Juicing for workouts is a great way to get your body pumped and primed for a lengthy workout session. When you juice, you cram loads of essential nutrients into one glass that will power your workout and improve your results.
Besides the vital health benefits, essential plant nutrients give you energy, so you perform at your best in your workouts and get the most out of your exercise efforts.
Because many of us don’t like eating whole fruit and vegetables, we struggle to get our fill of the essential micronutrients. Micronutrients are gems of nature for our bodies and minds. Without them, our bodies aren’t ready for a workout.
Juicing is a fantastic and tasty way of stuffing yourself with the right amount of nutrients at the right time conveniently.
Get ready to learn all about the ultimate warriors of the juicing world. You’ll discover the nutrients, fruits, and vegetables that enhance your workout, boost your staying power, and help you take your exercise regimen to the next level.
Let’s start!
The Role Of Nutrition In Exercise
You may already know that what you eat is really important. But what you’re perhaps looking to learn is why when you eat is so important too - especially if you exercise.
Suppose you drink the right nutrient-stuffed juice an hour or two before exercise and follow it up with another an hour or two after your routine. In that case, you’re meeting all your workout nutrition needs. You don’t really need anything else.
However, it can also depend on what you want to get out of your workout. If, for example, you’re an endurance athlete who trains every day for high-level competition, you’ll need more carbs and calories than the average person who exercises. It would help if you also had more protein.
On the other hand, maybe you’re training as a bodybuilder who lifts weights to grow muscles. Because you’re looking to gain more weight, you’ll need more protein and carbs. Alternatively, you may be looking to get ready for a fitness competition, in which case your carb intake should be reduced.
It also comes down to your body type. If you have an ectomorph, you’ll probably seek more muscle. If you have a mesomorph, you’ll probably be looking to optimize your physique. If you have an endomorph, you’ll probably want to lose body fat.
However, it all comes down to the same: We all need nutrients to power us through a workout, and juicing them is just plain more straightforward and faster than eating them.
Pre-Workout Nutrition
What and when we eat before we work out can often make a substantial difference to our performance and the way we recover.
You need to eat or drink about two to three hours before a workout with nutrients that will:
Carbohydrates
Carbs are essential because consuming them before exercise will fuel your training, give you lots of energy, and help you recover.
Many people say that you only need carbs if you’re going to be engaged in a lengthy workout session, but that’s just not true.
Let’s say you want to do a shorter workout, but you want it to be high-intensity. You need lots of energy, right? Unless your idea of exercise is to go for a stroll in the park and feed the birds, you will need to stock up on carbs.
Carbs also retain muscle and liver glycogen, which is crucial because it tells your brain you have been well-fed and don’t need any more food during your workout.
The last thing you want is to get hungry after 30 minutes. Carbs also stimulate the production of insulin, which prevents protein breakdown.
Moreover, this is why you absolutely need to start juicing and stop drinking sugary energy drinks.
Fats
Healthy fats are another essential macronutrient that you need.
The funny thing about fats is that they don’t improve your performance, but they don’t weaken it either.
They slow down digestion, which keeps your body on an even keel in terms of its insulin and blood glucose levels. They provide you with some micronutrients, too.
Protein
You can drink some of your juice during exercise. It should be high in protein because it helps prevent muscle breakdown, leading to better post-workout recovery.
It also ensures that you adapt better to training as you progress, which means that you can better power your way through your workout.
You don’t need a massive amount of protein in your juice; a tiny amount is enough to prevent protein breakdown. If you like exercising on an empty stomach, you don’t need more than 15 grams of protein during training.
Athletes who do punishing training bouts need more protein, as does anyone looking to gain a significant amount of mass.
Micronutrients
Many people know how to get their macronutrients - such as fats, carbs, and protein - but they don’t always stop thinking about the role that vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) play in helping them power their way through a workout.
Micronutrients play a really crucial role in energy production
They also help to strengthen bones, boost your immune system, instigate hemoglobin synthesis, and protect you against oxidative damage
Vitamins and minerals also repair muscle tissue that has been damaged during exercise
You have to remember that a workout stresses numerous metabolic pathways. To stay on top of these pathways and aid their recovery, we need micronutrients.
