger—your rest does. Yes, there must be exposure to adequate intensity and frequency of training to initiate adaptation. But without appropriate rest, the body is unable to rebuild and repair the damage that has occurred. In short, to facilitate adaptation, work and rest have to be in balance. If you rest too much in between workouts, progress won’t occur and you’ll likely experience regular soreness. If you rest too little in between workouts, you’ll eventually experience some of the signs and symptoms of overtraining, including decreased performance, sleep disturbances, decreased lean body mass, adrenal insufficiency, loss of motivation, mood disturbances such as depression and anxiety, or increased muscle soreness. Because overtraining has a high degree of variability and occurs gradually, it’s easy to overlook. What your body needs will be unique to you and will fluctuate with your changing circumstances.

For many people, going “off plan” and taking an unscheduled rest day is hard to do. Most of us find comfort in having a routine, especially when improvements are happening and goals are being reached. Additionally, the conventional fitness industry has made “skipping” a workout seem like something you should feel shame or guilt for. Because of this, many people perceive that their self-worth as a human being is intertwined with their ability to maintain a workout plan. And if that’s you, I have incredibly great news for you. Your self-worth as a human being is not related to your ability to follow a workout plan perfectly as prescribed. Furthermore, you are not a “good” or “bad” person based on the workouts you do or don’t do. Some weeks, you’ll need more rest than others—and that’s perfectly okay. Stress is cumulative, and if your body is under stress from other areas of life, it may not respond positively to workouts.

While following the frequency guidelines will help you establish a baseline for balancing workouts with rest, here are five questions that will help you determine if an extra rest day or two is a good idea:

1. ARE YOU EXCESSIVELY SORE?

Experiencing muscle soreness or tightness that inhibits proper mobility is a sign your muscles aren’t ready to experience additional stress.

2. DO YOU HAVE A NAGGING PAIN?

The appearance of pain or a “twinge” that won’t resolve, especially in the low back, knee, ankle, or foot, may indicate excessive inflammation and the need for more time to repair.

3. DO YOU FEEL WEAK OR “OFF”?

Decreased performance is one of the most common signs of overtraining. When your warm-up weight starts to feel like your max, or a 200-meter run feels like a mile, it’s a good sign it’s time to shift to a rest day (or week).

4. ARE YOU FEELING NOT THAT INTO IT?

Loss of interest, enthusiasm, and motivation for performing workouts you genuinely enjoy doing typically means it’s time to take a step back. Generally, a few days off will help ignite excitement again.

5. ARE YOU OVERLY FATIGUED OR DRAINED?

The cumulative effective of a couple of bad nights of sleep, a big project at work, and family drama can expose the body to a high amount of stress in a short period of time. Adding a workout will likely push the body to experience a demand it’s not capable of managing. Taking an extra day or two and prioritizing recovery and sleep is great during these times.

If you’re relatively new to fitness, err on the side of rest if you answer yes to any of these questions. As you become more experienced with understanding how your body responds to fitness demands, you’ll have a better idea of when you should push it and when you shouldn’t.

READY, SET, GOAL!

Goals are incredibly helpful at providing vision and direction when making decisions about what you want to accomplish long term. They can boost short-term motivation and help you organize your resources and time. In order for goals to be effective, they do not need to be overly complicated or limiting. In fact, the best way to establish your goals is to first take a step back and figure out why you want to achieve the things you do. The why behind your desire to complete a goal is a powerful motivator. When you take your focus off of the what and connect it with your why, your goal takes on a life of its own. You’re connected to the purpose rather than to the action itself.

To figure out your why, simply write down two or three general things you hope to accomplish with the Coconuts and Kettlebells Fitness Plan. Now ask yourself why it is you want to achieve those things. If it helps, write this down as well. Then take your answer and ask yourself why again. Continue to ask yourself why with each answer you give until you’ve done it a total of five times. Once you do, you will have gotten to the heart of your desire. For example, if you’d like to become stronger and build stamina, you may discover your final why is to spend more quality time playing outside with your kids.

When going through this process, be honest with yourself. It’s easy to give the answer you think you should because you perceive it’s the “right” one. By allowing yourself to dig deeper and evaluate the reasons behind your desires, you may find what you want changes. Once you’ve successfully developed your why, write it down on a sticky note and place it somewhere prominent. Connect with your why once a week and use it to evaluate whether a specific action or decision is aligned with your end goal.

Once you’ve figured out your why, it’s time to create a few goals for yourself. First, create one long-term goal you’d like to achieve in the next six to twelve months. This should be related to your why, but more specific and measurable. Second, create one short-term goal you’d like to achieve in the next one to three months. Your short-term goal should be a stepping stone to achieving your long-term goal. For example, your short-term goal may be to perform your first modified push-up in six weeks, while your long-term goal is to do five regular push-ups in six to eight months. Your why behind your goals might be to feel stronger and more confident in your ability to defend yourself.

