Non technical recovery drinks - any good options out there?

Daniel B wrote:

Hi all,

I currently have a glass of skimmed milk with 3 teaspoons of

in it after a training ride.

Does anyone have any suggestions for other similar and or better alternatives?

Skimmed milk? That's just water that's been shown a picture of a cow.

Get some full fat in with your chocolate powder.

JayKosta wrote:

A more 'flavorful' alternative is low-fat chocolate milk.

Co-incidentally, that's what Nesquik actually is. Just in case you didn't read the OP...

To the OP,

250ml skim milk 88 calories 9g protein 13g carbs
3 teaspoon (1 tablespoon) of Newsquik 30 calories 7g carbs

118 calories and 20g of carbs? Doesn't seem much to me.

Unless you are tiny I would have thought you might be better off doubling the size of your serving and doubling the amount of nesquik per serving? Don't get me wrong, if you're happy with what you're doing that's fine but I wonder how much impact your current regime is having.

A basic mix of carbs and protein for a recovery drink is 20 grams of protein and (edit) 40-60 grams (60-80 grams might be too much) of carbs. A small amount of fat is ok, but most of the calories should be from carbs and protein.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

phreak wrote:

michaelede wrote:

To the OP,

250ml skim milk 88 calories 9g protein 13g carbs
3 teaspoon (1 tablespoon) of Newsquik 30 calories 7g carbs

118 calories and 20g of carbs? Doesn't seem much to me.

Unless you are tiny I would have thought you might be better off doubling the size of your serving and doubling the amount of nesquik per serving? Don't get me wrong, if you're happy with what you're doing that's fine but I wonder how much impact your current regime is having.

To be fair though, the whole 'window of optimal recovery' thing is quite disputed. A lot of what I've read suggests that if you're not going to train again for another 24 hours then you should be fine with a regular diet as that's ample time to recharge the muscles with normal food.

Agree completely however the question was asked about recovery drinks so I assumed the OP had a reason to recover hence my suggestion for increasing the amount of carbs / protein he consumed.

On a related note whilst many studies fail to see anything of statistical significance (which doesn't mean something doesn't work and if you are at a high enough level it is worth chasing marginal gains, ask team SKY!) you really do need to look at the protocol they are using (often an endurance test to failure) which may or may not be relevant to how you train or compete. You also need to look at the population they are testing, usually college level athletes and ask yourself how similar you are to the group under study (in my case not very!) Personally when I do a big high intensity training block, for example Tour of Sufferlandria or 8 days of California on trainer road (so 7 or 8 days back to back of only one to one and a half hours of fairly high intensity) I notice a huge difference in recovery if I get down about 60 to 90 g of carbs and 20 to 30 g of protein quickly (i.e. a big glass of nequik, about 7-800 ml) after I finish and then have a normal meal within 2 hours vs. just having a normal meal (the main difference I notice is a complete lack of muscle soreness, which may or may not equate to any performance gain but it is definitely more pleasant NOT to have it!) but I am a relatively untrained individual who is knocking on a bit, my needs are quite different to a high level athlete who is in his 20's! YMMV

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