Post Workout Nutrition – Literature Review

I don’t intend to raise any of my own thoughts or opinions in this post, but rather, to review a small sample of a large body of research into post exercise nutrition with the aim of increasing future performance. For those with access to journal articles (either through subscription or by purchasing the articles), you have the opportunity to read the entire work. If not, I have linked to the abstracts so you can at least get a basic idea of experimental design. All I’m doing here is colloquialising the results and offering a path for self experimentation.

Effects of recovery beverages on glycogen restoration and endurance exercise performance.
Williams MB, Raven PB, Fogt DL, Ivy JL.

Part one: Consuming a protein/carbohydrate drink post exercise increased the time to exhaustion in subsequent exercise bouts by 55% (attributed to a greater rate of muscle glycogen storage).

Part two: Consuming a protein/carbohydrate drink post exercise increased blood plasma glucose levels, caused a greater insulin spike and thus caused a 128% greater storage of muscle glycogen (than a standard sports drink). The study suggest rate of recovery is correlated to the ingestion of an insulin spike causing ingestion of glucose.

 

Improved endurance capacity following chocolate milk consumption compared with 2 commercially available sport drinks.
Thomas K, Morris P, Stevenson E.

Cyclists performed at least 43% longer on a subsequent bout of exercise after consuming chocolate milk (combination of protein and carbohydrates) before the initial exercise than they did by consuming a commercially available sports drink.

Aerobic exercise training adaptations are increased by postexercise carbohydrate-protein supplementation.
Ferguson-Stegall L, McCleave E, Ding Z, Doerner Iii PG, Liu Y, Wang B, Healy M, Kleinert M, Dessard B, Lassiter DG, Kammer L, Ivy JL

Ingestion of chocolate milk post exercise is superior to a carbohydrate drink alone in increasing cardiorespiratory endurance. It also causes a more favourable change in body composition measures.

Effects of chocolate milk consumption on markers of muscle recovery following soccer training: a randomized cross-over study.
Gilson SF, Saunders MJ, Moran CW, Moore RW, Womack CJ, Todd MK.

Chocolate milk is as effective as a specialised high carbohydrate recovery beverage in aiding recovery and aiding future performance. Chocolate milk however results in lower levels of creatine kinase (suggesting less muscle breakdown).

Recovery from a cycling time trial is enhanced with carbohydrate-protein supplementation vs. isoenergetic carbohydrate supplementation.
Berardi JM, Noreen EE, Lemon PW.

A combination of carbohydrate and protein is superior to carbohydrate alone in aiding recovery and improving future performance.