Recovery drinks

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workout_junkee
workout_junkee Posts: 473 Member
in Food and Nutrition
What do you do for recovery after a hard workout/long run. Is chocolate milk enough or would an actual recovery drink help?

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  • pzarnosky
    pzarnosky Posts: 256 Member
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    Love my chocolate milk after a long run :)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited February 2016
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    A 50 + mile ride generally gets me a nice tall chocolate milk..or a day of skiing or something like that would also. My day to day workouts can be rather intense, but they really don't warrant anything special for recovery other than a protein shake and an apple.

    I usually ride at lunch and eat my lunch afterwards with is just fine for recovery...I hit the gym a couple nights per week and usually eat an apple and protein shake on the way home...then I have dinner about an hour or so later.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    A study on recovery in endurance athletes with "sports" food versus McDonald's and found that similar macros had similar recovery:
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274093496_Post-exercise_Glycogen_Recovery_and_Exercise_Performance_is_Not_Significantly_Different_Between_Fast_Food_and_Sport_Supplements

    Chocolate milk in particular has been researched for recovery:
    http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.469.9728&rep=rep1&type=pdf
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
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    Water and regular living. We should be doing something special? Never have. High School and College track, USMC and now. Just adding a workout into regular life. Maybe a Gatorade after a hot round of golf once in a while. Uually just water and my regular diet. Is this wrong?
  • workout_junkee
    workout_junkee Posts: 473 Member
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    Thanks guys. My muscles have been dragging so I am increasingly water. I took out chocolate milk when I removed cows milk from my diet and replaced it with almond milk. I may just need to go back. Something definitely needs adjusted as my muscles are not recovering as they should.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    pondee629 wrote: »
    Water and regular living. We should be doing something special? Never have. High School and College track, USMC and now. Just adding a workout into regular life. Maybe a Gatorade after a hot round of golf once in a while. Uually just water and my regular diet. Is this wrong?

    Nope....

    The only time I bother is if I've been out for 50 miles plus because I'm just pretty depleted and the sugar from the chocolate milk will hit me pretty quick and get me on my way. Basically I just want something fast acting to replenish glycogen...then I'll go have a meal or something.
  • pzarnosky
    pzarnosky Posts: 256 Member
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    Out of curiosity, why did you take cow's milk out?
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    workout_junkee wrote: »
    Thanks guys. My muscles have been dragging so I am increasingly water. I took out chocolate milk when I removed cows milk from my diet and replaced it with almond milk. I may just need to go back. Something definitely needs adjusted as my muscles are not recovering as they should.

    By and large you generally shouldn't need anything special...as your day to day goes, your overall diet in general should be adequate for recovery, even from more rigorous workouts. You may want to look at your nutrition overall...are you getting enough protein in your day to day to support your activity? Are you getting adequate carbohydrates?

    If you're having trouble day to day, it suggest to me that there's something going on with your diet at large.
  • eeejer
    eeejer Posts: 339 Member
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    Chocolate milk is just giving you sugar - I will never understand how this became a go-to recovery drink. You should eat a slow digesting carb like oatmeal as well as some fruit for quick carbs.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    pzarnosky wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, why did you take cow's milk out?

    This might be a good leading question.
    If you've recently removed animal products across the board, the question leads to the question of what you're doing for B-12? Normally you can store 2 years or so worth in the liver making it unlikely that you're low, but if you are low, it will impair your ability to use carbohydrates for energy.
  • edack72
    edack72 Posts: 173 Member
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    Recovery drinks are for hard high intensity workouts I don't use them unless I have worked out for more than an hour at a high level or have burned more than 800 calories I love Endurox orange flavored does it make a difference I don't know but it gives me the confidence of knowing I'm replenishing my body with things it needs. I also have Herbalife recovery products. For less intense wokouts I just make sure I have alot of water and something with a good protein content.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited February 2016
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    eeejer wrote: »
    Chocolate milk is just giving you sugar - I will never understand how this became a go-to recovery drink. You should eat a slow digesting carb like oatmeal as well as some fruit for quick carbs.

    Because it's a good balance of carbs, fat, and protein. Sugar is a god send when you've been riding for 50 miles and will help quickly replenish your glycogen stores. I don't think it's necessary for one's day to day type of workouts at all...but it comes in pretty handy right after a 1/2 century or more on the bike.
  • eeejer
    eeejer Posts: 339 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    eeejer wrote: »
    Chocolate milk is just giving you sugar - I will never understand how this became a go-to recovery drink. You should eat a slow digesting carb like oatmeal as well as some fruit for quick carbs.

    Because it's a good balance of carbs, fat, and protein. Sugar is a god send when you've been riding for 50 miles and will help quickly replenish your glycogen stores. I don't think it's necessary for one's day to day type of workouts at all...but it comes in pretty handy right after a 1/2 century or more on the bike.

    Sure, but it is crappy carbs, refined sugar. I mean, if you want a treat I understand, but if you want good nutrition I think you can do better.
  • pzarnosky
    pzarnosky Posts: 256 Member
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    eeejer wrote: »
    Chocolate milk is just giving you sugar - I will never understand how this became a go-to recovery drink. You should eat a slow digesting carb like oatmeal as well as some fruit for quick carbs.

    What do you think carbs are? ALL carbs are sugar. The main carbohydrate in oatmeal is starch (many glucose molecules linked together). Salivary amylase in your mouth begins breaking down starch molecules immediately into maltose and other oligosaccharides and pancreatic amylase finshes the breakdown of those two into pure glucose. Fruit and chocolate milk have other sugars that do not get digested until entering the small intestine. Oatmeal actually has a higher glycemic index than most fruit and chocolate milk because of that.
  • workout_junkee
    workout_junkee Posts: 473 Member
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    pzarnosky wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, why did you take cow's milk out?

    I started following a different nutrition plan that cut most dairy. I probably should have left it in

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