It’s the same as when a car breaks down on a highway - it needs assistance from an auto repair company; otherwise, it’s just dead on its wheels.
Moreover, when we exercise more and more, we experience biochemical muscle adaptations. To cope with these changes, we need even more micronutrients.
Even routine exercise can lead to a loss of too many micronutrients. This leaves you feeling fatigued. It doesn’t help you to finish off a workout. Your body takes ages to repair, and you may even suffer a few injuries.
The essential nutrients that athletes include in their diets are:
And the best place to get more micronutrients?
From juicing, of course!
Why?
Juicing is easy and convenient; what is more convenient than drinking your nutrients?
An 8-ounce vegetable juice blend is like eating 2 large salads without the dressing.
It’s portable, so you can quickly drink them on your way to the gym and on the drive home!
Key Nutrients That Power Up Your Juicing For Workouts
B-Vitamins
If you’ve been working out for almost an hour, but you find yourself running out of steam towards the end, the problem could be that you’re lacking in B vitamins.
B Vitamins include:
When you’ve bought an energy drink, you may have noticed that they contain nutrients from the B-vitamin family, including thiamin, B12, riboflavin, and many others.
This is because B vitamins give you a burst of energy. They’re essential for the conversion of food into fuel. Essential means are necessary because you will have little power without them. The body uses B vitamins to convert sugar and protein into energy, so athletes get as many of them as possible.
According to experts from the Department of Nutrition at Arizona State University who posted on MedlinePlus Health Information, B-vitamins, which include thiamin, riboflavin, and vitamin B-6, are necessary for energy-producing pathways in the body. https://medlineplus.gov/bvitamins.html
Additionally, folate and vitamin B-12 are necessary to synthesize new red blood cells and repair damaged cells.
Active individuals with a B-vitamin deficit may experience diminished performance during high-intensity workouts.
The significant difference between vitamin B from juices made at home and that energy drink is the latter is filled with other harmful ingredients that have landed people in the emergency room. However, your juice contains only fresh produce and nutrients - Winning!
Calcium
You’ve probably heard all about calcium and how it strengthens the bones, and you probably realize that a super strong skeleton is fundamental if you’re going to work out, right?
Therefore, calcium should be one of the critical nutrients that power your workouts. It increases your bone density, ensuring your skeleton is strong enough for excellent training.
Milk is not the only source of calcium; you can get it from vegetables, and it’s a better source since vegetables have no fat, no cholesterol, and are low in calories.
Vitamin C
Did you know that if you work out in colder climates, you could have exercise-induced asthma? Not to raise any alarm bells, but that chesty cough you’ve been battling with these past few months could, in fact, be asthma.
IIn addition, your immune system could not be as healthy as you think. This can be resolved with Vitamin C, which naturally occurs in citrus fruits and various vegetables, and can boost your immunity, protect your cells from free radicals, and perform a slew of other functions that build a better body that is powered for exercise.
Moreover, the more vitamin C you have, the easier it is to avoid contracting the flu and the common cold.
Vitamin D
We all need vitamin D, right? Vitamin D comes from the sun, and it makes us feel fantastic. For many of us, the more sun we have, the better we feel. It just imbues us with positivity and motivation.
Vitamin D boosts your mood, and in this way, it can increase your determination to make it through a workout like a beast.
However, your mood alone will not get you through all the obstacles; you need something more. It would help if you had power, too. You don’t need to go searching too far, though, because according to Science Daily, vitamin D has been studied and linked to increased muscle efficiency.
It may also be fantastic at tightening up your skeletal muscle function. These are some incredible findings.
Vitamin E
When we’re sick, we don’t really feel like doing anything. We’re just not at our best. We don’t feel like filing all those documents at work or going out on that date tonight … and we especially don’t feel in the mood to power through the workout.
