Diets play an important role in fitness. The famous American trainer, Zack George states:
“you can’t out-train a bad diet.”
The fittest gym goers know that abs are made in the kitchen. Zack provides an insight on what foods to consume before and after going for a work out.
Diet and fitness
People join gyms to lose weight and for muscle building and fitness. They train hard for it. But despite that, they all are aware that diet has a more supreme role in all this and exercise alone cannot better the muscles.
Zack childhood photo: then and now (Source: Insider)American trainer, Zack George is a fit person. He holds the title of the fittest man in the UK in the past. Moreover, he is one of the best CrossFit athletes and does great workouts. But Zack discloses:
“I was a very overweight kid, very different to how I am now,”
He only wanted to have chocolates, he said. For nutrition, he took the assistance of Mike Molloy who has founded the M2 Performance Nutrition. Zack has full trust and faith in Mike and his advice.
Zack’s nutrition and pre-workout food
About his diet, Zack revealed:
“I always ate healthily, but had cheat meals. Now, what propels me massively is the timing of food intake and when to tweak and change macros around certain events, like the Open.”
Zack George (Source: Hard work motivation)Mike explains that prior to a workout, muscle glycogen storage is vital. This glycogen is used during the high-intensity workouts. He added:
“We’re looking for a relatively high-carb, moderate-protein, lower-fat meal, somewhere between 90 to 120 minutes prior to the start of the workout.”
Zack loves oats and has them before his gym. Mike states that if the workout will take more than 90 minutes, it is best to have an intra workout carb to help the person keep going.
Post workout food
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Often, Zack has two workouts per day. Hence, the post workout of session one becomes a pre workout for session two. Hence after his first workout of the day, Zack takes a protein shake containing a good amount of carbs or a high carb meal. This helps to start the muscle rebuilding process.
Zack George (Source: South China Morning Post)And he is ready with fuel for session two in the gym. Mike explained:
“From a training point of view, we want every one of Zack’s sessions to be as good as it can possibly be, so by taking care of our post-workout nutrition after session one, we can guarantee that session two is going to be a higher-quality workout.”
And after the second session, Mike said that Zack has a second protein shake or a full meal. Zack has a cheat meal at times. For him it is a “a low-stress, go out, enjoy it, don’t-worry-about-the-calories meal”, says Mike. But three months before the Open, that cheat meals will cease. Zack also does stress management and has adequate sleep for better performance.