Nutrition for Recovery
Nutrition is becoming more recognized as an important component of performance and training. People are realizing that what gets put into the body plays a critical role in how the body responds to training and how it recovers. Nutrition for recovery is all about how the foods consumed affect the body’s response to the preceding training and physical stress. There are a lot of different specific foods that people have put out there as ways to boost recover through nutrition. In this article, we won’t go over those but instead cover how nutrients impact post-exercise response.
Probably the most talked about recovery food is protein. Protein is essential in the body’s response to training as it is plays critical roles in muscle growth and strength. A bout of intense training or exercise can result in transient increases in protein turnover thus leading to a negative protein balance (Beck et al., 2015). Consuming protein after exercise then allows the protein levels to balance as well as enhancing muscle protein synthesis which is the process of muscles rebuilding and growing post-exercise (Beck et al., 2015). This indicates that protein needs to be consumed as a part of a recovery routine post-exercise to allow the body to not stay in a state of protein deficiency but also to improve muscle protein synthesis. In cases where protein was consumed soon after exercise as well as with a protein rich meal later in the day, increased muscle hypertrophy (size) also resulted in equivocal effects on strength performance (Beck et al., 2015). Consuming protein as a part of a recover plan has many great benefits for the athlete. It not only improves the recovery process but allows for optimal adaptations from the training. Do not forget protein when training and looking to get the optimum results.
Another key component to recovery nutrition is carbohydrates. Now, carbohydrates can have a bad reputation these days, but their importance should not be overlooked. This is the bodies energy source. Post-exercise, the body just used up a lot of this critical resource so refueling with carbohydrates allows the body to restore lost energy that will be needed later. Burke and Mujika (2014) demonstrated that post exercise there is high potential for muscle glycogen storage due to the increased activity of the enzyme that creates glycogen. This all means that after a bout of training, the body is primed for taking up carbohydrates and producing its fuel source of glycogen. Taking advantage of this ability allows the athlete to begin the recovery process and not be energy deficient. This becomes even more important in subsequent training session or bouts of exercise because it is during this time that the body takes up necessary energy for the future (Burke & Mujika, 2014). Without taking advantage of this recovery and storage window, the body will not be as prepared as it could be for future training. Carbohydrate consumption post-exercise allows the body to not only recover quicker but be prepared for future training sooner.
The final major component of recovery nutrition is hydration or fluid consumption. After exercise, especially a session in which the athlete sweated a lot. Replenishing the fluid and electrolytes lost is essential. In most cases, it is not some special routine or drink that needs to be consumed but instead a quality routine throughout the day the makes the biggest impact (Beck et al., 2015). Working to drink half of the athlete’s body weight in ounces of water is a great daily routine to have. However, sometimes that is not enough or in cases where the athlete sweats excessively or in high heat, drinks with electrolytes can be helpful. The key with these is that they are not too full of sugar. Hydration is a critical component to recovery nutrition and it begins with drinking water and adding electrolytes for the most extreme cases. Hydration allows the body to perform at its highest levels whether that is recovering well or competing and training well.
Recovery nutrition does not have to be some complicated or fancy thing. It is about eating high quality foods in the right portions at the right times. Post-exercise protein and carbohydrates along with water throughout the day can be enough. Start with that as your plan and consult with a nutrition coach or dietician from there. The idea is to not overcomplicate nutrition but instead focus on consuming the proper nutrients after training.
-Tyler Grisdale, MS, CSCS, RSCC, TPI, FRC
References
Beck, K. L., Thomson, J. S., Swift, R. J., & von Hurst, P. R. (2015). Role of nutrition in performance enhancement and postexercise recovery. Open access journal of sports medicine, 6, 259–267. https://doi.org/10.2147/OAJSM.S33605
Burke, L. M., & Mujika, I. (2014). Nutrition for Recovery in Aquatic Sports, International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 24(4), 425-436. Retrieved Feb 1, 2021, from https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/24/4/article-p425.xml