The Truth About Pre Workout And Recovery Drinks

If you are starting or thinking about starting a training program you have probably started to plan out your nutrition or how you can eat more healthier. One of the hardest parts of nutrition to get right is what to eat just before or after an intense training session because eating a heavy meal before exercise is not always appetizing. So nutrition companies have seen this gap in the market and filled it with products called pre-exercise and recovery drinks or shakes. They are for use just before or straight after a workout to get you the adequate nutrition that you need.

Pre Exercise Drinks

So what is a pre drink and why should you use it? These types of drinks are usually combined with water to give a juice or water-based fruit drink to make them more palatable. This will also help with hydration leading up to the exercise. The biggest benefit to using a pre-workout drink is that you don't have to plan ahead as much as if you were eating a full meal. These drinks are designed to be drank just minutes before a workout so no more do you have to sit and work out exactly the time you intend to hit the gym to make sure you eat and digest the food for energy. Also it gives you the freedom to change your plans - so if you get caught up and work and need to train an hour later there is no problem.

However it is important to remember that you shouldn't rely purely on pre-workout drinks to fuel the body they are an added nutritional supplement to help boost you into feeling motivated and ready for an intense training session. This being said the main ingredient is caffeine. Caffeine has been shown to exert positive effects for both endurance and strength activity, there is a whole heap of research that has been conducted on the benefits of caffeine on exercise but the baseline is that it will improve activity during a session. It has also been shown to delay fatigue meaning you can train for longer.

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The amount varies from product to product but usually it is in the region of 60-150g of caffeine per drink. Research does suggest that pre-workout drinks increase the amount of repetitions you can complete and that the force exerted during a session was significantly higher. But as mentioned before make sure to check the caffeine levels and not simply rely on these supplements to take you through a workout.

Recovery Drinks

So you have had an awesome workout, pumped your muscles or ran that 5k you were aiming for. Post workout nutrition is more important than pre because you need to replenish the energy and nutrients your body has used during the exercise session. If you eat the wrong foods after exercise for example high fat foods they tend to be stored more quickly than if eating at any other time of day as the body is craving calories.

Also a secondary part of post nutrition is rehydration as you lose a huge amount of water through sweating - so finding a way to combine both is a very effective and quick fix. The drink itself usually comes in shake form and often people take on protein shakes after a tough strength workout, but what about endurance athletes? They need a recovery drink too.

As mentioned the main component of a good recovery drink is carbohydrate. The drink should contain twice as much carbohydrate as protein and you can calculate your optimum amount using the formula of 0.8g of carb per kilogram of bodyweight. So a 63.5kg person would need to have 50g of carbohydrates and 25 grams of protein. This can help you to pick the right drink/shake for your needs and how much to consume after a workout.

The carbohydrates in the drink are pure glucose and they are quickly synthesized and restored into the muscles and the liver. Without this the body remains in a stressed or depleted state until you eat and this is not healthy so within 2 hours of exercise you really need to get some nutrition into the body. There are lots of products on the market and its really a case of trial and error to find one that works for you. There is evidence to suggest that chocolate milk is an excellent alternative to expensive recovery drinks because they have a very high carbohydrate and protein content and relatively low in fat.

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Choosing what method of nutrition works for you is totally individualized and exercise professionals can give advice on what works for them or the best on the market but really it all depends on how your body reacts to them. Try not to rely on purely supplements for exercise nutrition as they cannot replace raw foods such as fruit and vegetables which are packed with fast acting carbohydrates. But experiment next time you go to the gym and see if you get a buzz from a pre-workout or if you feel fuller for longer when using a recovery drink.