Saturday, July 4, 2015

Crank Up Your Recovery

Workout Tips

Every cyclist knows the feeling of elated exhaustion that comes after a big ride. But what if you extend the distance to century length (or greater), fire up the tempo to race pace, and then repeat that ride almost every day for three weeks?

That's elite-level, Grand Tour stage racing, and it's the path to real exhaustion if racers don't take recovery as seriously as training. Smart refueling with the right mix of protein, carbohydrates, and electrolytes at just the right time is the only way to create and maintain top-level performance day after day.

The good news? The same post-workout nutrition strategy works whether you've charged up the 21 hairpin turns of l'Alpe d'Huez or finished a tough local training ride. And the right combination of ingredients is easy to find: It's in lowfat chocolate milk.

The right mix, the right moment
Studies show that there's a roughly 30-minute window after an intense effort when the body is best primed to accept the nutrients to refuel and rebuild. They've also shown that, for ideal post-workout muscle recovery, an athlete should consume roughly 4 grams of carbohydrate for every gram of protein–and that's the mix you get with lowfat chocolate milk.

It can even give you a performance edge: A University of Texas at Austin study found that, after an initial intense ride, trained cyclists had significantly more power and rode faster–shaving about six minutes, on average, from a 40K time trial–when they recovered with lowfat chocolate milk vs. a carb-based sports drink or calorie-free drink.1

Advantage: Chocolate Milk
The benefits go beyond carbs and protein, too. Lowfat chocolate milk also contains key electrolytes–minerals crucial to muscle function–including calcium, potassium, magnesium, and sodium to help replenish the stores lost when athletes sweat.

And, along with replenishing the minerals that help muscles function, lowfat chocolate milk also fuels lean muscle growth. The proof? Another University of Texas at Austin study showed that healthy but untrained cyclists who recovered with lowfat chocolate milk gained more muscle and lost more fat during training than those who recovered with a carbohydrate drink.2

That's why more and more athletes, coaches, and scientists recommend lowfat chocolate milk. It's a nutritional powerhouse. If you're cranking up the miles, it can crank up your recovery to match.

For more information, visit builtwithchocolatemilk.com.

References:
1.  Ferguson-Stegall L, McCleave EL, Ding Z, Doerner PG, Wang B, Liao YH, Kammer L, Liu Y, Hwang J, Dessard BM, Ivy JL. Postexercise carbohydrate-protein supplementation improves subsequent exercise performance and intracellular signaling for protein synthesis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2011;25:1210-1224.
2.  McCleave EL, Ferguson-Stegall L, Ding Z, Doerner PG, Liu Y, Kammer L, Wang B, Wang W, Hwang J, Ivy JL. Effects of aerobic training and nutritional supplementation on body composition, immune cells and inflammatory markers. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2011; 23:442.

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