For information about specific products that we use and recommend for workout nutrition, check out the “recovery supplements” section of Supplements.

Better than nothing? Definitely. Optimal? No. The short answer is that post-workout, your muscles need nutrients sooner rather than later and a whey concentrate / isolate don’t cut it in that regard. You need something faster. With that in mind, for a home brew, you’re best off using whey hydrolysate and a combo of maltodextrin and dextrose. Custom protein companies like trueprotein.com and proteinfactory.com make it easy to purchase these ingredients separately and customize your workout nutrition.

Honey and banana’s are simply sugar dressed up in a fancy outfit (primarily). Moreover, they’re the wrong type of sugar for post-workout. True they’re more nutrient dense but your non post-workout nutrition sees to micronutrient intake. Your post-workout nutrition should be focused on macronutrient intake – that is consuming the appropriate types and proportions of carbs and protein.

Remember, with exercise we’re ‘tricking’ the body into believing and treating sugar as though it’s in fact good for you. So the normal concerns of consuming an empty kcal source don’t apply.

For further reading on this topic, check out All About Carbohydrates and Appetite for Construction.

You can but it’s far from optimal, and will potentially limit the progress you make in achieving your performance and physique goals. Whey powder in the form of concentrate or isolate takes longer to digest, delaying the time it takes to reach the muscles. The type of sugar in bananas also isn’t optimal for recovery because ‘fruit carbs’ preferentially serve to refill liver glycogen leaving for a less than optimal replenishment of muscle glycogen.

To read more on the best protein supplements and carbohydrate sources for post-workout recovery, check out All About Carbohydrates and Peri-Workout Meals versus Drinks.

Maltodextrin is a glucose polymer, a string of glucose units put together, similar to the protein peptide. It is therefore, by definition, a complex carbohydrate. However its more complex nature does not slow digestion, and thus, both the glycemic index (GI) and insulin index (II) remain high.

Maltodextrin is the absolute best carbohydrate to consume during exercise for rapidly delivering blood glucose and for muscle glycogen recovery. It is also best for fluid uptake.

The reasons for including both are discussed in detail in this post .

The answer is that it depends. In deciding which peri-nutrition strategy to utilize, you need to consider several factors, along with your goals. The individualization guide in Precision Nutrition is your best resource for determining how to tailor workout drinks to optimize both your performance and body composition.

To follow a discussion on this topic, check out Peri-Workout Meals versus Drinks.

A good approach is to start out by using a carb + protein drink both during and after your workout. The amount is dependent on the individual but anywhere from 10g of protein + 20g of sugar all the way up to 40g of protein + 80g of sugar (this high end would be for relatively lean hard gainers). From there, judge your progress on a weekly basis. If your body comp isn’t changing as you’d like and the rest of your diet is in order (eating according to PN), you can either reduce the amount of carbs and protein in your drink, or if you’re already at or near the low end, switch in BCAAs + glutamine during the workout and consume a protein + carb drink when the workout is complete. The portion size of your post-workout drink will be determined by how much lean mass you have, and how long and strenuous the workout was.

Possibly, although carbohydrate tolerance improves vastly with resistance training so don’t shy away from carbs until you know what your individual post-workout carb tolerance level is. If you find that supplements, such as Surge, aren’t right for you, the non-carb alternative is to consume high doses of BCAA with added glutamine. General recommendations are in the range of 10-40g of BCAA and 20-60g of glutamine. If you go this route, split the dose into workout and post-workout drinks – half the full combined BCAA and glutamine dose in each.

The discussions and articles in All about BCAAs , Calories of BCAAs , and Glutamine provide additional information about these supplements.

This will depend on the intensity and duration of your exercise session, as well as your goals, and is discussed in What Constitutes Intense Training.

You will find a discussion of workout nutrition strategies in What Constitutes Intense Training.

You will find a discussion of workout nutrition strategies in What Constitutes Intense Training.

To determine if your training warrants a recovery drink, check out the full discussion in What Constitutes Intense Training.

