Is there a Regular Beverage that Works as well as Specialty Recovery Drinks?

Over the past several years, exercise physiologists have determined that drinking a carbohydrate-protein combo soon after exercise helps speed recovery because it quickly replenishes spent glycogen stores. Typically, the beverages used in this way are jazzed-up sport drinks with extra carbohydrates and added protein, usually in a ratio of about four to one (carbs to protein).


Jason Karp, an exercise physiology graduate student at Indiana University, recently tested a popular carb-protein recovery drink along with good old chocolate milk (low-fat, of course) to see which helped speed recovery better. In the study, a group of cyclists pedaled a grueling interval workout to deplete glycogen stores, then immediately drank either two or two-and-a-half cups of chocolate milk or the recovery drink. Two hours later, they drank the same amount of the same beverage. Two hours after that, the cyclists pedaled at a fixed pace until they were exhausted.

The results: The cyclists who drank the chocolate milk pedaled just as long as those who had the recovery drink. This type of timed performance trial indirectly indicates how much the cyclists' glycogen stores had recovered from the previous session of exercise. So after your next long run, go ahead and chug a cup or two of low-fat chocolate milk (cookies are optional). 


Damon Brogan, right, would prefer it if whoever is pouring water on him would please make it chocolate milk next time. 

Link to Runner's World Article and other articles on Nutrition