How to fully benefit from your workout

I'm pretty sure everyone will have an answer they are pretty sure of when they read the title of the post.  Some might say that drinking a sports drink (Gatorade, Powerade, Isostar, etc) may be the best, others will say that a protein shake/smoothie (natural ingredients or not) may be improved choice, whereas other answers will definitely rise such as water, specific juices, milk or soy milk, or whatever else.

Then again you will have people that say forget drinks altogether, since they are mainly "empty carbs" that provide a reasonable amount of protein/salts/hydration but also have a downside of being liquid form = less digesting and absorption of nutrients.

By now you must be thinking: "enough with this intro, just let me know what it is I should be consuming right after a workout!"

So which one is it?

A cited study from the University of Texas at Austin reveals that athletes who drank low-fat chocolate milk after a hard workout developed more muscle and less fat than those who drank sports beverages to rehydrate.  The study also showed improved workout times during the next workout.

In a separate study, oxygen uptake was found to be twice as high in athletes that drank chocolate milk within the 30 min recovery window after a workout than in those who drank sports drinks.

During a workout, our first energy source is what you ate that day.  This energy source is usually stored as easy accessible "sugars" in your muscles.  Once those "sugars" are depleted,  your body then breaks down fat stored in your body for energy.  The reason for this methodology is that it is easier to break down the sugars in your muscles than it is to break down fat into a direct source of energy.

You need carbs after a workout to replenish the "sugars" in your muscles and you definitely need protein after any workout.  Chocolate milk was found to have the perfect 2.7 to 1 carb/protein ratio.  So drink up!!


Thus, in the 30-minute recovery window after exercising, have a nice cold drink of low-fat chocolate milk in order to improve your body composition and performance.


I dedicate this post to Roula Haddad.  Thank you for the awesome post idea.  "Tanks to my friend, Rola Haddad"