InVisib0L

I eat yogurt after my rides if I have them in the fridge... Does that work?

schumi

You're right actually, I did mean right before a ride - or any other exertions for that matter. 30 to 45 minutes before is ok.

Once I didn't think before I went to the gym, and had a chocolate milk drink right before. Bad idea...

DrPete 

I was reading Chris Carmichael's book "Food for Fitness" where he talks about post-exercise recovery meals. I was shocked and amazed when he actually wrote that there's no proven difference between recovery drinks and eating a good, high-carb meal after a ride/race, but the most important thing is to eat within 60 minutes of finishing because that's when your body is in peak recovery mode. The issue, and the reason recovery drinks have become popular, is that most people can't prepare or can't tolerate a meal right after a race.

I was just surprised because I was convinced he'd be trying to sell Poerbar Recovery drink, but hey--guess there's still SOME integrity left in the world... But the big thing is lots of carbs post-ride to replenish the glycogen stores.

DrPete

chromedome

And I always thought the reason recovery drinks became popular was because of marketing!

But what about people that are trying to drop fat? It seems they would refrain from carb recovery drinks. Wouldn't they want to replace glycogen stores through fat hydrolysis? Alot of cyclists or swimmers or runners or exercisers get the exercise to get rid of fat. Wouldn't pre-event carboloading and post-event recovery carb replenishment prevent the fat reduction benefits of the exercise? Of course, I'm not saying take it to some extreme and put yourself in trouble. But to say people need alot of carbs for recovery seems like giving permission, like I'm going for a bike ride just so I can have a fudge sundae later. "I ride and I ride and I ride and I'm just not losing any weight! I don't understand it!"

El Diablo Rojo

This topic has been debates on several other threads. Two things to note, the research was sponsored by the dairy industry, so that must be taken into consideration. Second be careful on what chocolate milk you are consuming. Most chocolate milk contains High Fructose Corn Syrup. HFCS is about as bad for you body as it gets so you may not be doing yourself any good by consuming chocolate milk.

LA_Rider

^ +1

The Dairy Council is not your friend.

DigitalRJH

Mooooooooooooooooooo

How now brown cow?

hiromian

My first concious recovery meal was yesterday after my first ever 75 Km ride and Class one accent. The meal: Tim Hortons-2 chocklet milks, bowl of chilly, egg sandwich, one ice cap. Then I went home and had a bannana, some fig newtons and a beer. Today I feel great and comuted by bike to work.

Veloduo

The BikeForums.net/Yugo/Coleman's TdF team, just announced about an hour ago as a late replacement for Manolo Saiz's EPO-dripping Astana/Wurth squad, is currently in negotiations with Bosco, Nestle's Quick, Hershey's Syrup, Ovaltine, and Swiss Miss for a secondary sponsorship deal. The entire BF/Yugo squad swears by it...

Veloduo

Just can't seem to agree on WHAT cacao-based recovery drink is mo' betta...

Veloduo

Could try snorting the stuff...

norskagent

beer.

wabbit

the other day i was talking to this guy who showed me his mixture of Quik and coffee... i guess it works for him. He's a great athlete and has been provincial TT champ....

Smoothie104

bumping..

i love chocolate milk, i bought some produced by Promised Land Dairy, out of Texas, its called midnight chocolate milk, and it's the best I ever tasted... 1 quart has.....get this.....960 calories...

CerveloNW

This has been my recovery drink of choice for 2 years now (for both running and cycling). Glad to hear I'm not the only one out there who uses it this way. I know it sounds like a kid's drink, but it has the protein carb mix your body's looking for after a hard workout....

GuitarWizard

Of course food would be just as good.....the trick is getting the 4:1 ratio of carbs vs. protein for optimal recovery. And, firing up the stove right after a race to boil up some water for pasta might prove to be a bit difficult for some

superslomo

I dig yogurt with frozen strawberries blended in... chocolate milk is good too, and tastier than a lot of the proper "recovery drinks."

If real food can be used, it's always somehow more satisfying than the super-engineered products. Just my opinion, of course.

DocRay

...and I don't want lactose going to the same school as my kids.

Here's the abstract:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_docsum

Nine male, endurance-trained cyclists performed an interval workout followed by 4 h of recovery, and a subsequent endurance trial to exhaustion at 70% VO2max, on three separate days. Immediately following the first exercise bout and 2 h of recovery, subjects drank isovolumic amounts of chocolate milk, fluid replacement drink (FR), or carbohydrate replacement drink (CR), in a single-blind, randomized design. Carbohydrate content was equivalent for chocolate milk and CR. Time to exhaustion (TTE), average heart rate (HR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and total work (WT) for the endurance exercise were compared between trials. TTE and WT were significantly greater for chocolate milk and FR trials compared to CR trial. The results of this study suggest that chocolate milk is an effective recovery aid between two exhausting exercise bouts.

However, this journal is so obscure that my university doesn't subscribe to it, and the authors were funded by the milk marketing board. Reynolds tobacco publishes papers that say smoking is good for the lungs.

I like to know how they blinded chocolate milk versus CR or FR -they all taste different and the subjects would know which is which. The whole study was three days.

botto 

while far from ideal, i'm guessing that my standard of a pot of cottage cheese, some toast with aged cheese, and maybe a bowl of soup, does the trick after a reasonable day in the saddle.

indygreg

This topic also gets discussed all the time in the running world (I have been a runner for a while). Choc milk is a near perfect recovery drink as others have stated. It has the 4:1 that is said to be best.

Endurox R4 is the most popular (or at least it seems that way - I have no research) 'formal' recovery drink with runners. It is also excellent. It is more expensive, but A) that can be mitigated (nutritiongeeks.com has the best price by far) and B) it never goes bad (well, within reason) so you will not come home to find it out of date and stinking.

You cannot go wrong either way. If you prefer the taste of Endurox or having a mix - then great, use it. If you prefer choc milk and like to save the money - also great.

I have used both and will continue to do so. I LOVE the taste of Endurox and prefer it. I do not think it performs better . . . I just like it more. My issue with Choc milk is that I can drink 8 or 12 or 16 oz in about 1 second and I am dying for more. I typically will over indulge with it. Endurox just seems to hit the spot better. I can switch over to water after I have it easily, but when I have choc milk water just does not cut it . . . I want more choc milk

blickblocks

Drink Silk brand chocolate soymilk. It's way better than real chocolate milk, IMO. 8th Continent brand is also really good.

KevinTX

I love that stuff, they sell it at every HEB down here. It taste just like melted ice cream. I like hersheys chocolate milk the best after i work out or ride.

El Diablo Rojo

This is classic, if Specialized sponsored an "independent" test of bike frames and low and behold they won the test you would all be calling BS. Yet the milk industry does exactly the same thing and you all line up like..well..cows.

Paul L.

Personally I find a pint of chocolate milk just the thing 2/3s into a 300k. I find a quart of Chocolate milk before a nap on the 600k provides a pretty solid recharge within a few hours. Just my experience. Bring on the Chocolate milk and, dare I say it.....Ice Cream......MMmmmmmmm Carb to Protein ratio, yeah thats it, I am recovering..... yeah, I need to eat it..... I am recovering......Mmmmmmmm.

Houston_Biker

Drinking a tall cup of chocolate milk has grown into a tradition for me and my cycling buddies after a long ride. The chocolate milk is typically accompanied by a Payday bar. We try to keep the chocolate milk down to 2% fat, or else the calories skyrocket!

Very few things taste as good as creamy chocolate milk after a good 75 mile ride! Well, maybe a beer or two!