Nutrient Timing

Nutrient timing means eating specific nutrients (carbs, fats, and proteins) in specific amounts at specific times (normally before, during, or after exercise).

Having proper nutrient timing will enhance athletic performance, competition, and daily life expectations. Having the right timing will help your body use the food that you eat as fuel instead of turning it into fat.

When exercising a great starting point is to eat most of your daily carbs and proteins before and after exercise and NO FAT. Eating fats before and/or after your workout will slow down the digestion of the fuel you put in your body. This means that our body will not get the fuel that it needs in time to either fuel or recover for exercise.

What should I eat and when?

This all depends on when you workout. If you’re an early riser/exerciser, eat something small like a banana or half the servings of 1st Phorm’s Ignition and 1st Phorm’s Phormula-1. If you are a macro guy/gal, 25 grams of carbs and 25 grams of protein for breakfast. Then, eat more carbs during your dinner (the night before early exercise) and during that day’s lunch.

If you workout out in the evening, you may benefit from a higher fat and protein breakfast. Then, you would eat mostly carbs and protein at lunch and dinner. For you evening warriors, don’t eat a giant meal an hour before your workout and not expect to see it again. Keep your pre-workout snack small and compacted full of carbs and protein.


How soon should I eat after exercise?

This brings us to a term the metabolic window. Often referred to as the “window of gainz”. There’s no hard and clear threshold for when the opportunity to re-feed passes, but typically, you should have a carbohydrate and protein-rich meal down within 30-60 minutes of your final repetition of the day. Eating that meal right away maximizes the number of carbohydrates stored in the muscles as glycogen, instead of fat. This is when your insulin sensitivity and capacity for proper carb utilization and storage are at their highest. During this window, proper nutrition will shift our body from a catabolic state to an anabolic state increasing muscle mass and improving recovery.


How much should I eat after working out?

After working out, we need to have both carbohydrates and proteins. Without carbs post workout, our body will break down the protein as energy instead of using it to rebuild our muscles. A good post workout shake would consist of about 25 grams of carbs and 25 grams of protein. For us, this looks like ½ a scoop of 1st Phorm Ignition (carbs) and 1 scoop of 1st Phorm Phormula-1 (protein).


Eating the right food before and after a workout is very important. However, what you eat the rest of the day plays a huge role in what your body uses as fuel. If you have any questions about how to get your nutrition back on track, ask any of the coaches at the gym. We are here to help!

Why YOU Should Do The Open

The 2019 CrossFit Open is right around the corner! What is The Open all about and who is it for? We are going to be giving you all the details on who, what, when, where, and why!

The CrossFit Open is a five-week online fitness competition that kicks off February 21st. So how does it work?

    Every Thursday for five weeks (starting 2/21) CrossFit Headquarters will release a workout. Participants have until the following Monday to complete the workout and enter their score on CrossFit’s leaderboard. This leaderboard will show where you stack up across everyone that has signed up from all over the world (last year there were around 500,000 participants!). As you participate in the open for multiple years, you are able to watch yourself improve as you become fitter amongst everyone in the world!

    So who is the open for and why should you participate? The Open is for anyone and everyone. Just like the workouts we do everyday, there is the RX and scaled options to meet you at your level. We have put together the top 5 reasons YOU should join the fun and sign up for The Open;

  1. Community- The Open allow you to be apart of something a little bit bigger. It’s all about participating in an event that brings athletes of all genders, levels, regions, ages and ethnicities together around the world. The CrossFit community has over 15,000 gyms worldwide and The Open is a great way to feel connected. Participating will also bring our small community here at CFA to be closer as we judge each other’s workouts and cheer for each others accomplishments. We will all complete the Open workout every friday during the morning and noon class and in the evenings we will have our “Friday Night Lights” event!
  2. See Where You Stand- When you register for The Open, you can compare your scores to fellow CrossFitters in your community and across the globe! You can also narrow your scope to compare against people of the same profession, age, region, etc. This will help you push yourself just a little bit harder than normal each week and gives the workout some more meaning. The fun thing about The Open leaderboard is each year you can watch as your placing gets better and better as your fitness increases!
  3. Be Inspired- Watch the professionals of the sport go head to head and battle against each other doing the same workout we are doing! Their hard work and pure athleticism is shocking and inspiring. It is awesome to see people of all levels do the same exact workout that you are doing each week.
  4. Learn- Gain insight watching the live WOD announcements. CrossFit analysts make predictions and review strategies and approach. Watch other athletes for cues about pacing and technique. Get feedback directly from the athletes after the WOD, or talk to your coaches and fellow Open participants on the best way to attack each workout for success!
  5. Have Fun While Getting Fit- This is a great excuse to stay a little later at the box with your friends. Challenge yourself/ others and support your box mates during their workout. This can become one of the most fun and exciting times of the year! Bring your family and friends to come watch you complete The Open WODs each week during “Friday Night Lights”! We encourage people to hang around after their heat to cheer each other on and partake in their beverage of choice….anything from FitAid to beer 🙂

To sign up for The Open, visit games.crossfit.com and click “REGISTER”. The first workout is released on 2/21 so don’t wait! Sign up now and don’t regret saying no because of your fears and excuses! If you have any questions, feel free to hit up your coach. See you #InTheOpen