Just because you’ve created goals for yourself doesn’t mean your success is now defined by whether you achieve them or not. Your goals are simply meant to focus your efforts and give you markers for measuring progress. You have the freedom to change your goals at any time based on the feedback your body is giving you. If you end up dealing with an unexpected injury or find that your body needs more time to adapt, you can shift your goals accordingly. Being flexible in this way allows you to see fitness as a journey rather than a destination. It gives you the freedom to celebrate small wins, and reevaluate your goals along the way instead of getting hung up on something that may not be right for you. In this environment, progress occurs gradually and with ease.

HOW TO TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

When you follow a fitness plan, tracking your progress gives you feedback about your efforts. Because progress occurs in small, incremental shifts, if you don’t intentionally track your progress, you’re likely to miss the improvements you are making. This can lead to loss of motivation, discouragement, and jumping from one plan to the next, which can inhibit progress altogether. To give you a clear picture of whether your plan is helping you achieve your goals, here are four measurable components of fitness you can track and evaluate regularly.

1. VOLUME

The number of workouts you’re able to maintain each week. For example, if you perform three workouts per week and eventually work up to maintaining four workouts per week, that’s measurable progress. If you’re limited to a set number of workouts each week, you could also assess the total time spent working out. Going from doing three 20-minute workouts per week to three 30-minute workouts per week is also an increase in volume.

2. STRENGTH

How much force (weight in pounds or kilograms) your muscles can exert. In essence, this is the weight you’re able to use in workouts. If you use a 12kg kettlebell for a workout and two months later use a 16kg kettlebell for the same workout, your strength has improved.

3. ENDURANCE

The number of repetitions you’re able to do. This could include the number of push-ups or squats you’re able to do within a given time period, how far you can run without stopping, or the number of sprints you can do in a specific workout.

4. SPEED

The rate at which you’re able to perform a specific task. For example, you may perform a workout two minutes faster than you once did or cover more ground during a thirty-second sprint.

A Word on the Scale

Many people make the mistake of using only the scale to track progress. The truth is, the scale doesn’t show the status of your health or fitness or changes in lean body mass. Unfortunately, when the scale is the only marker of success, small fluctuations in weight can result in unnecessary stress, anxiety, and feelings of defeat, and the manipulation of a number becomes more important than improving the health of the body. This is why it’s so important to track a variety of metrics that can be compiled to present a clearer picture. While numbers can be helpful for establishing a starting point, regular assessment of physical weight can be incredibly misleading. Your self-worth and success are not defined by a number, and health and happiness don’t all of a sudden appear at a certain weight. Focusing on all the ways in which your quality of life is improving will allow you to focus on the journey rather than treating health as a destination.

In addition to tracking the metrics from your workouts, it’s also important to assess how you feel overall. Do you have more energy? Are you less fatigued? Are you sleeping better? Recording how you feel before and after your workouts and making note of how your daily tasks are being impacted will help you assess these changes. While sometimes overlooked, small improvements in managing day-to-day activities is the result of your body becoming more capable.

To help you track your progress, you can download my free Coconuts and Kettlebells Progress Tracker at coconutsandkettlebells.com/bookdownloads.

EQUIPMENT GUIDE

All the workouts in the Coconuts and Kettlebells Fitness Plan use two specific tools: your body and kettlebells. As a result, the workouts are easy to implement and cost-effective. If you’re new to kettlebells and plan to do these workouts at home, here’s a quick rundown of what you’ll need.

1. KETTLEBELLS

A kettlebell is a weighted ball with a flat bottom and a handle on top. They come in a variety of sizes and are used to build strength, power, and endurance. Kettlebells are incredibly versatile due to their shape and how you can manipulate them. They can be pressed, held, swung, thrown, and moved in hundreds of ways. When used properly, they teach the body how to move better by improving mobility, range of motion, and stability. Kettlebells are traditionally made from iron or steel and sold in 4kg weight increments.

WHICH WEIGHTS SHOULD YOU BUY?

If you’re totally new to kettlebells or have limited experience with strength training, I recommend first purchasing a kettlebell that is around 8kg (or 17 pounds). Your first kettlebell will be what you use to learn different movements, including both upper- and lower-body movements. A good way to gauge how this will feel is to hold a 15-pound dumbbell in your hand at the gym or a sporting goods store. See how the weight feels and make sure you’re comfortable pressing it overhead and stepping back into a lunge with it in your hand.

