The Ultimate Post-Workout Drink?

By Phil Sims

After a hard workout, your muscle tissues have been broken down, your glycogen stores will be depleted and your body will be exhausted. Immediately after your workout, you need to get something inside you to counteract these problems. You need to repair your muscles and replace spent energy asap!

Here’s my “special” recipe for the ultimate post-workout shake…

Grab yourself a shaker bottle and mix together the following in water.

30g Whey Isolate

Whey Protein Isolate is the finest form of whey protein, it contains around 90% protein with very little fat or lactose. It is filtered longer which produces a higher protein quantity eliminating more fat. It is also ultra fast in absorbing which is what your broken down tissue requires as soon as possible after a workout. Whey protein isolate is also useful if you are lactose intolerant which some are from using a standard concentrate powder.

20g Casein

Unlike Whey Isolate, Casein is very slow absorbing. Isolate will start the repair process straight away and Casein will provide you with a slow trickle of required nutrition over a few hours. So by combining the two you give yourself a fast and slow absorbing protein shake.

60g Dextrose

This is corn sugar and is ultra fast in absorbing. Your glycogen stores will be depleted after a workout so you need to replenish these stores as soon as possible. It will also make your shake sweeter.

10g BCAA

Branched Chain Amino Acids are the 3 unique and essential amino acids Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine. BCAAs are required to maintain muscle tissue and help speed recovery, while you will have these in your protein powder, adding a little extra is going to boost you in the 3 main muscle building amino acids we need for repair.

5g Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine Monohydrate contains high levels of the chemical ATP, which is required for making muscles contract effectively. A useful benefit of Creatine Monohydrate is that it is easily broken down into ATP, this is our most useful fuel for exercise. ATP is required by the muscles in order to contract effectively. By supplementing with this you are ensuring you are going to be delivering your muscle cells optimal fuel for working out. You will also notice a great strength performance; this will help you achieve faster gains. With the addition of Dextrose, creatine will be far more effective, they work synergistically, the glucose will act as a transport for the creatine and shuttle it into your system quicker.

Water

Basically we know we need water but you need to drink this mix with water. Don’t be tempted to use milk because it tastes nicer, this will slow down the absorption totally and will make your shake less optimal.

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