Dr Gabe Mirkin on his blog this week talked about how important it is to take in protein after exercise.
Protein as we all know is built in your body and constructed from 22 amino acids. Some of these amino acids can be made by your body and another few namely histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. In addition, the amino acids arginine, cysteine, glycine and tyrosine are essential amino acids – that is aminos that you need to get from your diet.
Dr Mirkin talks about the fact that your blood levels of amino acids drops after a tough workout and the sooner after you take in protein the better.
This is one of those things that I think is a bit of a myth in bodybuilding and that is the taking of amino acids. Amino acids can be bought in pill form but I really think that this is the most expensive way to get your nutrition. How about doing something a little more normal like drinking a protein drink after your workout? Another thing that you can do is make sure that you protein levels are good by eating more steak, chicken, and one of my favorite cheap protein sources, Tuna.
From now on if you do not do it already make sure that you get protein after your workout. Nowadays it is fairly cheap to get a vanilla or chocolate whey protein powder that you can mix with juice, milk or even water.