If you have experience with kettlebells and/or strength training, I recommend purchasing a 12kg (26-pound) kettlebell as your first kettlebell. This weight will be great for most upper- and total-body movements. As you become more proficient in kettlebell movements, you can purchase a 16kg (35-pound) or 20kg (44-pound) kettlebell as your second kettlebell for total- and lower-body movements. Purchasing a third kettlebell that weighs at least 24kg (52 pounds) for lower-body movements is great if you plan to get more serious about kettlebell training and want to work out exclusively at home.

Because kettlebells are growing in popularity, they are now available at some larger sporting goods stores. They are also available online from vendors like CFF Fit (cfffit.com) and Dragon Door (dragondoor.com), which offer high-quality kettlebells that have a money-back guarantee or lifetime warranty. I recommend getting classic cast-iron kettlebells over vinyl or plastic varieties, which tend to be less durable and have inconsistent sizing.

2. MAT

Although the purpose of an exercise mat is self-explanatory, it’s a must-have when doing workouts at home. A high-quality, comfortable mat will allow you to perform stretches, mobility exercises, and other workout activities on a variety of surfaces, including tile and wood flooring, asphalt, or concrete. For high-intensity training and kettlebell workouts, I recommend getting an interlockng exercise mat, which can be found at sporting goods stores or online through retailers like Amazon. These mats provide a larger space to work out on (six tiles typically cover 24 square feet), and they stay put during workouts.

3. GYM CHALK

When using kettlebells, a little gym chalk goes a long way. While you’ll likely be fine without this in the beginning, as you move on to doing more challenging workouts, gym chalk will help you maintain your grip on the kettlebell. This is especially important when it’s hot or you’re sweating a lot. A block of gym chalk can be found at most sporting goods stores or online through retailers like CFF Fit or Amazon.

For direct links to the fitness products I recommend, go to coconutsandkettlebells.com/bookresources.

THE EXTRAS

While these items aren’t needed to complete the workouts in the Coconuts and Kettlebells Fitness Plan, here are a few extra fitness tools you may find valuable when doing workouts at home.

1. FOAM ROLLER

Foam rollers are cylinders of high-density foam that allow you to do self-massage on your muscles and soft tissue. Using the weight of your body, foam rolling can be used to increase blood flow and loosen up tight muscles prior to activity, or to work out tightness and areas of pain post-workout. It’s also a great technique for opening the thoracic spine. I recommend purchasing The Grid from TriggerPoint Therapy, as it’s durable and won’t compress over time. If you’re on a budget, a simple high-density foam roller will do the trick.

2. MASSAGE STICK

Much like foam rollers, massage sticks allow you to do self-massage on your muscles and soft tissue. However, instead of using your body weight, you apply pressure by manipulating the stick across a muscle. Massage sticks are great for working out “kinks” or tightness in the neck, quads, calves, and IT (iliotibial) band. The Stick and Addaday are my two favorite brands; however, you can find many different varieties at sporting good stores or from online retailers like Amazon.

3. PLYO BOX

A plyometric (plyo) box is a versatile piece of equipment that can be used for strength and plyometric exercises. You can use it to perform movements like step-ups, elevated push-ups, and box jumps. I recommend getting a 3-in-1 plyo box, which is the most stable and can be positioned on different sides to create a variety of heights. Both wood and cushioned plyo boxes are available from online retailers like CFF Fit. If you’re on a budget, fixed or adjustable plyo boxes can be found in a variety of heights at sporting good stores or from online retailers like Amazon.

WHAT TO EAT BEFORE AND AFTER YOUR WORKOUTS

As long as you’re consuming nutrient-dense foods and eating sufficient calories, your body will have the resources it needs to support your workouts. This doesn’t mean what you eat before and after your workouts is irrelevant; it simply means the strategies you use will depend on your lifestyle and schedule. To help you figure out what is going to work best for you, here are some general workout nutrition guidelines.

PRE-WORKOUT NUTRITION

The food you consume before your workout helps to ward off hunger and sustain your energy levels during your workout. Your pre-workout meal can be the last meal you ate or a small snack consumed shortly before your workout. Let’s look at your three main options for pre-workout meal timing.

Option 1: Train while fasting

You work out first thing in the morning before breakfast and do not eat beforehand. This works great for people who need to work out very early, and when they work out, and for people who are more prone to GI distress during workouts. As long as you’ve supplied your body with sufficient calories the day before and are doing a workout from this book or similar (under an hour), this is a great option to experiment with.

Option 2: Consume a small snack 30 to 60 minutes before your workout

You work out in the morning before breakfast or several hours after a meal. While the exact timing will be individual to you, if it’s been at least 3 to 4 hours since you ate a meal, eating a small snack 30 to 60 minutes prior to your workout can help boost your energy and performance.

