Cycling Nutrition with Monique Ryan: Weight training recipes for cyclists

Despite the lingering cold temperatures in many states you are likely quite focused on your training program for the 2009 season. Strength training is an important early season training component and offers many benefits to cyclists, including maintenance of lean body mass or muscle as you get older, improved performance on the bike during race season, and injury prevention. To make the most of your early season weight-training efforts, a good strength-training program should receive all the appropriate nutritional support possible.

Nutritional strategies can help you make the most of your genetic potential for muscle development, and generally gains occur relatively quickly at the start of a training program, with results slowing down as your body adjusts. You may also want to decrease body fat while focusing on muscle building. This can be difficult to do: muscle building relies on positive energy balance (more in versus out), while losing body fat relies on negative energy balance (less in versus out). So you do have to prioritize your body-composition goals at different times during the season. Monitoring your body composition is an important tool for assessing progress, rather than just checking the weight on the scale.

Muscle- and strength-building occurs through the process of anabolism, or the building up of tissue. Weight training breaks down muscle fibers, and providing your body with the right nutrients amounts of specific nutrients, while consuming enough energy, provides the tools for rebuilding these muscle fibers, making them bigger and stronger. If you are still heavily focused on building muscle, let’s say at the rate of one pound weekly, you need to consume an additional 350 to 500 calories daily above your energy needs for daily activity and other workouts to effectively build muscle mass.

While this caloric boost likely is welcome, it is not an excuse for overindulging. Other components of your training program may be demanding from an energy perspective on certain days, such as weekends when longer workouts and outdoor rides are possible. Other training days may not be as calorically demanding. Total daily energy needs may be low, moderate, or high depending on the intensity and duration of your training, and whether your resistance-training session is back to back with another workout.

While it might seem counter-intuitive, carbohydrate is an important nutrient to focus on for several reasons. First, carbohydrate supplies fuel for weight training. While creatine phosphate stored in the muscle is an important fuel source during weight training, so is muscle glycogen. Often your strength-training workouts are followed by or follow aerobic workouts, which also tap into your muscle glycogen stores. As always, focus on whole grain, high-nutrient carbohydrate sources, and include plenty of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet.

Obviously you need to meet your protein requirements, and they are elevated when muscle building is your body-composition priority. It is important to understand that these higher total protein requirements are easily met by consuming a varied and balanced diet, and likely this does not require any higher a protein intake than when you are in the midst of a nutritionally demanding race season. Any excess protein that you do consume will be converted to fat for storage, or burned as an energy source. Very high protein diets can also result in excess intake of saturated fat.

One of the most effective nutritional strategies for building muscle mass is the precision timing intake of specific nutrients before, during, and after your weight-training sessions. Timing of protein intake is especially important, as this provides optimal levels of amino acids in the blood around weight-training sessions. Several studies have that consuming a combination of protein and carbohydrates before and after a weights workout is very effective in promoting muscle building. The benefit of both timings are effective, and both can be utilized, but the protein and carbohydrates combination before weight training has a slight muscle building edge over consuming the same nutrient combination post-training.

Aim for 15 to 20 g of protein from high quality sources such as skim-milk dairy products, whey protein, and protein from animal foods, as the branch chain amino acids they contain are potent stimulators of muscle protein synthesis. Adding 35 to 50 g of carbohydrate also enhances the muscle-building milieu. If your weight lifting is followed by an endurance or cardiovascular workout, you can also add more carbohydrate to the mix to fuel both workouts.

Within an hour before training, whether weight training, endurance training, or a combination of both, you need to assess your food and fluid tolerances. Before exercise, a commercial supplement providing high quality proteins and carbohydrates is both convenient and hydrating. Some protein supplements may need to be consumed with a carbohydrate containing food or fluid. Supplements usually provide one or more of several high quality protein sources, including whey, casein, and soy proteins. Whey protein is derived from milk, very high quality, and easy to digest. Whey protein isolate can be lactose free if needed. Soy protein isolate is also a high quality source, as is casein, also derived from milk. Egg protein from egg whites is also a very high quality protein.

There has been a limited amount of research examining the speed of absorption of various protein structures, as it is believed that this would affect the metabolic and hormonal response to a meal. One theory espouses the use of a combination of whey protein — a “slow” protein, in combination with casein, “a fast”protein. More data are needed to confirm this theory, but either source of protein can be included in your pre-training snack. Often, only a moderate scoop of protein is required to reach the 15 to 20 g, though higher doses may be encouraged on the label.

Supplements can also be expensive and do not necessarily offer muscle-building advantages over the right choice of real foods. After weight training, or a combination of weights and a cardio workout, you can consume the same 15 to 20 g of protein, and anywhere from 50 to 75 g of carbohydrate for both fuel recovery and muscle building. High quality protein can be obtained from milk, yogurt, low fat cheese, poultry, fish, and lean meats. This is also a good time to consume higher glycemic carbohydrates that elicit a greater insulin response (an anabolic hormone) and facilitate muscle glycogen repletion. Some snack outlining protein and carbohydrate combinations are listed below.

Other considerations are hydration and fat intake. During weight training you can focus on hydration and consume a sports drink if the session is prolonged and intense, and especially if followed by a cardio training session. Rehydrate after training as well, about 20 ounces of fluid for every pound of weight lost during the training session. Fats also perform many important functions, one of which is maintaining testosterone levels. Of course, we’re talking about healthy fats from fish, olive oil, canola oil, avocado, nuts and seeds.

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