Post Workout – Just as Important as your Pre-Workout Preparations

For body building buffs, a good set of pre-workout supplements is one necessity they cannot do without. However, not many of them are aware that in a post workout phase, the body does need just as much as before. There is need for an after workout recovery supplement.

Right after your workout, you depleted your body of its natural stores of essential nutrients. Your muscles have been torn under the stress in your workout. Glycogen, the carbohydrates stored in your muscles and the proteins are breaking down.

Necessity 

There is need to arrest these and reverse the changes. The pre-workout supplements do help greatly but the breakage of muscles can be more than what you have prepared for.

You would need to take your post workout supplements immediately right after the workout (within the first 45 minutes) when it is most effective to put back into the body what had been taken out.

All this starts with re-hydration (water or with added electrolytes for fast absorption). The following workout supplements can bring back right away those essential nutrients.

Without them, your body cannot start re-building (the most important part) and adding the bulk that you wanted in the first place. Each of these nutrients has their own work cut out for them in replenishing your body needs.

Beta-alanine

This essential nutrient that is often included in your pre-workout is vital in restoring the pH levels within the muscle to reasonable levels. When you work out, you build up lactic acid in the muscles. Beta-alanine helps raise the carnosine levels to restore the correct levels and helps in muscle gains.

Creatine monohydrate

This is the rapidly-absorbing form of creatine which is perfect in your body recovery after the workout. It helps increase the ATP production in the muscle cells, and gets the energy right back into the muscles. This prevents the further breakdown of the muscles that happens right after your workout.

Glutamine

Glutamine is the important key in adding fuel back to your muscles to help the repair much faster. Also, it is anti-catabolic, which is very good if you are shredding.

BCAAs

BCAAs (branched chain amino acids consisting of L-leucine, L-isoleucine, and L-valine) help build muscle protein. They are very essential when you plan to work out your body for the day.

Studies have shown that adding them during post workout gives better anabolic effects on your body than if you took them during the workout. A 5g of BCAAs taken after the workout helps supplement the BCAAs you took before the workout.

Carbohydrates

During the workout, your muscles have exhausted themselves of their carbohydrates. Get them back again in your system in amounts depending on your body type, age and metabolic capacity.

Different brands have different types of carbohydrate mixes so you need to find out what is best for your type.

Vitamin C

One of the best anti-oxidants comes with Vitamin C. Anti-oxidants help to protect your immune system (which is depleted when you run yourself down in a workout) and protect yourself from free radicals your body may have produced during the workout.

Your post workout is just as important as your pre-workout routine.