Nutrient Timing: The Future of Sports Nutrition

By apply the principles of the Nutrient Timing System, you'll be able to deliver the precise amounts of nutrients needed at precisely the right time to optimize your muscle-building agents and maximize muscle growth, while minimizing muscle damage and soreness after a hard workout. You'll even be less susceptible to colds. You can actually sculpt a better body with more lean muscle mass, less fat, and more power without changing your exercise program or even you total caloric intake. "Nutrient Timing" will show you how.

The book's "bombshell" contention is that timed carbohydrate intake is more important than protein when it comes to building muscle. Nutrient Timing takes direct aim at what the authors call the "bulk nutrition" mentality: if protein is good, then more protein must be better. "Unfortunately," they say, "you can consume the protein of an entire cow, but if your muscles are not receptive at that particular time, the protein will be wasted." Ivy and Portman cite two conditions that make the muscles receptive to protein. The first is training. By disrupting muscle tissue, high-intensity lifting creates a short-term demand for protein in the muscles.

The second key is insulin. Studies show that insulin increases net protein balance in three ways: 1) it increases amino acid transport into the muscle, 2) it stimulates the enzymes that make protein from amino acids, and 3) it reduces the breakdown of protein. To get the full anabolic benefits of insulin requires that you maximize its release after your workouts. Protein is a weak stimulator of insulin. Carbohydrate is a much stronger stimulator of insulin. When carbohydrate and protein are taken together after a workout, insulin release is much greater than when protein is taken alone and it acts as a kind of fuel injector that drives protein synthesis.

According to Ivy and Portman, the ideal post-workout supplement will have three to four times as much carbohydrate as protein, and they've got the science to prove it. For example, in one study they cite, a carbohydrate-protein supplement taken after a workout resulted in 38% more protein synthesis than a regular protein shake of the kind that most gym rats use.

Nutrient Timing slays many sacred cows of muscle-building nutrition, but in the end it is thoroughly convincing. It is also very practical, explaining exactly what to take and when. The only thing left for you to do is work out!


Terrific   April 7, 2004
18 out of 20 found this review helpful

This book is incredible. If you are well versed in recent sports nutrition research you are probably already familiar with a lot of what is presented here, however, this is definitely the best presentation of this information I have come across yet. The only other book I know of to discuss many of the topics presented here is "Optimal Muscle Performance and Recovery", by the late Edmund Burke, which was my favorite before "Nutrient Timing". As strength athletes, however, our specifics are usually relegated to a single chapter in a book focusing primarily on nutrition for endurance athletes. From there we are usually left to interpolate information not necessarily targeted to us. No more is this the case. We now have a book based entirely on recent research tailored specifically to our needs. This is a very quick and easy read and is the best presentation of nutrition for strength athletes I have yet to encounter. Keep in mind, it does assume a previous understanding of basic nutrition principles. Money spent on this book is money well spent... terrific.


DON'T UNDERESTIMATE - Sound Advice by Qualified Authors, usefull to all Athletes   October 22, 2005
Erik T. Heidt
16 out of 20 found this review helpful

THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST FOR BODYBUILDERS.

No matter what you are training for, from power lifting to Ironman triathlon, from football to classical ballet, if you want your body to respond faster and more effectively to the training you are doing, then read this book.

Be aware that the authors do discuss Nutrition in a resistance training context, but there conclusions and their advice is consistent with conclusions of sport science as discuses by other authors, see "other materials of interest" later.

This is a a very to the point, non-technical, no pseudo-science guide to improving your body's ability to respond to your training and exercise time investment. Much of the training and exercise time athletes and fitness enthusiasts spend in the gym is work targeted at SAID (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand) directed at making that individual better able to perform - stronger, faster, more powerful, or better protected from injury. This book is about knowing when to eat and what to eat to give your body the opportunity to perform at it best during exercise, game, or performance and to recover and adapt faster than it has before.

One piece of advice to readers - Don't obsess about minute details.
At least one of the Amazon reviewers posted complex recipes trying to exactly match the diet recommendations. Use the 'themes', such as including protein in your recovery drink, and then work within those themes to find out what works well for you over time.

Other materials of interest to athletes who want to learn more about sport nutrition:

For runners, and especially for female athletes, I strongly recommend "Fast Track : Training and Nutrition Secrets from America's Top Female Runner" by Suzy Favor-Hamilton. You will be very surprised how similar the dietary recommendations are.

For personal trainers, coaches, and athletes with some biology or chemistry foundation I would strongly recommend "Sport Nutrition: An Introduction to Energy Production and Performance" by A. Jeukendrup & M. Gleeson, which is a very up to date (published 2004), comprehensive, and peer reviewed treatment of the subject.


Real Science presented in Real Terms   March 22, 2004
Roberta Modena (West Palm Beach, FL)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

I actually heard about this book at this year's Arnold Expo in Columbus, OH. The book is fantastic because it really explains how nutrient timing has evolved, and more importantly it does a remarkable job of explaining "what" nutrients you need and "when" with hard science to back it up. As a female who works out regularly at the gym to build muscle and stay toned, I often want to take something before or after my workout, but haven't been convinced of what I should be doing. It was fascinating to read just how misinterpreted carbs are and why it's so critical to consume them immediately following intense exercise to build muscle and for faster recovery.

This best part of the book is the simplicity.I didn't realize that building muscle is a 24 hr process. Knowing what the 3 phases of muscle development are and what nutrients are needed at what time of the day is already having considerable impact on my workouts....I truly notice the difference and am looking forward to great results.

Thank you Dr. Ivy & Dr. Portman....this book is long overdue!


It's about "time"   March 29, 2004
Matthew Walters (New York, NY United States)
7 out of 9 found this review helpful

I'm always so focused on working out and trying to eat the right things that I never really thought about the importance of when i was eating. This new book is a godsend. Not only does it show you how to maximize the results of your workouts by simply timing the appropriate nutrition, but it also lets me know why. I like to know why my body is receptive to nutrient intake differently at different times. The book also makes it very easy for you to incorporate the principals of nutrient timing by mapping out the type of foods and nutrients you need at the precise time you need them in relation to exercise.

I've been timing my nutrient intake according to the book's direction and after two weeks have already been experiencing some more mass (and i had been plateauing recently), less soreness and faster recovery.

So even though the concept of the book may be scientific, it's given me a natural and simple way to get the most out of my training regimen and maximize my performance potential.

If anyone is going to place forth the effort to exercise, not knowing the goldmine of information in this book is doing themselves a disservice.