Home » Nutrition

The Benefits of Drinking a Protein Shake or Recovery Drink

16 February 2010 No Comment

It’s time to set the record straight with protein powders and recovery drinks because we are all getting tired of seeing the next miracle supplement claiming to “Get Us Bigger and Stronger”. Are there any benefits to drinking them, if so which one’s are the best to drink?

I want to start of be explaining what exactly the protein powders are the different forms of them.

The two main types of protein powders:

Whey Protein -Whey Protein is the best for post workout meals because they are are quickly absorbed. The protein is usually absorbed into your system within thirty minutes after being digested. It’s best to drink a whey protein shake within the first hour after your workout for the best effect. However, wait about 30 minutes to 45 minutes to allow your keep flowing through your muscles instead of your stomach.

Along with an excellent source of protein, Whey Protein has essential amino acids, like glutamine, which helps prevent muscle deteriotation when lifting weight and is an endurance booster.

High quality whey protein will help your muscles to recover and increase growth by increasing protein in your body.

As for those who are trying to lose weight and get into better shape, why protein is very good for you too, it’s not just for bulking up. Protein helps balance your blood sugar levels, causing you to maintain control over your eating. It allows people to control their diet effectively.

Casein Protein – Casein is excellent for decreasing the amount of muscle breakdown and can be a major benefit to your muscle growth. Casein protein is a much slower digesting protein, unlike Whey protein. This is because it forms a jelly texture in your body, which will result in a much more steady release of amino acids into the blood stream. It’s been found that between 3 to 4 hours, you will reach a peak in blood amino acids and protein synthesis when you consume casein. The complete release can last as long as 7 hours after consuming casein protein.

Recovery Drinks:

Recovery drinks are different from protein powders because they are composed of simple and complex carbs. The ratio of Simple carb to Protein is 4:1. These are another great post workout meal. The complex and simple carbs are excellent for glycogen replenishment. They also contain vitamins and antioxidants, which will help to decrease soreness of muscles after workouts and help to repair and grow your muscles.

By drinking a recovery drink after workouts, you are more likely to have little or even no soreness of your muscles, along with a more rejuvenated body within an hour of consuming.

Which is Best?

I’d suggest Whey and Casein protein for those who want to gain more muscle mass and build lean muscle for best results. If you want to reduce soreness after workouts and help your body recover from your workout, then I would suggest drinking a Recovery drink.

Throughout the day, you should be eating plenty of protein, so a recovery drink is probably best because it give you more energy and still has some protein in it for muscle growth.

Drinking a Whey or Casein Protein shake and a recovery drink in the same day is recommend for absolute best muscle growth results, but is not complete necessary to reach your goal.

What Do I Do?

I personally drink EAS Whey 100% Protein, Vanilla to be exact. I add milk and mixed berries and blend them together after every workout.

Purchasing Tip

Recovery drinks and protein powders do not have to be expensive. I used to purchase them at the grocery store, however I realized I was over paying by a lot. Purchasing them from a Wholesale Store or places like Amazon are much cheaper, especially in bulk. That’s where I buy mine.

Leave a Comment!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.

Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes