nickf829

Im kind of lost on what exactly a Protein Drink and a Recovery Drink do. I always have been told protein gives your muscles what it needs to rebuild and recover, but then it seems like people talk about recovery drinks as if its something completely different. Can someone dumb this down for me, and should i not be drinking my protein shakes after long rides, should i be going with a more "specific" recovery drink.. or is it all the same thing, just a different label and if its associated with bikes gives the right to charge 10x more haha.

thanks
nick

JavaMan

The "drink" part is to rehydrate your body after hard exercise.
The "carb" part is to help replenish muscle glycogen.
The "protein" part is to repair damaged muscle fibers and help muscles absorb glycogen.

My favotite recovery drink is chocolate milk. It's got that 4 to 1 carb/protein ratio going, too.

late

For 20-30 minutes after a ride you can replace glycogen a lot faster than normal.
You need both carbs and protein, a banana shake would do the trick.
Actually almost anything would.

Jarery

Protein drink and recovery drink are the same thing, different name, different marketing, different prices.

desmo13

Olvaltine

EJ123

LoL

desmo13

the key is to not stir it very well.

Mothra

The term "recovery" is too vague. There are numerous systems in the body that needs to be rebuilt and replenished. Actual muscle-tissue that's damaged and needing repair is small in volume. Look at the monthly lean-muscle mass gain of pro body-builders and you'll see a slow rate of muscle building. About 100-125gm of protein is the most they need to eat daily. If you just want to rebuild muscle to its original size and weight, then you'll need less than that.

The other more important part of "recovery" is to replenish the glycogen stores in the muscles. This is re-supplied through sucking glucose from the bloodstream. Without sufficient glucose in the bloodstream within 30-minutes of a ride, your body will actually disassemble perfectly good muscle tissue to restore the glycogen supply; it's converting muscle-protein into glucose and using that to build up the glycogen. That's why long-distance riders and pros actually have to do weight-training during the season, because long-distances completely deplete your glycogen and it's inevitable that some good muscle is catabolized during the ride itself and for enery-replenishment. The weight-training is required just to maintain a constant muscle-mass. So, it's vitally important to suck down 300-700 calories of carbs immediately after a ride to re-supply your muscles with glycogen, then a normal meal within a couple hours. The 4:1 carb-protein mix appears to have a stronger effect in getting stuff pumped through the cell walls and rebuilding glycogen supplies inside the muscles.

EDIT: Here's an article that goes over history and various components in energy drinks during and after exercise: Cutting-Edge Muscle Fueling. The cited journal articles are very good sources to follow up as well.