Post-Exercise Recovery Nutrition
When training once per day or more often with repetitive training sessions building up day after day, refueling for the next workout as quickly as possible is crucial. Refueling accurately and consistently after workouts will restore muscle and liver glycogen stores, replace fluid and electrolytes lost in sweat, promote muscle repair and bolster the immune system. Athletes who optimize post-exercise nutrition will perform better in their next training session and accumulate more high quality sessions than athletes skipping post-exercise recovery fueling.
Two post-exercise recovery fueling windows exist, but you cannot ignore the whole of your day and nutritional intake throughout the day to stay fueled. The first window is within 30 minutes of a hard or long training session. The second window is in the two to three hours post-exercise. Short easy training sessions do not require special recovery nutrition. Athletes are best sticking to their daily nutrition plan with a normal whole food plan after training sessions.
Three main goals of recovery are to restore fluid and electrolyte balance, to replenish muscle and liver glycogen stores, and to stimulate protein synthesis. You can accomplish this by consuming carbohydrates, protein and fluids within thirty to sixty minutes of finishing your workout. Athletes are encouraged to utilize this “glycogen window” to restore the muscles. It is particularly important for glycogen-depleting workouts, those that are longer than two hours or those with high intensity efforts, or if the day involves two or three workouts.
A carbohydrate to protein ratio of 3 or 4 to 1 has been demonstrated to provide the necessary vehicle. As sodium helps transport carbohydrates out of the gut and into the bloodstream, including 500 to 700 mg of sodium in addition to approximately 20oz. of water for each lost pound of water weight is also appropriate.
What to Eat 30-60 Minutes After Exercising
Fluid, electrolytes, high glycemic carbohydrates and protein are the foundation of proper recovery nutrition. Immediately after finishing a workout, start replacing fluid and electrolyte losses with a sodium containing drink or water plus sodium containing food. Estimate fluid losses by weighing yourself before and after training and drinking 16 to 24 ounces of fluid for every one pound lost.
To restore muscle glycogen and promote protein synthesis, consume 1-1.2 g per kg of body weight of high glycemic carbohydrate and 0.3-0.4g per kg of body weight of protein within 30 minutes of finishing exercise. For a 70kg or 154lb athlete this would be 70g of carbohydrate and 28g of protein. No matter what, ensure that you are getting in carbohydrates and protein within 60 minutes of finishing up your workout!
Fluid, electrolytes, carbohydrates, and protein can be replaced with a commercial recovery drink, a homemade smoothie or with real food plus water.
Additionally, antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin A, probiotics, medium chain triglycerides and L-Glutamine can shorten recovery duration and are good additions to a recovery drink or snack.
Why High Glycemic Carbohydrates?
Glycemic values for carbohydrates help you to understand how quickly the carbohydrate will be digested and converted into blood sugar. Any carbohydrate is good post exercise, but high glycemic carbohydrates are better than moderate or low glycemic carbohydrates because they will be absorbed quickly by the body and processed so that your glycogen storage is being replenished. You can find comprehensive lists of glycemic foods through various resources online if you are interested in knowing the index of various foods.
After the first hour, start to opt for moderate or low glycemic carbohydrates to help keep energy stores up, and avoid blood sugar spikes that will impact your diet and food cravings throughout the remainder of the day.
Using Whole Foods
Fortunately, most whole foods contain all of the necessary elements to give the body what it requires. In some situations, when food is not available or is unpalatable, a prepackaged fluid source performs the dual role of hydrating and providing necessary nutrients. Many reputable companies have developed balanced recovery drinks in the form of powders or bars that meet recovery needs and are easy to carry in a pocket or mix with water for on the go fueling.
Recommended carbohydrate consumption post-workout is based on body weight. Current recommendations are for 1 to 1.2g carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight. Protein recommendations are based on an absolute amount, 10- to 25 grams.
Smoothies
Many athletes turn to a blender to create a well-balanced and tasty recovery drink. Fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables can be supplemented with whey powder, different milks, juices, water, yogurt, nut butters, or even coffee.
Blueberries are high in a variety of antioxidant nutrients and research shows they improve antioxidant defenses in body systems that need special protection from oxidative stress, including the cardiovascular system. The recipe below is a great option to get in the carbs and protein you need after a hard workout.
Blueberry Recovery Smoothie
1 cup of blueberries (frozen)
1/2 banana
1 cup of coconut milk
1 scoop of Vanilla Whey Protein
This smoothie contains 260 calories, 42g carbohydrates, 9g protein, 6g fat, 27g sugar, 9g protein, 9g dietary fiber, 5g fat
The Peppermint Green Monster smoothie is another recovery drink. You can add a scoop of whey powder. Whey is an abundant source of Branched Chain Amino Acids which are used to stimulate protein synthesis. When leucine is ingested in high amounts, such as with whey protein supplementation, there is greater stimulation of protein synthesis, which may speed recovery and adaptation to stress (exercise). Whey has approximately three grams of leucine per serving and the threshold for optimal protein synthesis is three grams.
Peppermint Green Monster
1 large frozen banana (peel before freezing)
1-1.25 cup non-dairy milk (I use Califia Farms coconut cream)
Handful of fresh mint leaves, stems removed
1-2 handfuls spinach
1/8-1/4 tsp peppermint extract (optional)
1 scoop Whey Protein: vanilla or chocolate (optional)
Add in all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust to taste and serve with a garnish of chopped dark chocolate and mint leaves. Enjoy with a spoon. Serves 1.
Green smoothie contains approximately 260 calories, 7g fat, 57g carbohydrates, 24g protein, 200mg sodium and significant amounts of Vitamins A and C and Iron.
Additional smoothie recipes can be found at this link.
