Perfect Post Workout Ingredients

Whatever nutrients you add into your post training shake, and therefore into your body immediately following your workout, can play a significant role in how quickly your body repairs and recovers ready for your next visit to the gym. This in hand results in lean muscle growth, therefore the more you overlook post workout nutrition, the more you get in the way of your gains. If you train on a frequent basis with the objective of increasing your power and strength, or gaining some serious new muscle, then you need to be giving your body specific nutrients following a workout for efficient muscle repair and regrowth. Look at it like we do, once we have put our body through some serious exercise, our muscles are aching and all we can be bothered to do is relax, we think it deserves the ingredients listed below and if we do not provide them, we start to feel guilty!

Whey protein

These days, nearly all people who know at least a little bit about sports nutrition are starting to learn the importance of whey protein following training. Whey is the fastest digesting protein that exists, and is very effective at getting to your starved muscles fast to begin immediate recovery. This is why you need to be trying to ingest whey as soon as you complete your session and no longer than 45 minutes after. This length of times known as the protein window, as within this time feeding your body adequate nutrition plays a bigger role in your gains than any other time of day. According to studies carried out at the University of Texas, your body is capable of absorbing 50% more protein during this window.

Carbohydrates

There is much debate over the use of carbohydrates after training these days. Personally, we think it is down to the individual. Certain people can find it easy to recover without the need for carbs, whereas others find it hard to recover adequately and can still be tired or sore when its time for their next workout. One role carbs are useful for is speeding up protein amongst other nutrient absorption within your body. Research undertaken at Maastricht University showed that high GI carbs dramatically increase insulin levels within your body, which results in increased protein absorption, add that with whey protein and your muscles are dining in style! If you are going to consume carbs following training (which is advised maybe unless you are dieting) aim for high GI carbs such as dextrose or maltodextrin, split evenly with protein (50/50).

HMB (Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate)

Proven to postpone muscle breakdown and promote new muscle growth, adding a small amount of HMB in your post workout shake will help support the reduction of muscle soreness, meaning you will recover a lot quicker in time for your next visit to the gym. Researched carried out at the University of New York provided a number of male participants with 3 grams of HMB daily over three-weeks of intense resistance training before comparing the results with the same number of participants who took none nevertheless were involved in the same training regime. The results showed those participants who consumed no HMB increased muscle mass by on average less than one pound, whereas those who took HMB gained muscle mass by an average 2.6 pounds.

Leucine

Like carbohydrates, adding leucine to your post training shake will also increase the quickness of nutrient absorption and hence how fast protein synthesis occurs in your muscles. Participants who took leucine following sixty minutes of intense training increased protein synthesis by 33%, according to studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study also claimed leucine acts as an anti-catabolic agent as it stopped muscle breakdown in the participants, meaning greater muscle gains.