Eating & Exercise: Proper Nutrition & Working Out

You’re dedicated to your workout. Likewise, you want to choose the perfect foods and nutrients to support performance and recovery.

There is no one-size-fits-all plan for nutrition needs around your workout. An endurance athlete may have different requirements than a bodybuilder. What works for you will also depend on the type of exercise, its intensity, and how long you workout.

When you exercise regularly, your need for certain nutrients such as magnesium increases.^[1] Many vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients play critical roles in exercise metabolism.

We’ve combined several of these key nutrients – including glutamine, creatine and carnitine – in Max Fit. This exclusive formula can support endurance, energy levels, and recovery around your workout.

The food you eat also provides nutrients and energy to fuel exercise. Carbohydrates and protein especially play important roles around exercise:

The body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose, the main source of fuel for cells. Whatever glucose cells don’t need immediately gets stored in liver and muscle cells as glycogen. During a workout, the body derives most of its energy from glycogen. Depleted levels of glycogen can lead to problems such as fatigue during exercise.^[2]
The body breaks down protein into amino acids, the building blocks for muscle. Athletes need more protein, depending on how intense your exercise routine is.^[3] Learn more about why protein is so important for athletes.

Peak Performance: What the Body Needs to Thrive During Exercise

The foods you eat and nutrients your body absorbs around your workout can help you perform better and recover fast. While there are no definitive rules, these strategies will help you determine the best nutrient strategy around your workout.

Before Your Workout

Some people do well working out on an empty stomach. Others find that a pre-workout snack keeps them focused and performing better while exercising. If you find that eating helps before a workout, choose foods with protein and slow-release carbohydrates.

Convenience is key, and our Optimal Energy Bar is the perfect grab-and-go pre-workout snack. Each bar provides protein as well as slow-release carbohydrates and healthy fats from sources like coconut to keep you full and focused while you workout.

Hydration is critical around your workout. Drink 15 to 20 ounces of water about an hour before your workout. About 15 minutes before your workout, drink eight to 10 ounces of water.

During Your Workout

Your pre-workout snack should sustain you during exercise. If you’re performing especially intense or longer-duration fitness, you might find that a protein smoothie or light snack will support your efforts.

Regardless whether you eat, continue to stay hydrated. Especially during an intense workout, you can lose fluid, which can impair performance. Drink eight ounces every 15 minutes while you’re working out.^[4] Keep a canteen of filtered water nearby to remind you.

After Your Workout

Eating the right nutrients soon after you exercise can help:

Stimulate muscle protein synthesis
Improve recovery
Enhance performance during your next workout ^[5]

A protein smoothie makes the perfect post-workout snack. A smoothie is fast, convenient, and allows you to add nutrient-rich ingredients that support recovery. Support your immune system while providing your body the nutrients it needs to thrive during exercise with our Immunity Boosting Smoothie.

Hydration is also critical for recovery. Our Max Fitterade is a delicious, easy-to-make beverage to enjoy after your workout. Coconut water is an excellent way to replenish electrolytes lost during a workout, while berries provide the antioxidants your body needs.

The Perfect Protein for Athletes

Studies have shown that people who consume protein before and after a workout have greater improvements in endurance as well as building and maintaining muscle.^[6]

For many athletes, their go-to protein source is whey because muscle cells absorb it very well to support muscle growth and recovery. Whey protein provides a complete source of all essential amino acids, including leucine. Whey is the perfect protein to:

Prevent age-related muscle loss
Improve strength
Maintain muscle mass
Improve body composition
Lower inflammation
Boost glutathione, the body’s most abundant antioxidant ^[7]

Whey has other benefits that can support athletes, including appetite control and improving metabolism, which can help you stay lean and strong.

Unfortunately, many commercial whey powders contain added sugar, food sensitivities including artificial ingredients, and other problem ingredients. Processing can damage or denature their fragile amino acids. Milk can come from cows with diets fed grain and corn, freely given antibiotics and hormones. All of these things can impair the overall quality of whey.

Our goal was to create the best whey powder on the market. Every serving of Grass-Fed Whey Protein packs 20 grams of the highest-quality whey protein. The delicious chocolate or vanilla flavors mix well in liquid to provide a simple, convenient way of getting protein around your workout.

Our whey is delicately processed to ensure that vital enzymes, vitamins, minerals and other immune factors remain intact. The cows that provide our whey graze on pesticide-free pastures. We don’t use hormones or antibiotics.

3 More Ways to Optimize Nutrition Around Your Workout

What you eat and how you live also impact your workout. With these three strategies, you’ll optimize performance and recovery.

Focus on overall food quality. While what you eat around your workout matters, your overall food intake is critical for performance and recovery. Our Core and Advanced Plans provide the nutrient-rich, anti-inflammatory foods that your body needs to thrive physically and mentally.
Get the right nutrients. Even with the healthiest diet, you might not be getting the key nutrients you need to thrive. Vitamin D levels, for instance, can impact muscle function and physical performance. Many athletes are deficient in vitamin D. Research shows that supplementation can improve physical performance.^[8] Our Daily Essentials for Men and Women provide critical nutrients – including B vitamins, magnesium, vitamin D3, and omega-3 fatty acids – in one convenient-to-take packet.
Maintain solid lifestyle habits. What you do outside of your fitness routine is critical for muscle growth, performance, and recovery.

Get 8 hours of quality, uninterrupted sleep every night. Good sleep aids the body’s repair and recovery. During deep sleep, the body also produces growth hormone, which is essential to build, repair, and maintain muscle tissue.
Manage stress levels. Feeling constantly stressed out can impair recovery, lower energy levels, and increase soreness after a workout. Conversely, studies associate lower stress levels with superior recovery.^[9] These 16 ways to relieve stress will help you perform and recover better.
Visit your chiropractor. Regular chiropractic visits can improve joint strength, muscle soreness, circulation, and recovery while addressing specific concerns that you might have as an athlete. Learn more about how chiropractic care can support performance and recovery here.

Reach Your Fitness Goals Fast

With our MaxT3 program, you can get in the best shape of your life… in only 12 minutes! Each of the 24 workouts you get here are based on the most cutting-edge exercise science called metabolic conditioning. You can adjust these workouts to dial up specific results. Max T3 gives you the benefits of a gym membership without leaving your home. You can learn more about this cutting-edge program here.