12 Post-Workout Foods that help you Build Muscle and Recover Faster
NO MATTER HOW hard you’re working in the gym, if you’re not recovering properly afterwards, you’re not training effectively. Proper recovery means everything from getting on a healthy sleep schedule to regularly stretching. While your trusty foam roller can help you massage out those stubborn knots, and your fancy cooling pillow comforts you into some deeper z’s-gadgets won’t always provide a quick fix. When it comes to eating for muscle recovery, the answer means eating simple, whole foods. "Nailing your post-workout nutrition promotes quicker recovery, reduces muscle soreness, builds muscle, improves immune system functioning, and replenishes glycogen-all key building blocks in priming you for future workouts," says sports dietitian and Ironman athlete Marni Sumbal, M.S., R.D. Your chosen fuel may also determine how you’re feeling the next day. Several nutrients, including different amino acids and vitamins play a role in how your muscles recover. Eating foods with the proper nutrients can relieve muscle soreness the days following your workout-meaning you may feel better in your subsequent workouts, too.
What’s important to eat after a workout? The perfect post-exercise meal depends on what you’re doing for your workouts. A marathon runner is going to need different foods to refuel than an Olympic lifter. Generally, longer-endurance-based workouts require more carbohydrates to replenish those lost during exercise.
NO MATTER HOW hard you’re working in the gym, if you’re not recovering properly afterwards, you’re not training effectively. Proper recovery means everything from getting on a healthy sleep schedule to regularly stretching. While your trusty foam roller can help you massage out those stubborn knots, and your fancy cooling pillow comforts you into some deeper z’s-gadgets won’t always provide a quick fix. When it comes to eating for muscle recovery, the answer means eating simple, whole foods. "Nailing your post-workout nutrition promotes quicker recovery, reduces muscle soreness, builds muscle, improves immune system functioning, and replenishes glycogen-all key building blocks in priming you for future workouts," says sports dietitian and Ironman athlete Marni Sumbal, M.S., R.D. Your chosen fuel may also determine how you’re feeling the next day. Several nutrients, including different amino acids and vitamins play a role in how your muscles recover. Eating foods with the proper nutrients can relieve muscle soreness the days following your workout-meaning you may feel better in your subsequent workouts, too.
What’s important to eat after a workout? The perfect post-exercise meal depends on what you’re doing for your workouts. A marathon runner is going to need different foods to refuel than an Olympic lifter. Generally, longer-endurance-based workouts require more carbohydrates to replenish those lost during exercise.