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.

See Also: Energy Drinks Vs. Relaxation Drinks: Latter Are On The Rise

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.