Workout Recovery

Disclaimer: i’m not a doctor or dietician or sports nutritionist or anything… just someone that works out a lot and geeks out on nutrition research. Please consult your (nutrition savvy) doctor before making changes to your diet. Please and thanks!

I’ve been thinking a lot about the best way to help my body recover after my long workouts because, well, the intensity is ramping up and the time between workouts is decreasing. Plus with Ironman training kicking off again soon (GAH!) I definitely need to make sure I’m giving my body every advantage possible, right? So what’s the best way to help your body recover?

As a beachbody coach my first thought was to try the new Beachbody VEGAN recover! I mean it’s vegan and I’ve been so jealous of all my friends loving the non-vegan version. So i started looking at it and got confused because from reading Thrive and following No Meat Athlete I thought the ratio of carbs to protein for post workout nutrition skewed higher on the carb side- you want both but in a 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1 ratio. The exact ratio varies by source but everything I had read previously suggested that was the ratio I needed to shoot for. But Beachbody recover offers a ratio of almost 1:2 carbs:protein. Which blew my mind.

So I asked a sports nutrition expert what he thought and he said to stop obsessing about the numbers and just eat whole plant foods and you’ll be fine.

Fair enough. But for real… why the discrepancy? Is a higher protein:carb ratio better for some things? So I turned to my good friend Google for the skinny and she didn’t let me down. I loved this article most i think because it also said to stop obsessing about the numbers. Eat nutrient dense foods and you’ll give your body what it needs. It also encourages a 1:1 ratio if your focus is on strength., Cardio calls for 2:1. And longer cardio calls for 3:1. But if you’re in ketosis you may need less carbs. So basically it varies for everyone and try what works for you. Much like EVERYTHING. stop doing what works for someone else and expecting it to work for you, amirite?

Of course I also consulted with my go to resource for vegan athlete nutrition: nomeatathlete.com. And they recommend a higher carb to protein ratio of 4:1 or 5:1, which makes sense since most of their audience is endurance athletes.

Then i read the article from livestrong and saw similar results- 3:1 or 4:1 after a bigger workout is appropriate but shorter workouts don’t need anything.

I loved the Healthline article i read about it because they cited a LOT of sources. So this article says 3:1 carbs to protein too. And endurance athletes may need more carbs than bodybuilders.

So finally i headed to bodybuidling.com to get their take thinking they would have the highest protein:carb ratio. And while they focused more on protein than endurance training sites they still suggest a 2:1 ratio of carbs:protein.

So…. i’m not sure why in the world beachbody decided to go against all of the recommendations on recovery ratios from scientists, sports nutritionists, and random bloggers. Maybe they assume you’ll blend the recover with fruit so you’ll get the carbs there?

Has anyone tried it? Everything I’ve heard about it is that it tastes AMAZING and totally works. so maybe there’s something to that 1:2 ratio after all. Or maybe it’s the pomegranate that they add in? I mean it’s definitely chocked full of good for you stuff! But for now i’m going to stick with my Hammer Nutrition Recoverite because (a) it’s delicious, (b) tastes good when mixed with just water in a shaker cup, (c) has the ratio that’s seemingly more appropriate for endurance athletes that are doing like hours long runs, like me, (d) it’s organic, and (e) it’s cheaper. also it has no added sugar. plus they have definitely done their homework and explained exactly why they chose the ratio they did, which i like. If you want to order from them you can use my referral code (329173) and email ([email protected]) for 15% off your first order too! Learn more about the hammer nutrition referral program here.

What do you use for recovery? Whole foods or a supplement type thing? Do you worry at all about the carb to protein ratio?

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