| Training doesn't end when your workout is over. Recovery is a key component to reaping the benefits of your hard work. To adapt to the physiologic stress of training or competing and to be ready for your next workout or competition, there should be four items on your nutrition agenda:
Things to do:
- Replenish glycogen stores by consuming carbs
- Repair and build muscle tissue with amino acids obtained from protein
- Reload muscle lipids by consuming the right amount of dietary fat
- Rehdyrate with fluids and electrolytes
Attending to each of these components will help ensure maximum recovery.
Glycogen is the primary fuel that drives your muscles during vigorous endurance exercise. After a tough workout or competition, your muscle and liver glycogen stores are low. Rebuilding muscle glycogen stores is the primary factor in determining how long it will take you to recover. To speed glycogen reloading you need to consume carbohydrates as soon as possible after exercise. Storage rates are fastest in the first 4 hours after exercise. Failing to consume carbs after exercise leads to very low rates of glycogen restoration until feeding does occur.
For rapid recovery
If you're doing twice-a-day workouts, or you plan to train or compete again in less than 12 hours, take advantage of the rapid phase of glycogen resynthesis by consuming carbs as soon as possible after completing exercise.
- Grams of carbs needed per hour during the first 4 hours after exercise: divide your body weight in pounds by 2
- Smaller carb portions every 15-30 minutes are fine and may be more easily tolerated than large portions taken at once.
- Stick with quick-to-digest carbohydrate sources, e.g., recovery bars and beverages, energy bars and gels, sports drinks, fruit smoothies, fruit salads and fresh fruit, cereal bars and breads or rolls with jam or honey.
- Solid and liquid forms of carbs are equally effective for replenishing glycogen stores.
If you have 24 hours to recover
If you have 24 hours or more to recover between training sessions, total carbohydrate intake rather than timing of intake is the more important issue for replenishing glycogen stores.
- Light training: About 3 g of carbs per pound of body weight is needed daily.
- Moderate-to-heavy endurance training: About 4 g of carbs per pound of body weight is needed daily.
- Extreme training (≥ 4 hrs per day): About 5 g of carbs per pound of body weight is needed daily.
- Consume a mixture of quick- and slower-to-digest carbohydrate sources, including fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, pasta, rice, potatoes and beans. Recovery bars and beverages are also fine to consume.
There are two good reasons to consume protein along with carbs right after exercise. First, unless carb intake post-exercise is very high, a combination of carbs and protein together is better at boosting glycogen storage rates than carbs alone. Second, the amino acids in the protein you eat are used to make new proteins for muscle tissue repair and the building of new muscle as part of adapting to the physiologic demands of exercise.
- Consume 10-20 grams of protein as soon as possible after exercise for muscle tissue repair and building.
- Consume 0.5-0.7 g protein per pound of body weight per day to meet your daily protein need as an endurance athlete.
- On strength training days, consume a beverage or snack containing carbs and 10-20 grams of protein before working out. This will help maximize training adaptations by making amino acids available for muscle tissue building.
Muscle contains lipid droplets or small deposits of fat called intramyocellular lipids or IMCL. Scientists theorize that these muscle lipids may be an important source of muscle fuel early in exercise, which may help spare muscle glycogen stores for later. These muscle lipids get depleted during endurance exercise. However, most endurance athletes eat high-carb, low-fat diets and typically fall short of meeting their daily needs for lipid reloading during recovery by about 10-30 g of dietary fat.
A newly proposed strategy is to boost fat intake just enough to replenish muscle lipid stores. A snack such as a recovery bar in the early recovery phase represents a practical method for helping to restore muscle lipid levels, while also providing carbs and protein for glycogen restoration and muscle tissue repair and synthesis.
- POWERBAR® Recovery bar after exercise provides 30 grams of carbohydrates to help replenish glycogen stores, 12 grams of protein to help support muscle tissue repair and building and 9-10 grams of a lipid blend to help with muscle lipid reloading.
Sweating causes you to lose fluids and electrolytes, particularly sodium. Losing too much fluid leads to dehydration. Carrying over fluid or electrolyte deficits to your next workout or competition can impair your performance. So, after exercise, the fluids and sodium lost through sweating need to be replaced. How fast to rehydrate depends on when your next workout or competition takes place.
For rapid rehydration
If you need to recover in less than 12 hours in order to be ready for another workout or competition, or if you've lost excessive fluid (more than 2% of your pre-exercise body weight), you need a strategy for rapid rehydration.
- Drink about 23 fl oz of fluid per pound of weight lost during exercise.
- Drink this volume of fluid gradually between the end of your first workout and 1-2 hours before the start of your next workout.
If you have 24 hours to rehydrate
Normal consumption of beverages, meals and snacks will generally rehydrate you within about 24 hours.
What about sodium needs?
Consuming sources of the electrolyte sodium while rehydrating can help you retain ingested fluids and help stimulate your thirst.
- You can obtain sodium from recovery beverages and bars, sport drinks, energy bars and gels, salty snacks and meals.
PowerBar offers three convenient product options specially formulated for recovery. Mix and match the products to meet your individual needs from one workout to the next:
POWERBAR® Recovery bar features two great-tasting flavors - Cookies & Cream Caramel Crisp and Peanut Butter Caramel Crisp (per bar):
- 30 grams of carbs to help replenish glycogen stores
- 12 grams of protein to help support muscle tissue repair and building
- 9-10 grams of a lipid blend to help with muscle lipid reloading
- Important electrolytes including sodium (180 mg)
- Compact and easily transportable
- Choose this delicious bar when you want cutting-edge, comprehensive recovery (i.e., carbs, protein, and lipids) and something solid and rewarding after exercise.
POWERBAR® Recovery shake features two great-tasting flavors - Chocolate and Vanilla (per 10.6 fl oz):
- 34 to 40 grams of carbs to help speed glycogen refueling
- 13 grams of protein to help with muscle tissue repair and synthesis
- 21 essential vitamins and minerals
- Important electrolytes including sodium (180-220 mg)
- Convenient ready-to-drink format
- Choose this creamy beverage when you want to jump start recovery after exercise with a delicious and satisfying meal-replacement type beverage.
POWERBAR® Recovery sport drink mix features a thirst-quenching Orange flavor (per 16 fl oz):
- 40 grams of carbs for rapid glycogen restoration
- 6 grams of protein to help with muscle tissue repair and synthesis
- Important electrolytes including sodium (500 mg)
- Comes in a powder that can be easily mixed in water before or after your workout
- Choose this refreshing mix when you want to get the jump on rehydrating and recovery after exercise and you want something thirst-quenching that you can easily chug.
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