Nutrition for muscle building
 

What do you eat after a strenuous ride, and how long after do you consume it? I'm trying to build muscle strength to improve speed and endurance on climbs and would like to better understand the nutrition aspect.

Thanks,
Robert

After a long or hard ride, usually a protein drink right when I get home, then ideally some real food after I get cleaned up and changed, maybe an hour or so later. Something nutritious with a good amount of vegetables, protein, and carbs. No need to get complicated. Have food prepared in advance if you don't feel like cooking after rides.

Honestly, on the weekend, anything that sounds good. Pizza comes to mind usually. I save the healthy eating and muscle building diet for the weight and cardio days at the gym, or my weekday rides. Then it's usually protein with a healthy carb and some veggies.

0.8 g protein per pound, sufficient carbs, progressive overload.

Generally a mix of carbs and protein are considered best for a post-exercise recovery drink. Having said that, I'd like to point out a few things:

1. Strenuous rides won't build a lot of muscle (but they likely will make you faster).
2. More muscle and strength won't necessarily make you faster (but it may, and it is good to have for general health reasons). Experts seem to have very differing opinions regarding this.
3. Lifting weights is the best way to build muscle and improve your strength.
4. While there is such thing as a post-exercise "window" where your body absorbs nutrients faster than normal, it really isn't that important in the grand scheme of things for most of us. People who need to recover quickly (like a cyclist in a stage race) need to worry about this, but for most of us, we have more than enough time to absorb all the nutrients we need before our next outing.
5. Regardless of what you do, building muscle generally requires a caloric surplus to be consumed. Your body can't make something out of nothing. Getting stronger can happen without a caloric surplus, but your strength gains will be somewhat limited.

I'm just curious - are you really lean already? You can increase your w/kg by either increasing you watts or by decreasing your kgs. There's certainly watts to be gained if you haven't done any structured training, but decreasing the kgs might be the lower hanging fruit.

There are a lot of companies trying to sell you the perfect "post-workout" nutritional supplement, which quick-digesting protein and carbs. But if you just eat properly *during* the ride, it'll be in the system when your body needs it.

Burgers and beer. Or cookies and donuts. Or whatever is leftover in the fridge from the night before.

Build muscle strength by riding more. Eat on rides in order to ride more.

You will see so much conflicting information online, I'd say just go with common sense. If it was a shorter, less strenuous ride, don't worry about getting food right away. If it was a really hard ride with lots of stress, I'd eat right after/within 30 minutes of stopping. As for what to eat, a good blend of protein, carbs, and fats with food that's dense in micronutrients is the way to go; i.e. meats (assuming you're not vegan/vegetarian), salad, and some carb - pasta, potatoes, whatever.

One word: protein. This is of course strictly anaerobic muscle building which is best done in the gym, and greater than anything you can produce on a ride. Improving your leg strength will most definitely improve your ability to climb.Fixed.

Although, when I'm in my muscle building mode (right now since you asked), I keep it simple and round to 1.0 g/lb. I hate math.