The list of health benefits exercise provides is extensive, it also can deplete your body of vital calories and nutrition. Consuming a drink to recover with the proper types of nutrients at the appropriate time after exercising can make a considerable difference in your exercise results and overall well-being. Always consult with a licensed healthcare professional for guidance before making adjustments to your eating or exercise routine.
Timing
Recovery drinks to aid in replenishing fluids and energy lost during your exercise routine and help make you ready for your next workout. For the first two to three hours after exercise, your liver produces glycogen, which is the short-term stored form for glucose at a rate of one-and-a-half times the normal rate. It is the best time to take a high-carbohydrate refueling drink. Consuming carbohydrates right after exercise can also trigger your pancreas to release insulin, which signals your cells to take in glucose. In the following four hours, glycogen production stays elevated however, it slows down gradually.
Fatigue
If you train twice per day or practice exercising in the heat, drinking a sugar-based recovery drink will ensure sufficient energy to fuel you through your second workout. It will also aid you in avoiding potential injury and progress more rapidly toward your exercise goals. With regular and consistent training your glycogen storage grows by 20 percent. This means you’ll have more endurance and performance in the sport you are interested in. The goal is 1.5 grams of carbohydrate per each kilogram of body weight within the first 30 minutes after you exercise, each two-hour interval throughout the first four hours and up to six hours according to nutritionist Sari Edelstein, a coauthor of “Life Cycle Nutrition: An Evidence-Based Approach.”
Aerobic Capacity
Recovery drinks can meet your needs for glucose and satisfy your chocolate cravings. The University of Texas at Austin Department of Kinesiology and Health Education low-fat chocolate milk is the ideal post-workout recuperation drink to increase lean muscles and reduce fat. Protein in chocolate milk can make it a better recovery drink over those that contain carbs alone. It also increases your endurance, speed, in aerobic endurance — a measure of the body’s ability to make use of oxygen by up to two times.
Body Composition
A study in the issues of June 2012 of “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research” found that a recovery drink containing carbohydrates, protein, and the amino acid ribose — which is one of the building blocks of ATP which is a vital energy-carrying molecules — may increase body composition among endurance athletes. The subjects, all males who were in a mid-life stage took the drink immediately after exercising every day for eight weeks. The results showed a lower percentage of body fat within the initial three to six weeks. Body weight, as well as endurance, didn’t change much as a result of the recovery drink used in this study.