Pre-Workout Collagen Matcha

[Kim21161]

Hi! First Whole 30 over here. I normally workout early morning before work; would a collagen matcha with water/coconut or almond milk and raw cacao butter be an okay choice for a pre-workout? I would normally have done 1/2 a banana with almond butter, but am trying to cut that out. 

Thank you!

[Endurance Steve]

Why are you trying to cut out the banana + almond butter combo? In my experience that's a great pre-WO snack to top off the glycogen stores, while the almond butter slows any unnecessary / undesirable sugar spike. 

What kind of workout volume / intensity are you looking to do?

[ladyshanny]

Hi @Kim21161 - we recommend pre workout to be protein and fat (so hardboiled egg & mayo or chicken thigh and guacamole) and then post workout is lean protein and starchy veggie. These are in addition to your regular meals and are only a couple/few bites of each.

@Endurance Steve - Whole30 aims for people to become fat adapted so we recommend a protein and fat combo for pre-workout in order not to give the body quick-burning carbs but rather to ask it to access stored fat.

[Kim21161]

Hi @Endurance Steve. that's exactly why I'd always chosen that , but trying to adjust for the reasons @ladyshanny listed above. Really just trying to follow the program as recommended I suppose. I do high intensity intervals (weights and cardio) 3 times a week and lower intensity cardio/weight routines a couple times a week. It's usually the high intensity ones I really need the boost for, especially right after waking up!

@ladyshanny Would the collagen (protein) and fats (cacao butter) in the matcha not work? Or is it enough to really give my body that boost?

Thank you both!!

[ladyshanny]

2 minutes ago, Kim21161 said:

 Would the collagen (protein) and fats (cacao butter) in the matcha not work? Or is it enough to really give my body that boost?

I'm not the expert source on this but collagen is not a complete protein, it only has 2 amino acids, both of which are non-essential (meaning the body can manufacture them itself) and neither of those amino acids are particularly effective in relation to muscle building or repair. I would try and stick with food-based pre and post workout. It's a fairly integral part of the "relationship with food" bit of Whole30 as well because it causes us to look at actual foods rather than the more processed "quick" options we are used to. It's really up to you and wouldn't be considered non-compliant.

[Kim21161]

@ladyshanny Interesting! Got it, thanks so much! I'll work on incorporating a different pre-workout snack going forward for sure. 

[Endurance Steve]

On 10/10/2018 at 10:50 AM, ladyshanny said:

 

@Endurance Steve - Whole30 aims for people to become fat adapted so we recommend a protein and fat combo for pre-workout in order not to give the body quick-burning carbs but rather to ask it to access stored fat.

Hi @ladyshanny, definitely agree with that goal, but I think the other key of the Whole30 at least as I read it was to not be afraid of carbs, that in a whole food source way they can be a valuable part of your fueling strategy. The small amount of carbs in 1 banana shouldn't materially shift the body's fuel usage, especially when buffered by the high fat of the almond butter.

Definitely agree on collagen not being a quality complete protein source, it is apparently heavily skewed to 3 of the 9 essential amino acids (and is missing several entirely as well).