Option 3: Consume a meal 2 to 3 hours before your workout

You work out midmorning, midafternoon, or at night after a meal. Working out 2 to 3 hours after one of your typical meals (breakfast, lunch, or dinner) gives your body enough time to digest your food and will leave you feeling energized and ready to go.

PRE-WORKOUT SNACK OPTIONS

When eating a pre-workout snack, start with a small serving of protein and add a high-quality source of fat and/or carbohydrates, depending on your individual needs and what makes you feel best during your workouts. Adjust your serving size according to how much time you have until your workout, how hungry you are, and the length of your upcoming workout.

If you tend to thrive following a higher-fat approach, try:

If you tend to thrive following a higher-carbohydrate approach, try:

POST-WORKOUT NUTRITION

After a workout, your body kick-starts a number of physiological processes in order to return to a resting state and create adaptations so it can handle the same amount of stress more easily in the future. During this time, the body becomes a nutrient-processing powerhouse, as replenishing and repairing muscle tissue requires a variety of resources. While it was once assumed that you must eat within thirty minutes of completing a workout to give the body what it needs, recent research has shown that for the majority of people, the magic isn’t in the timing. What matters are the total calories and nutrients you eat throughout the day.

In other words, your post-workout meal is an opportunity to add to your overall intake of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, which will supply your body with the resources it needs to recover from your workouts.

What and how much you eat after a workout will depend on when your last meal was, and the volume and intensity of your training. Here are some basic guidelines to follow when creating a template that works for you.

Option 1: Consume a post-workout snack

If you ate a meal a couple of hours prior to your workout, a small post-workout snack is a great way to get in necessary nutrients and will hold you over until your next meal.

Option 2: Consume a post-workout meal

If your pre-workout meal was several hours before your workout or was a small one, eating a post-workout meal afterward is a good idea. If you worked out first thing in the morning and didn’t eat beforehand, make it a priority to get in a sufficient meal shortly after your workout.

SHOULD YOU EAT MORE CARBS OR PROTEIN?

When doing longer, higher-intensity workouts, your need for carbohydrates increases. Because of this, you’ll want to include a good whack of carbohydrates in your post-workout snack or meal. As a general guideline, start with a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. This means that if you consume 20 grams of protein, you’ll want to consume 40 grams (or more) of carbohydrates. When doing shorter or strength-focused workouts, focus on consuming sufficient protein post-workout. While you’ll still want to consume carbohydrates, intentionally upping your intake is less important.

POST-WORKOUT SNACK OPTIONS

When eating a post-workout snack, include whole-food sources of protein and carbohydrates. Good sources of protein include those that are high in essential amino acids, such as meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs. For carbohydrates, you can choose from a variety of starchy vegetables and fruit, including potatoes, squash, plantains, bananas, apples, and berries. Here are a few ideas for post-workout snack combinations:

  • 1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs plus fresh fruit
  • Meat (such as shredded cooked chicken or roast beef) plus an apple
  • Chicken-Sage Meatballs plus a baked sweet potato
  • On the go? Try grass-fed jerky plus dried fruit and nuts

When Nutrient Timing Is Important

There are two special cases when eating shortly after a workout is important. First, if you’re training fasted, you’ll want to consume your post-workout meal soon after your workout as it will have a direct impact on your body’s ability to switch “on” muscle protein synthesis—or the rebuilding of muscle tissue. Second, if you’re an endurance athlete or training multiple times a day, quickly restoring lost glycogen (carbohydrates) is critical to your next training session.

BUSTING POST-WORKOUT NUTRITION MYTHS

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM THE EVIDENCE
“Protein shakes work best post-workout because they are easy to digest and fast-acting.” While protein shakes are convenient, there is no real evidence that shows protein powders, especially fast-acting ones, are superior to whole foods post-workout.
“You shouldn’t eat fruit post-workout, as fructose is sent to the liver to be processed first. Instead, eat starchy carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes.” Fruit is perfectly acceptable to eat post-workout. In fact, research suggests that consuming a combination of glucose and fructose is superior to other foods because it is better tolerated and just as effective at replenishing muscle glycogen over a 24-hour period. Rapid replenishment of muscle glycogen is important only if you train multiple times a day.
“Don’t include fat in your post-workout meal, as it slows digestion and will inhibit muscle protein synthesis.” While fat does slow digestion, the speed at which your post-workout meal is digested is not as important as once thought. In fact, preliminary research suggests that fat does not get in the way of glycogen replenishment and may increase the utilization of amino acids for muscle protein synthesis.