Giving your best during training or a workout is not enough to see optimal benefits. The way you recover post workout is a vital component to your results and to allow your body to come back stronger ready for the next session. There are four R’s which are essential to allow your body to recover post workout:
Replenish
Your muscles use glycogen as energy. These glycogen stores need to be replaced post workout through food and drinks. Aim for 1.2g/kg or around 40-80g of quickly absorbed carbohydrates as soon as possible post workout is you are backing up for another session that day. An example could be a banana and honey sandwich with 1 tablespoon of honey on two slices of white bread. Otherwise, the next time you eat a meal or snack will be sufficient to help your body restore its glycogen.
Rehydrate
Your body loses not only fluids but electrolytes when you sweat. It is important to replace 150% of the weight you lost during a workout in fluids. The average sweat rate of an athlete is 1-3L an hour. Your sweat is made up of electrolytes including sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium.
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Repair
A hard training session causes damage to your muscles. Including 20-40g of protein post workout is essential to help your muscles repair themselves.
Examples you could include in your post workout meal or snack could be:
- 65g of beef, pork or lamb or 80g chicken = approximately 20-25g protein
- 30g nuts, seeds and nut/seed butters = approximately 10-15g protein
- 1 large egg = approximately 7g protein
- 100g tuna = approximately 30g protein
- 100-150g legumes = approximately 15-20g protein
- 2 slices of cheese = approximately 10g protein
- ½ cup of oats = approximately 7g protein
- 1 cup cooked quinoa = approximately 8g protein
- 100g tofu = 12-15g protein
- 100g yoghurt = approximately 10g protein
- 2 slices seedy whole grain bread = approximately 12g protein
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter = approximately 6g protein
Rest
Giving your body adequate time to repair and become stronger is just as important as putting in maximal effort in your training session. If you are training twice a day this time in between sessions may need to include active recovery methods.
Take home message: Don’t settle for your second best. Use these for steps to maximise your recovery and results you see from your training sessions.
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