No matter what workout you’re doing, you should always plan on some recovery nutrition afterward. There are numerous benefits to recovery drinks, and timing them correctly will help you feel confident that your glycogen stores are replenished for your next workout.
For more on training and nutrition, check out Ask a Cycling Coach Ep 288.
Carbohydrates are a key part of fueling performance during aerobic activities. You can cash in on the benefits of carbohydrates with a carb-rich meal three to four hours before your workout and by consuming carbohydrates on the bike during your workout.
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Try Free for 7 DaysThe benefits of carbohydrates are not limited to before and after your workout, though. When you consume carbohydrates immediately after your workout, it gives your body a chance to replenish its glycogen stores and begin the recovery process. For cyclists, consuming a recovery drink is a convenient way to refuel. Carbohydrates are handled differently during this time because the hormones that are upregulated during exercise are different from the hormones upregulated after exercise.
Do Recovery Drinks Work?
During training, your body is in a catabolic state. When you’re in a catabolic state, your system is actively consuming and burning fuel to maintain an output of energy by breaking things down. Consuming carbohydrates during your workouts is what helps your body catch up with the depletion of fuel and maintain your desired energy output. Once you finish training, your body settles into an anabolic or building state. During the anabolic state, your body can use carbohydrates to rebuild your energy stores and begin the recovery process.
Why should cyclists consume a recovery drink?
Having a recovery drink is the perfect way to fuel these processes and address some recovery concerns. The first being that your body needs to replenish its muscular and liver glycogen levels for your next workout. Glycogen is actively used during aerobic exercise and can be depleted during any workout. If you don’t replenish this storage, you may feel flat or under-fueled during your next workout. Second, when you challenge yourself with a training stimulus, your body needs glycogen and protein to complete muscle protein synthesis and prevent muscle protein breakdown.
After a workout, consuming carbohydrates and protein essentially protects your lean muscle mass and replenishes your system for future workouts. All of this can be achieved by drinking a recovery shake right after your workout. With that said, you still have a few options in the way of post-workout nutrition.
When to Drink Your Recovery Shake
Timing is an important part of recovery nutrition and can ultimately be the deciding factor in how you approach fueling after training. For several years, it’s been understood that athletes can only rapidly replenish muscle glycogen levels during the anabolic window. The anabolic window is the forty-five minutes after a workout where your body can replenish muscle glycogen stores. More recent research suggests that this anabolic window may not be so small.
The anabolic window is primarily based around the upregulation of GLUT-4 receptors—the hormone upregulated after exercise. Current research suggests that these receptors can last around two hours, opposed to the previously understood thirty to forty-five minutes. To take advantage of this longer window, athletes can replenish glycogen levels by consuming 1-1.5g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight, per hour, within two hours of finishing a workout.
Research also suggests that you can replenish glycogen levels long after the two hours by consuming high levels of carbohydrates throughout the rest of the day. To do this, you can consume the same measurement (1-1.5g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight) for every fifteen to thirty minutes over the following four to six hours. Refueling with constant carbs, long after your workout, offers an alternative to the recovery drink but involves a much slower and active fueling process.
Advantages of Recovery Drinks Right After
The research goes on to show that you don’t have to drink your recovery drink immediately after your workout. But that certainly doesn’t mean it’s still not the easiest and surest way to go about refueling.
Because it’s fast, convenient, and efficient, drinking a recovery drink immediately after your workout is still probably the best way to approach your post-workout nutrition. The sooner you consume your post-workout nutrition, the sooner your glycogen stores will be rebuilt. You also have a better chance of ensuring that your carbohydrate intake is sufficient. With a consistent routine around post-workout nutrition, it will also be easier to experiment with your fuel and decide exactly what works for you.
All in all, there are no detriments to performance when you take in a recovery drink immediately after your workout, and it increases the likelihood you’ll get in the fuel that you need in the time frame that you have.
Consuming a recovery drink immediately after every workout can also help you switch into recovery mode. When you transition from an active state to a recovery state, your body changes from a sympathetic state to a parasympathetic state of rest. Drinking a recovery shake as you cool down can signal to your body that it’s time to start resting, digesting, and rebuilding.
Prepare Your Drink in Advance
- Mix your recovery drink before your workout and keep it in the fridge. If you’re in a rush after your workout or just really looking forward to getting in the shower, you can grab and go. It’s also another way to help guarantee that you get that fuel in and don’t skip the recovery fueling process.
Best Recovery Drinks for Cyclists
While there’s no such thing as an “ideal” recovery drink, research trends suggest that recovery shakes with a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein offer all of the benefits and no performance detriment. The combination of carbs and protein works synergistically to resynthesize glycogen, and the protein offers an opportunity for muscle synthesis. Incorporating protein into this ratio isn’t proven to be a necessary component in recovery fuel, but it seems to offer an opportunity for a benefit and no detriments. It might help, and it certainly doesn’t hurt.
How you achieve this ratio is up to you and your personal preferences. Among the podcast crew, Jonathan likes to use Clif Chocolate Recovery mix. Amber likes a combination of plain whey and lemon-lime Gatorade powder. Nate uses a maltodextrin powder and whey, and Pete likes to experiment with different dairy-free options. Another simple recovery drink is a glass of chocolate milk with about 32g of carbs and 8g of protein.
When you’re trying to find the recipe that works best for you, it’s okay to sacrifice some precision for personal taste. If your recovery drink is something completely unappealing or challenging to make, you’re probably more likely to skip it. It’s best to be less precise with your ratio and stay consistent, than super precise and inconsistent with use.