It depends on what sport we’re talking about but yes, second and third generation recovery drinks (those with protein + carbs + aminos; first generation being beverages such as Gatorade) often do offer great benefit during sporting events.

The portion size of the workout drink will of course depend on your sport (intensity, duration etc.), along with your individual characteristics (body composition, body type, performance, etc.).

To read up on BCAAs, check out the thread All About BCAAs. As far as how to incorporate them in your meal plan, here are the BCAA protocols recommended by JB himself. If you find you don’t fall into one of the categories listed below, then you probably don’t need any extra BCAAs. If you are making your own PWO shake and you want to add some BCAA I would suggest simply adding 5-10 grams to your protein and carb shake.

PROTOCOL 1
WHEN:
1) During a focused period of very low energy intake and rapid fat loss.

HOW MUCH:
1) 5-10 grams 3-5x per day every day (dose and frequency depending on body mass). Also add 2.5g of creatine with each dose. Again, dose and frequency depending on body mass.

Make sure to take 1 serving during training and another after. The other doses should fall in between meals.

(Whether to include Surge or not is another question that has to be answered per the individual - I don't have blanket recommendations here.)

PROTOCOL 2
WHEN:
2) During an intense athletic training period -- when weight maintenance is difficult. This is common in ectomorphic athletes traveling on the road or engaging in very intense or very high volume training blocks.

HOW MUCH:
2) 5-10 grams 3-5x per day - between meals. Also add 2.5g of creatine with each dose. Again, dose and frequency depending on body mass.

PROTOCOL 3
WHEN:
3) When athletes are training at altitude.

HOW MUCH:
3) 5-10 grams with workout and 5-10 grams with post-workout servings of Surge. Just add the extra BCAA ON TOP OF the already high dose in Surge.

PROTOCOL 4
WHEN:
4) When athletes have some fat to lose.

HOW MUCH:
4) Biotest Surge is one of the best workout recovery drinks on the market and is excellent for recovery. Therefore, for most athletes, I highly recommend Biotest Surge.

However, for those athletes trying to moderate their carb intake, I sometimes recommend BCAA during and after training vs. Surge.

If both the exercise bouts are of sport specific or resistance training nature, you will likely require workout and post-workout recovery drinks.

If one of the bouts is energy expenditure or mobility focused, or is not demanding enough to warrant recovery drink measures, then no, you likely won’t need to.

As with the workout drinks, it depends on the type of workouts you’re performing. If sport specific or resistance training focused where recovery is key, then yes, you’d likely benefit from and be able to handle starchy carbs after each bout.

Conversely, if your workouts or one of the workouts is energy expenditure or mobility focused, or not demanding enough to warrant recovery measures then you won’t need to take in starchy carbs for recovery purposes.

A solid albeit less than exhaustive list would be –

• Sweet potato
• Legumes (beans, lentils)
• Large flake whole oats
• Wild / long grain rice
• Quinoa
• Spelt
• Barley

Potatoes, pasta and breads will work for some but not all – even after a workout. So it’s important to monitor your progress and adjust your sources as necessary. Also note that many people do well by eliminating gluten from the diet even if they don’t exhibit obvious symptoms of gluten intolerance.

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Going for a brisk walk is of course better than sitting on the couch and highly encouraged but it doesn’t put your body in the same state as a more intense workout would.

The above being said, if you’re physically limited (fitness, illness, etc) such that walking is your only form of exercise, and you’re unable to cut starchy carbs cold-turkey, you can start off by scheduling these foods in the time following your walks. Then as you progress, you can either move up to more intense exercise or you’ll have to cut down back / remove the starchy carb sources.

For those who have good carb tolerance, you very well may be able to eat starchy carbs after a walk but that has much less to do with the walk and more to do with how your body would handle the starches anyway.

To follow the discussion and get the full explanation for why you should eat prior to training, check out Morning Workouts.