Vegan Athletes
Some of the team may be vegan, and this athlete group has the added challenge of getting carbohydrates and proteins without animal products. Rice, as part of a carbohydrate-rich post workout meal, ensures that your muscles are re-stocked with glycogen. Coupled with beans, rice forms a complete protein, which means it includes all nine essential amino acids the body cannot produce on its own.
Include plenty of water to rehydrate. Generally, a recovery meal like this one will be best consumed a couple hours after exercise so start with a rapid replenishment in the 30 minute window after the workout, and plan for a real meal of rice and beans later.
Here is a simple recipe from the nomeatathlete.com
Rice and Beans with Avocado
1 cup dry brown rice (195g)
1 can drained and rinsed beans, or two cups cooked
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp vegetable oil
Cook the brown rice in a rice steamer or follow package directions. Heat up the oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and fry the onion for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in the beans and heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with rice.
Smash or cube one half an avocado and serve over the rice and beans.
This recipe contains 62g carbohydrate, 23g protein, and 429g sodium,
Remember, finding some of your favorite ingredients and having them on hand can make quick recovery fuel easy and enjoyable. Experiment, and remember most often, having something is better than nothing so don’t get bogged down in numbers and calories, just eat and drink!
What to Eat Two to Three Hours After Exercising
Continue your recovery nutrition two to three hours post-exercise by eating a whole foods meal. It is OK to eat earlier than this if you are hungry but do not delay this post-exercise meal more than three hours. This meal should contain a combination of carbohydrate, about 20g of protein and some fat. Dividing daily protein intake into four or more 20g meals has been shown to have a greater stimulus on protein synthesis than two big meals with 40g protein per meal or 8 smaller meals with 10g per meal. A 20g feeding of protein is the sweet spot to maximally stimulate muscle protein synthesis.
After a training session on a hot day, immediately cool your body down if your core temp feels hot by drinking cool fluids, sitting in cool water or air conditioning and pouring iced water over your head. Cooling off will halt continued dehydration and increase your appetite.
The Benefits of Good Sleep
Increasing sleep duration leads to increased performance and mental well-being in young athletes. This is also when your body naturally produces growth hormone, and this has a major impact on your recovery. We also know chronic sleep debt impairs performance and reduces motivation to excel.
Foundation sleep recommendations for adult athletes are 8 to 10 hours per night, and youth athletes need even more sleep with 9 hours per night being the minimum. Make sure you are getting your sleep and not ignoring this critical area for improvement.
Nutrition Before Bed
Sounds silly, but this is one of the recovery tricks that has helped numerous endurance athletes improve recovery and put the growth hormone being produced to work. There are several types of proteins such as whey, casein and soy proteins. Whey is the most easily absorbed at the time of consumption and it is the king of post-workout proteins. Casein on the other hand is found in milk protein, and is digested slower than Whey. This distinction makes Casein a great protein source for a pre-bedtime drink mix.
With casein, you could use fat free milk if you want the easiest digestible option available. Another option would be to find a protein powder mix with casein. Just mix that with water prior to bed, and drink it around 30 minutes prior to going to sleep.
The goal is to get between 20-30 grams of protein each night to help facilitate recovery and prevent the body from going into a catabolic state while you sleep.
Increasing Your Sleep Quality and Duration
Along with sleep duration, sleep quality and sleep phase also affect the regenerative qualities of sleep. Sleep quality can be improved by reducing disturbances by wearing earplugs and sleeping in a cool, dark room. Following a pre-sleep routine of relaxing activities, avoiding light exposure from screens in the hour before bed, and avoiding stimulants such as caffeine after noon may increase your sleep quality and duration. Restless leg syndrome can occur in athletes with low serum iron levels and disrupt normal sleep patterns.
Exercising late in the day can make sleep elusive for some athletes. Summertime evening group training or local races make sleep especially hard to come by. Following up an intense evening session with inadequate sleep is a poor combination. It is very important to get into your pre-sleep routine early and get as relaxed as you possibly can.
Measuring Your Sleep
If you can measure it, you can improve it! Use a sleep tracking app to measure your sleep duration and quality then identify factors that improve it. I was able to identify that red wine helps me fall asleep more quickly but it reduces my sleep quality and duration. I confirmed much to my dismay that avoiding screens in the hour before bed dramatically improves both my sleep quality and duration.
Accessory Recovery Techniques
After you have taken care of the big two, nutrition and sleep, there are many accessory recovery techniques to add to your routine; stress reduction, massage, compression, active recovery, stretching, foam rolling, yoga, meditation, acupuncture, rolfing, cupping, cryotherapy, hydrotherapy, sauna, dry needling, supplements such as tart cherry juice, and more.
Stress reduction is one of the more important accessory recovery techniques. Trying to add too many accessory recovery techniques on top of an already busy schedule may add stress and be counterproductive. Pick a few accessory recovery techniques you enjoy and have easy access to, rather than trying to fit every single one of them into your schedule.
Take Rest and Recovery Seriously
We are all busy. A common mistake many athletes make is to use their rest days to workout too hard, or catch up on all school work and their recovery weeks to tackle bigger projects. On your rest days and recovery weeks, plan to detach from strenuous physical and mental activities where you can. Include plenty of downtime, put your feet up and really unload fatigue. Recover as hard as you train.
Example of a Post-Exercise Recovery Routine
Finish race or hard training bout and grab a recovery drink to sip during your cool down
Take a 10 minute ice-bath or cold river soak
Clean up and shower
10 minute stretch
Massage gun to tight, or sore muscle groups for 10 minutes
30 minute nap
Meal with 20g protein and a combination of carbohydrate and fat
Go to bed with enough time to get 8 hours of sleep
Eat and sleep well so you can be the strongest version of yourself that you can be
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