What Post-Workout Supplements Should I Take?

What Post Workout Supplement Should I Take?

What your body needs a lot of are macronutrients after a workout. Therefore, eating food to get your Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fat is the best solution to that issue. The majority of non-macronutrient supplementation is to optimize your workout. Anything you take after a workout is meant for body recovery and replacement to get ready for the next workout. Below are some supplements that you will want to focus on to make that recovery more efficient.

Protein Supplement. Whey Isolate, Whey Concentrate, Weight Gainer, Pea Protein, etc.

All these are supplements if you cannot get an adequate amount of protein through food. Ideally, the best way to get protein is through food. There are many reasons to choose a protein supplement over food, easy digestion, convenience, time, feeling less full, etc. If you are restricting calories, it would be recommended to eat a lean protein vs. a protein supplement because you will most likely feel full longer, which is a huge benefit when dieting. These supplements are a great option for timing and convenience, but also if you are having a difficult time hitting your protein targets. Hitting your daily protein goal is hard for most people and supplementation may go a long way. 

The recommended amount of protein if you are trying to gain muscle is about 2 grams per kilogram (or about 1 gram per pound) of body weight.

Carbohydrate Supplement

Carbohydrates are very important in recovery and rebuilding those energy storage levels. Timing is more critical on carbohydrates especially if you have a short turnaround until your next workout. A carbohydrate supplement does give you simple carbohydrates that are easily digestible for your body to replenish those energy levels. This would be recommended for more advanced athletes who have more intense workouts and shorter time in between.

The recommended amount of carbohydrates does work in conjunction with how much fat you are eating but in general, if you are working out you should eat about 3+ grams per kilogram (or about 1.5+ grams per pound) of body weight.

Creatine

Creatine would be the first non-macronutrient supplement on the list. This is one of the most common supplements out there and is something the body does produce naturally. Getting enough creatine through your diet would be difficult, therefore supplementing creatine is ideal. We use creatine for the most explosive movements in a workout and will be the first energy used. Ingesting creatine after a workout will replenish your stored creatine levels to get ready for the next explosive workout.

The recommended creatine dosage amount is about 5 grams of Creatine Monohydrate per day. 

You should avoid creatine if you have kidney issues or your stomach gets upset when taking it. You may want to try Buffered Creatine of Kre-Alkalyn if you have stomach difficulties. The recommended dose is less which is about 1 g per day.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a micronutrient your body needs to form blood vessels, cartilage, muscle, and collagen in bones. Vitamin C is vital in the healing process of your body. After putting your body through a tough workout, give it a little vitamin C to help it heal. 

L-Glutamine

This essential amino acid is one of the most abundant in your body but difficult to have enough. L-Glutamine aids in muscle protein synthesis, allowing you to get the most from all that protein that you are eating and preventing muscle soreness. It also may stimulate the release of natural growth hormones, which may help build new better cells throughout your body.

Post Workout Nutrition and Supplements

The idea after a workout is to give your body the needed nutrients to recover. Timing does help but there aren’t too many studies that require immediate supplements directly following a workout to optimize recovery. There are optimal times to replace glycogen and creatine levels immediately post-workout. However, the recovery does require a large amount of macro and micronutrients steadily throughout the day as your body takes time to recover.