The answer is yes you can! Despite what many of us have been led to believe, it is not so much the time of day that makes the difference in how our body deals with carbohydrates - it has more to do with your body’s physiological state in terms of its ability to handle certain nutrients.

If you have just completed an intense weight training session, your body is going to need to replenish its muscle glycogen stores. Due to this increased demand following a workout, your body will be much less likely to store the carbs as fat. So the good news is, even if you lift weights at night, you still get to eat those yummy carbs!

There is a lot of conflicting information about glutamine.

Early speculation suggested that glutamine would be beneficial to building muscle and in the prevention of overtraining. The problem was that this speculation was mostly based on theoretical physiology. Most of the actual data revealed that in weight lifters and athletes, there were NO BENEFITS of glutamine supplementation on muscle mass, strength, or prevention of overtraining.

JB included Glutamine in “Surge” because there is some evidence that when taken with BCAA and carbs, there is a synergistic insulin response. There also seems to be substantial evidence that glutamine exerts some positive effects on the G.I tract, and may be helpful in reducing ileal inflammation.

There are so many theories for how glutamine can be used and in what conditions – the key is that more data is needed to see which are worth the costs.

Further reading and links to references on this supplement, can be located in the thread Glutamine.

To follow the discussion on this topic and learn about optimal CNS supplement doses, read up on Nervous system regeneration

An optimal post-workout drink will use whey hydrolysate powder as its protein base. This form of whey powder, while not entirely hypo-allergenic, is tolerated to a much greater extent – even by those with significant dairy (and whey) intolerance.

If you still find that GI upset is an issue, you can find some strategies in When Whey Just Isn't For that you can use to determine if your symptoms are related to your protein supplements.

You will find lots of information about this supplement in All About Creatine.

As for general dosage recommendations, 5g of creatine in your post-workout drink should be sufficient. Loading and mega doses shouldn’t be necessary.

Research and experience with beta-alanine is still pouring in so these recommendations may very well change in time. With that understood, beta alanine is best used by those individuals performing endurance exercise at 1-2g before, during and after the session.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there may be some recovery, body composition, and strength benefits associated with beta-alanine supplementation with it, so the resistance training community and sprint athletes should stay tuned.

Lately many folks are recommending chocolate milk as an ideal post exercise drink. And this is based on some research (funded by the Dairy Council) showing that chocolate milk performed as well Gatorade and better than Endurox in a time to fatigue exercise trial.

The 9 fit athletes who took part in the study were asked to work out strenuously on a stationary bicycle, then drink low-fat chocolate milk, a fluid-replacement drink like Gatorade and a carbohydrate replacement drink like Endurox R4. A few hours later, they were asked to cycle again until they reached exhaustion.

The test was repeated three times — once with each kind of drink — and the data showed that the cyclists were able to go between 49 and 54 percent longer on the second stint after drinking chocolate milk than when they drank Endurox. The difference between the milk and the Gatorade wasn’t significant.

So, from this rather singular (and questionable research), chocolate milk became the new post-workout drink of choice for some folks.

Now, truth be told, if you’re part of the ever diminishing population group that can tolerate lactose and doesn’t have a milk protein allergy, then chocolate milk is an ok “recovery drink” – assuming you’re training hard enough to require “recovery drinks”. Yet, there are certainly better drinks for this purpose – mostly nutritional supplement based drinks – things like Biotest Surge, etc. However, in a world of supplement paranoia where some folks won’t take anything supplement-related, chocolate milk is certainly better than nothing.

The key here, though, is that such a huge % of the population has problems with milk. As a result, recommending it en masse is irresponsible, in my opinion. From GI problems to overblown immune responses, mucous build up, etc. these adverse reactions to milk can kill performance and actually negatively impact your health. Further, there are plenty of data to suggest that milk is now loaded with hormones and pesticide residues that can also have adverse effects on the body. So I’m concerned about ALL milk lately – not just the chocolate kind.

In the end, unless you’re 100% okay with milk and have no adverse reactions, I recommend choosing a different post exercise option.