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If you are trying to learn how to build muscle with HIIT then you may have noticed how much confusion surrounds this popular training method. Despite it's huge popularity, many people make some crucial mistakes when designing their high intensity interval program.
Of course, we are talking about nutrition. In fact it is the pre-workout period of nutrition which we will be discussing in more depth today because this is the area which many people don't pay any attention to at all.
Before you workout you need to ensure that your body has been supplied with the best nutrients to perform the tough session ahead. If you do this then you can potentially increase your results by up to 30%, so it is worth taking a few moments to look into the latest science on the subject. []
The first thing you must do to get the right nutrients before a hard workout is look at which energy source you'll be using in your session. While long, steady-state cardiovascular workouts tend to slowly chip away at your body's fat storage, intervals do not do this. Instead, they mainly use your glycogen (carb) stores.
If you have done your research you will already know that the major benefits of high intensity interval training take place outside of the gym, during the recovery period after your workout. This process, known as EPOC, is where your body tries to protect what's left of it's carbohydrate reserves and focuses on burning body fat for the fuel it needs in order to function properly. Carbs are your body's primary energy source, so when you have burnt through most of your body's reserves it's going to work hard to protect what little it has left, switching the focus on other nutrients instead. This magical post-workout effect can last a whopping 14 hours if you get it right.
As you can see, what we want to be doing in the gym is depleting your carb resources as quickly as possible so that we can force the body to enter the afterburn effect immediately when you finish working out. So, for this very reason, it would be foolish to eat a big bowl of oatmeal before you trained.
This is why many people choose to workout on an empty stomach. But is this approach really the best way to maximize results?
Not quite. While performing interval training on an empty stomach is slightly more beneficial than performing it with a ton of carbs in your system, there is an even better way to increase results further. The biggest mistake people tend to make when watching their carbohydrate intake is forgetting to increase protein intake. As a result their body burns off a lot of muscle. To avoid this, simply increase your protein intake. This can be done by hitting the gym after a whey protein shake instead of a carbohydrate heavy meal.
One other minor mistake many people make is to go with BCAA supplements after a session. Recent studies confirm that consuming Essential Amino Acids (EAA's) instead of BCAA's will increase results further. While any branched chain amino acids supplement will provide you with three of the key amino acids for building lean muscle tissue, they neglect the others. Amino acids function as a team, therefore taking EAA's would be much more functional.
Furthermore, consuming your serving pre-workout as opposed to post-workout has been shown to increase muscle uptake by around 27%. Combined with a whey protein shake, you'll be able to protect your body from any lean tissue breakdown and fight off any feelings of hunger while performing high intensity training and burning through those carbohydrate reserves.
While these approaches are a little different than the advice which goes with a regular training program, interval training is anything but a regular training program and there is already sufficient scientific evidence pointing towards these methods. If you want to learn how to build muscle using HIIT then you need to take a little bit of time to structure your pre-workout nutrition in order to increase results to their maximum potential.
Of course, we are talking about nutrition. In fact it is the pre-workout period of nutrition which we will be discussing in more depth today because this is the area which many people don't pay any attention to at all.
Before you workout you need to ensure that your body has been supplied with the best nutrients to perform the tough session ahead. If you do this then you can potentially increase your results by up to 30%, so it is worth taking a few moments to look into the latest science on the subject. [
See the top 5 types of hiit sessions and what they are designed for.
The first thing you must do to get the right nutrients before a hard workout is look at which energy source you'll be using in your session. While long, steady-state cardiovascular workouts tend to slowly chip away at your body's fat storage, intervals do not do this. Instead, they mainly use your glycogen (carb) stores.
If you have done your research you will already know that the major benefits of high intensity interval training take place outside of the gym, during the recovery period after your workout. This process, known as EPOC, is where your body tries to protect what's left of it's carbohydrate reserves and focuses on burning body fat for the fuel it needs in order to function properly. Carbs are your body's primary energy source, so when you have burnt through most of your body's reserves it's going to work hard to protect what little it has left, switching the focus on other nutrients instead. This magical post-workout effect can last a whopping 14 hours if you get it right.
As you can see, what we want to be doing in the gym is depleting your carb resources as quickly as possible so that we can force the body to enter the afterburn effect immediately when you finish working out. So, for this very reason, it would be foolish to eat a big bowl of oatmeal before you trained.
This is why many people choose to workout on an empty stomach. But is this approach really the best way to maximize results?
Not quite. While performing interval training on an empty stomach is slightly more beneficial than performing it with a ton of carbs in your system, there is an even better way to increase results further. The biggest mistake people tend to make when watching their carbohydrate intake is forgetting to increase protein intake. As a result their body burns off a lot of muscle. To avoid this, simply increase your protein intake. This can be done by hitting the gym after a whey protein shake instead of a carbohydrate heavy meal.
One other minor mistake many people make is to go with BCAA supplements after a session. Recent studies confirm that consuming Essential Amino Acids (EAA's) instead of BCAA's will increase results further. While any branched chain amino acids supplement will provide you with three of the key amino acids for building lean muscle tissue, they neglect the others. Amino acids function as a team, therefore taking EAA's would be much more functional.
Furthermore, consuming your serving pre-workout as opposed to post-workout has been shown to increase muscle uptake by around 27%. Combined with a whey protein shake, you'll be able to protect your body from any lean tissue breakdown and fight off any feelings of hunger while performing high intensity training and burning through those carbohydrate reserves.
While these approaches are a little different than the advice which goes with a regular training program, interval training is anything but a regular training program and there is already sufficient scientific evidence pointing towards these methods. If you want to learn how to build muscle using HIIT then you need to take a little bit of time to structure your pre-workout nutrition in order to increase results to their maximum potential.
About the Author:
About the author: Russ Howe PTI coaches classes in the gym and online. If you'd like to know how to build muscle or require advice on a good hiit routine, his videos will help you improve results.
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