Crossfit workouts push you to the limit every time, but you only see the best results if you get your post-workout routine right. Nutrition is such an important part of that because you need to give your body all of the essential vitamins and nutrients that it needs to recover. Unfortunately, a lot of people make mistakes with their nutrition, which means that they don’t reach their full fitness potential. If that sounds like you, follow these great nutrition tips to get the most out of Crossfit workouts.

Image From Pixabay CCO License

Don’t Skip Breakfast

It’s a common myth that working out on an empty stomach will help you burn fat. People think that your body will start burning fat right away because it doesn’t have any energy from food to draw on. However, if you exercise on an empty stomach, your body actually starts burning muscle before it burns fat. If you want to improve your performance and burn fat with a morning workout, have a healthy breakfast that includes a source of carbs and protein, and make sure to drink plenty of water.

Get Your Protein Balance Right

High intensity workouts damage the muscles and you need protein to repair them. You probably already know this, but many Crossfitters don’t get the right protein balance and this can cause problems. You can get some great protein shakes by steelsupplements.com and other companies, which help to make sure that you are getting enough protein after every workout. If you don’t have enough protein in your diet, you are likely to experience muscle fatigue that lasts for days. You won’t build muscle as quickly either, so it’s likely that you will hit a plateau and find it tough to improve your performance.

 

However, it’s equally bad for you if you eat too much protein. The average person can only absorb around 30 grams of protein at a time. If you regularly exceed this amount, your body cannot process it effectively and it puts a lot of stress on your kidneys, which can lead to long term damage if you are not careful. Finding the right protein balance is vital if you want to stay healthy and reach your fitness goals.

Don’t Underestimate The Importance Of Post-Workout Carbs

Most people assume that protein is the most important thing that your body needs after a workout. But that isn’t true and carbohydrates are actually more essential. You need carbohydrates to replenish your glycogen, which will speed up recovery times and boost your performance the next time you do a workout. You only have a short window of 30 minutes to eat carbs if you want to maximize your recovery, so it’s a good idea to take a snack along to your class and eat it right after. You have up to an hour to eat protein, so you don’t need to worry about that as much.

Get Your Vitamins In

If you’re putting your body through the paces at a Crossfit class, you need to make sure that it has all of the vitamins and nutrients that it needs to make a full recovery. People always make the mistake of focusing on protein and forgetting about all of the other good stuff that your body needs. The other big mistake that people make is thinking that you need to buy all sorts of weird and wonderful foods that cost a fortune if you want to stay healthy, but that isn’t the case at all. There are so many health food fads out there, but you should ignore them because it’s easy to eat clean without spending the earth if you just focus on good old fashioned fruit and veg. The easiest way to make sure that you get a good variety of different vitamins and nutrients is to eat lots of different colours.

Stay Hydrated

If you don’t already know that hydration is important, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. However, a lot of people underestimate just how much they need to drink, especially during a high intensity Crossfit workout. It’s important that you drink plenty before your workout, as well as during and afterwards. A lot of people only drink while exercising and then a bit afterwards, so they are still dehydrated and their body is unable to recover properly.

If you want to improve your Crossfit performance, it’s not just about pushing yourself during your WOD. You need to make sure that you follow these important nutrition tips as well. Once you start eating right, you will notice a massive improvement.

Featured Post – please see disclosure page for details