When it comes to working out, it isn’t just what you do during your workout but after your workout as well that makes a difference in how much muscle you can build. In this video, I’m going to share with you the 10 worst things to do after training that can hold back your gains and undercut the effectiveness of the time you spent in the gym.
The first of these is the use of NSAIDS or ibuprofen after a workout. People often take these in order to diminish the delayed onset muscle soreness they may experience the next day. While this may in fact help with that it also prematurely interrupts the inflammatory process that is a natural part of muscle repair and recovery. Without this, your body may not grow to its fullest muscular potential.
The next thing you want to avoid if your goal is to build muscle is jumping into an ice bath. While cold water immersion therapy has been shown to be beneficial in so many ways it, similar to the use of aspirin, can prematurely blunt the natural inflammatory process that is a natural part of helping to grow muscle.
Next up is one that many are likely happy to put in the rear view mirror and we are talking about the anabolic window. It was once thought that you needed to ingest protein within 45 minutes following a workout in order to see the benefits of muscle protein synthesis. Thankfully, that is no longer supported by science. As long as you have protein either before or within a couple hours after training you are good to go if your goal is to gain muscle mass.
That said, you do not want to diminish the importance of protein in general. Some have taken the lower importance on protein timing to mean that protein intake can also be casual. This is not the case. You need to try and ingest at least .8 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. Doing this in small and somewhat equal amounts will ensure the consistency is there to see your best muscle growth possible.
Next you want to be careful about when you are doing your conditioning and cardio workouts. If the choice was to do them before or after your workout and your goal was to build muscle then you would definitely opt for after since you wouldn’t want to tire yourself out before your strength training. That said, even right after your workout can be counterproductive for reasons supported by science. You are better off putting them on off days if able.
A couple of things that people might overlook but they are no less important in terms of seeing results from your gym workouts is not weighing yourself after a workout and forgetting to look in the mirror before you leave the gym. If you gauge the effectiveness of your workout by the weight on the scale you are going to be misled, either up or down, by the number. Also, if you forget to look at yourself with a pump you are missing a golden opportunity for motivation to keep you coming back based on the fact that this is one of the only times you get a glimpse of what the after will look like when you are currently the before.
There are a few other mistakes you are going to want to avoid and make sure you’re not doing after a workout. I will summarize them with time stamps here to follow.
In the meantime, be sure to avoid these after workout mistakes and make sure to head to athleanx.com if you want a step by step workout and meal plan to help you build muscle without any guesswork at all.
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Jeff Cavaliere MSPT, CSCS served as both the head physical therapist and assistant strength coach for the New York Mets. Jeff earned his Masters of Physical Therapy and Bachelor’s of Physioneurobiology from the College of Health Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs. He is a certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).