It’s funny, but it always seems that some people are more susceptible to getting sick than others. Perhaps it’s you who always seems to be sick while your friends are constantly motoring through their workouts like a warrior.
This could be because you are deficient in vitamin E. Consuming more vitamin E can lower your risk of infection. It can make you almost immune to the common cold and the flu and slash your risk of developing pneumonia by nearly 70%.
Iron
Popeye loved his spinach because he knew it contained lots of iron that would power his way through a workout. His nemesis Bluto must have loved the dark leafy green even more because he was even bigger!
Iron is one of the critical nutrients you need a lot more if you want to own your workouts and fight fatigue; it’s also integral in metabolizing proteins, hemoglobin production, and red blood cell health.
Here is some quick science:
Each time you work out for an hour, your body loses around 5.6% iron. That’s quite significant.
What happens next is that your red blood cells struggle to carry oxygen to your muscles.
Moreover, when your muscles don’t get enough oxygen, you quickly get fatigued and may not be able to complete your workout.
Magnesium
Magnesium is an absolute powerhouse mineral that top athletes make a priority. Magnesium is actually composed of over 300 enzymes that aid energy metabolism.
It also helps to strengthen your bones, which, as previously mentioned, is vital for your workout. As well as having a solid skeleton, you always need to avoid stress fractures as much as possible, and magnesium will help you do that.
In addition, because you lose a lot of magnesium through sweat, you need to consume as much of it as possible to replenish the supply lost in your workouts.
Potassium
No doubt, you’ve seen tennis players munching away on bananas during a break in play. This is because bananas are super rich in potassium. This vital nutrient speeds up recovery and nips cramps in the bud.
Juicing For Micronutrients: Key Ingredients
Now that you know what key micronutrients you need to power your workout, you’re probably wondering about the best sources for these; here are your best fruit and vegetable sources that will provide you with much-needed nutrition through power juicing.
Calcium
Vitamin C
Vitamin C could quickly become your favorite micronutrient because so many tasty fruits and vegetables are loaded with it.
Vitamin E
Iron
Potassium
Magnesium
Vitamin D
There are many choices in great juicing fruits and vegetables for vitamin D.
B-Vitamins
Riboflavin
Vegetable sources include beet greens, asparagus, spinach, collard greens, dandelion greens, and other dark green leafy vegetables, peppers, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and broccoli.
Fresh fruit sources include blueberries, apples, passion fruit, and avocado. When it comes to fruit, many offer higher counts in dried form, which is not appropriate for juicing; plus, dried fruit is not your best choice since it is much higher in sugar than fresh fruit.
Folate
Vegetable sources include leafy greens such as spinach and turnip greens.
Fruit sources include oranges, with the most at about 50 mcg per fruit, and one large glass of orange juice provides even more. Other folate-rich fruits include grapes, bananas, cantaloupe, papaya, grapefruit, and strawberries.
Vitamin B6
Vegetable sources include leafy green vegetables: spinach, kale, greens, and broccoli.
Fruit sources include bananas.
The Power Of Beets
This chapter is dedicated to beets, which can go a long way to power your workouts and improve your overall performance.
Beets Contain A Wealth Of Nutrients
Yes, beets contain a wide variety of healthy nutrients, including:
Benefits
Yet people keep on ignoring these purple veggies whenever they do their weekly shopping. As a matter of fact, beetroots must be one of the most overlooked veggies in America. It’s incredible how people who see these colorful vegetables scream at them, “pick me! pick me!” but opt for lettuce again, as usual.
Get out of your comfort zone, and get into juicing beetroots. Elite athletes worldwide use them, and they’ll tell you that beets are the vegetables that give them an edge over their competitors.
The Science Behind Beets
Beetroots are rich in inorganic nitrates, compounds that encourage the signaling molecule Nitric Oxide (NO) to take action.
NO is made in our bodies, but we don’t always produce much of it. To build more of it, we need to eat food rich in nitrate - such as beets.
NO improves the strength of our skeleton and increases the amount of oxygen sent to our brain.
Why Juice Beets?