Experiment With the Recipe
- Making your recovery drink something you enjoy is a great way to help maintain a consistent routine. Try experimenting with different mixes and additions to make your recovery drink something you look forward to drinking after a hard workout.
While fuel in liquid form is usually easier to stomach after a tough workout, not everyone is a big fan of your classic recovery drinks. If you find recovery drinks and liquid fuel totally unappealing, you can use solid or natural fuel to refuel after your workouts instead.
Conclusion
There are numerous ways to approach refueling after a workout, but drinking a recovery shake immediately after is an easy, fast, and sure way to replenish your glycogen stores and fuel protein muscle synthesis. With a four to one carbohydrate to protein combination, you’ll ensure that you have the fuel you need to protect lean muscle tissue and engage in muscular synthesis. There’s no downside to including protein in the shake and a lot of upsides. As an added bonus, it’s an excellent addition to your recovery routine and a great way to reinforce other habits.
Further Reading/ References:
- The Effect of Ingesting Carbohydrate and Proteins on Athletic Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
- Nutrient Timing: A Garage Door of Opportunity?
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In the article, you state “to do this outside of your anabolic window, research suggests that you consume 1-1.5g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight, per hour for the next two hours after completing your workout.” However, I do not see a target for consuming a recovery drink within that 30-45 minute anabolic window. Is there any guidance on that?
Hi TJ,
Thanks for the question!
The short answer to your question is: roughly the same as the two hour recommendation (1-1.5g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight, in a 4:1 ratio with protein). With that said, due to individual variability, the exact quantity isn’t as important as just making sure you get in carbs after your workout. Here’s why:
The research cited in this article suggests that the benefits of the anabolic window are not restricted to a thirty to forty-five minute time frame. Instead, these same benefits may exist up to two hours after exercise. So, this anabolic window is bigger then the traditional anabolic window referenced in that statement. Essentially this implies that the recommendation for how much you should consume in the thirty to forty five minutes after exercise doesn’t differ much from how much has been recommended for the two hour window. With that said, due to individual variability there are still advantages to airing on the side of caution and taking in recovery fuel immediately after your workout. Taking in fuel in that forty five minute window is essentially more of an insurance policy, that you will cash in on these benefits. All in all, what’s most important is that you take in something rather then nothing, after training.
I can see now that this point wasn’t made very clear in how I phrased it originally. I’ve also gone ahead and edited the ‘When to Drink Your Recovery Shake’ section for improved clarity on this point. 🙂
Thank you & if you have any additional questions please let me know!
Meghan
Is this 1-1.5g of carbs of total body weight or lean mass?
Calum: total body weight!
Hello, thanks for the helpful article. I’m a bit confused by the “two hours” vs “four to six hours afterwards” though. I understand the 1-1.5g per kg each hour for two hours after training – for me that would be two lots of 80-120g over two hours. But then you suggest an alternative protocol – “To do this you can consume the same measurement (1-1.5g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight), for every fifteen to thirty minutes over the following four to six hours.” That’s an enormous amount! 80-120g x 2-4 times per hour x 4-6 hours could be getting on for 3kg of carbs over six hours. I must be reading this wrong?!
Hi Michael, thanks for your question! This recommendation may sound like a lot of carbohydrates but you are understanding me correctly. If you don’t consume carbohydrates in the two hours after exercise then the same study recommends that you take in 1-1.5g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight, every fifteen to thirty minutes, over four to six hours to maximize glycogen re-synthesis. With that said, as you’ve pointed out, this is not necessarily practical for all athletes. In fact, this is part of what makes the recovery shake the easier and more realistic fueling option.
I hope this information helps. If you want to hear a bit more on the subject, Podcast host Amber Pierce explains this alternative method of consuming carbohydrates (and the caveats that come with it) at this point in the podcast really well: 20:00
Thanks, Meghan, that’s really helpful – wowzer, a lot of carbs!! I think the takeaway is to ingest what you can ASAP post-work and then maintain what you can thereafter, bearing in mind I suppose that there comes a point where really it’s impractical (or counterproductive e.g. could affect sleep, weight, etc.) if you’re trying to force down too much. As always, I suppose listen to your body and experiment with what works for you. I’ve noticed just being a bit smarter on pre, during and post work nutrition just makes everything more comfortable and helps you ride faster. It feels like you’re taking on more than necessary but then during the work it feels like you’re fully fuelled.
It definitely is quite a lot of carbs! I totally agree with your strategy, though. It’s not just what you take in immediately after your workout that counts, but all of the fueling you do throughout the day that really makes a difference in how you feel when you get on the bike. As you also noted it really does come down to finding what works for you. Everyone is different and often times what works for someone else may not be a fit for you. Personally, I prefer to take a recovery shake in immediately after I ride, because it’s quick and easy to do. 🙂
I have two questions:
1)
So I weigh 77kg.
So within hour 1 I should have 77g of carbs.
And then in hour 2 I should repeat that again?
2)
I also read somewhere else on the blog it should be 4:1 protein. But with the 4 (carbs) that should be then 2:1 maltodextrin to fructose? Essentially making it 15g protein, 20g fructose, 40g maltodextrin
Sorry if that’s a little complicated. Just trying to figure out if should end up having 2 shakes and with what ratios 😃
Hi, Michael!
1) After the two-hour window, while replenishing replenish glycogen levels throughout the day you can consume the same measurement (1-1.5g of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight), for every fifteen to thirty minutes over the following four to six hours. Refueling with constant carbs, long after your workout, offers an alternative to the recovery shake, but involves a much slower and active fueling process. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a second shake!
2) YEP. 🙂