Speed up and improve recovery for better performance

Improve Recovery

If you practice a sport, you like to see fast results. But did you know that during physical exercise our bodies go through many changes?

  • Energy runs out
  • Liquids and minerals are lost
  • Muscle fibers are damaged

after exercise the body needs to recover

If you exercise and wish to obtain better results from your workouts, you should adopt some habits in your post-workout routine to help you have energy for the next day’s workout.

Your post-workout goals should be:

  • Replenish liquids and energy
  • Rest
  • Promote muscle recovery and muscle building and eliminate soreness

What you can do to speed up recovery:

  • Have a diet that helps improve recovery
  • Get enough rest to allow the body to recharge
  • Use supplements that optimize and accelerate recovery

Food for recovery

a balanced diet will help you recover

Since replenishing liquids and energy is vital, proper hydration and a balanced diet will allow you to meet this goal.

What to drink?

To replenish liquids and minerals that were lost principally through sweat, you should drink:

  • Water
  • Isotonic drinks- for endurance sports in which much liquid is lost through sweat, isotonic drinks help rapidly replenish minerals lost through sweat. These drinks also tend to contain carbohydrates (sugar) to replenish energy levels
  • Fruit juices

What to eat?

Carbohydrates

  • They’ll give you the energy you need for workouts and daily movements
  • Will help you replenish glycogen levels (our body’s energy source) which diminish during workouts
  • During post-workout: choose carbohydrates that rapidly increase blood sugar levels (with a high glycemic index) to replenish energy more quickly
  • Examples of carbohydrates with high glycemic levels: bananas, pasta, fruit juices, rice or bread

Proteins

  • They’re the building blocks of muscles, and that’s why they’ll help you recover and rebuild muscles
  • Examples: fish, meat, eggs, dairy products

In the article "Muscle Recovery: reduce muscle soreness and repair muscles effectively" you can read some examples of post-workout meals.

Rest to recover

sleep is important to recover

Hard workouts have more disadvantages than advantages.

The main precautions you should take are:

  • Don’t work an area of the body that’s still sore from the previous workout. In that way, the workout will be counterproductive. If you work out every day, it’s best to alternate working different muscle groups on different days
  • Give the body time to recuperate. It’s recommended to take breaks of 24 up to 72 hours between workouts
  • Get a good night’s sleep. Sleeping doesn’t mean that the body stops. It continues working and there are various biological processes that occur during this time. Recovery is one of them

The NSF (National Sleep Foundation) recommends that adults should get between 7-9 hours a night of sleep. So make sure you get enough rest so that the muscle fibers damaged during the workout have a chance to recover.

Supplements for effective recovery

If you would like to recover effectively and more quickly, supplements can help.

Just as with food where you need proteins and carbohydrates, recovery supplements can also help you replace these nutrients.

These supplements should be taken according to the manufacturer’s instructions, but they are generally taken post-workout.

Proteins and Amino Acids

For muscle recovery, the best thing is to give the muscles the very thing they’re made of:

  • Proteins: during workouts, mini-ruptures occur in the muscles, and in order to repair them it’s necessary to obtain protein through diet or supplements. Through protein shakes, it’s possible to obtain protein in a convenient, concentrated and pure form
  • BCAA’s: BCAA’s (branched chain amino acids) are three amino acids that are especially useful for accelerating muscle recovery. The amino acids are the ingredients that make up proteins. Taking amino acids makes the results more effective because their absorption is faster
  • L-Glutamine: among the amino acids for recovery, Glutamine stands out, since it’s the most abundant amino acid in the muscles. This amino acid is used during exercise, making it necessary to replace it after exercise for effective recovery

Carbohydrates

To replenish your energy levels fast, carbohydrate supplements are highly recommended:

  • Maltodextrine and/or Dextrose: fast-absorbing carbohydrates for quick replenishment of glycogen levels used during a workout. They can be taken immediately after a workout
  • Vitargo: a revolutionary carbohydrate, patented and with many scientific studies. Used by Olympic athletes and other professional athletes for whom performance is essential. Vitargo is the best for recovery because it passes through the stomach and replenishes glycogen levels more quickly than other carbohydrates

For better results take protein and carbohydrates together. For example, have a Vitargo shake with added protein. Carbohydrates help the body absorb protein more quickly!

For more details about the recovery process, check out our blog post. You can also find out the difference between cardio recovery and weight lifting recovery.

Formulas especially designed for recovery (Post-Workout)

There’s a category of supplements especially dedicated to post-workout recovery. They’re called “post-workout formulas”.

These formulas generally combine fast-absorbing protein, amino acids, BCAAs and Glutamine with fast-absorbing carbohydrates (such as Vitargo, Maltodextrine or Dextrose). In addition, they may include ingredients that aid recovery such as vitamins, minerals and energizers.

Some of the most popular recovery formulas are:

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