According to research, drinking around 500ml of beetroot juice every day can keep us feeling more energetic. In fact, drinking beet juice can keep us going in the gym for 15% more time than we usually would.
Many people think that juicing takes up too much time and it’s too messy. However, when you have the right equipment and plan ahead, it is much easier than you think.
If you have the time to make yourself some juice in the morning before a workout, consider doing this.
Alternatives include beet powder and concentrated juices, which are often filled with artificial substances, too much sugar, and insufficient fiber or nutrients. They don’t have the same amount of good stuff as beet juice.
How Much Do You Need?
As previously stated, 500ml of beet juice per day increases our staying power by around 15%. This equates to 2 cups. However, go ahead and find a dose that works for you. If 250ml of beet juice a day increases your staying power by 10%, then go for it.
Some athletes drink more than 600ml, but it’s all about how much you can handle.
Cooked Or Raw?
Research has shown that cooking beetroots can reduce the nitrates content - which is different from what we really want. For this reason, it’s best to juice with raw beets only.
Drink It Slow Or Fast?
It takes a while for the nitrates in beets to be ingested and used by your body. They enter our mouths, where they are manipulated by saliva.
This takes a bit of time, so if you clean your teeth not long after eating (and many people do this after eating beets to get rid of the purple color), you will only be washing all the beneficial nitrates out of your mouth. Drink slowly for better conversion rates.
Does It Work For Everyone?
Beet juice works for many people, and many boost their workouts, but like with anything, our bodies respond in different ways. What works for some might not work for others.
The only really accurate way you can find out is by giving it a go. Other high-nitrate vegetables include spinach and kale.
10 Boosting Recipes With Juicing For Workouts
Here are some great juicing recipes to power your workouts. These recipes pack a lot of punch, and they will fuel your pre and post-workout routines.
The preparation of these juices will depend on your juicer model, as they are all different in requirements for cutting, speed settings, and order in which to juice.
Get juicing!
Magnesium Magic
Too many of us don’t get enough magnesium, yet this micronutrient plays an essential role in a solid workout.
If you’re looking for a way of sneaking more of this mineral into your diet, this represents a fantastic way to do so.
Ingredients:
Dynamite Blend
Stop reaching for a sports drink after exercise, and start making this best juice after a workout with antioxidant and vitamin C-rich plants instead. It’s super rich in all your essential vitamins and minerals.
Ingredients:
Repair And Recovery
This is nature’s best juice for muscle recovery, so you can go again soon. It helps to repair muscle and tissue damage and makes your body more formidable over the long term.
Ingredients:
The Red Resurrector
Tomato juice is super rich in electrolytes and ideal for maintaining proper hydration during and before a workout. Tomatoes also have many other health benefits and essential antioxidants to prevent chronic disease.
This juice includes an added boost from coconut water, which is naturally rich in electrolytes. You can skip the sports drink and get your energy from juice instead.
Ingredients:
Beet Power Juice
Ingredients:
Post Workout Bliss Juice
Another wonderful all-natural post-workout juice recipe for recovery.
Ingredients:
Pre-Workout Energy Blast Juice
Get all the energy with this pre-workout juice recipe and all you need for your intense workouts with this refreshing blend.
Ingredients:
Iron Infusion Juice
This juice is loaded with healthy iron-rich vegetables for healthy production of hemoglobin, healthy red blood cells, and fighting fatigue.
Ingredients:
Green Iron Power Juice
Another iron-rich blend with super healthy greens and ginger that fights inflammation.
Ingredients:
Vitamin D Infusion Juice
Get your vitamin D fix from this blend.
Ingredients:
Conclusion
Juicing is a quick and convenient way to get all those micronutrients you need. You can make enough juice for 2 or 3 days and take it to the gym in a thermos or have it within easy reach in your fridge when you return from a run.
Its convenience can’t be beaten, eliminating the time and inclination to chew up to 3 or 4 bowls of vegetables daily.
Juicing is something that helps you to reach your goals. It is enjoyable - most people love it - and you can experiment as much as you want.