Eating to Recover: How and What to Eat Post Workout

Brad Sly

Contributor - Nutrition

 

 For years the most important meal of the day has been said to be breakfast, but I believe that to be wrong. I suspect most of the readers here could agree that with all the effort you put into your training that your post-workout nutrition just may be more important to you than breakfast. In fact, I believe your post-workout meal is one of the most important meals you can have all day.

 

 The reason I believe this is because in a hard workout, you can use up all your stored glycogen, easily sweat over two liters of water, and break down both muscle and red blood cells. This is why what you as an athlete consume in the minutes and hours after your training or competition is so crucial to both performance and recovery. This week I will look at nutrition recovery and explain it's importance and the best ways to use it to maximize your results.

 

 The Goals and Timeframe of Post Exercise Nutrition

“Recovery” covers a range of processes that include:

• Replenishing the muscle and liver glycogen stores
• Consuming protein to assist with muscle repair
• Restoring fluid and electrolytes lost in sweat
• Supporting the immune system to handle the damage

It has been determined that the body's cells are most receptive to replenishment, particularly glycogen stores, within the first thirty minutes after intense training. Essentially the clock starts ticking for an athlete as soon as they enter their cool down. This is just one part of the equation as recovery nutrition can be broken into two stages - stage one occurs within thirty minutes of the workout and stage two occurs one to two hours after exercise.

For the full article, go to: 
http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/eating-to-recover-how-and-what-to-eat-post-workout