Protein and Post-Workout Recovery

You don’t get more strength, increased speed, better endurance and bigger muscles from going to the gym. They’re actually a result of getting sufficient amounts of rest and proper nutrition in between workout sessions.

You probably already know that you should be sleeping at least eight hours every night, working out no sooner than 48 hours after the previous session and eating a lot of protein (together with carbohydrates) in between workouts.

But do you know how exactly protein helps you recover from each workout session? Let’s take a look.

The process of recovery

There are two primary things that you lose whenever you workout:

1. Glycogen (carbohydrates) from the liver and muscles
2. Electrolytes and other fluids

Of course, these things can easily be replenished by taking in carbohydrate-rich food and lots of fluids. So, where does protein come in? Well, working out also causes micro-tears on your muscles and puts your immune system in a weakened state. Protein, which you get from various food sources like meat, milk and egg whites, helps fix these two things at a more rapid rate.

What protein does

– First, protein is known to help the human body recover from all sorts of injuries and micro-tears are one of them.
– Second, it’s responsible for the production of new muscle fibers so your body can effectively adapt to the loads that you are exposing it to.

As for your immune system, protein also helps keep it in top shape so you can bounce back faster and be ready to fight off and recover from various kinds of diseases.

Carb-protein combo

Also, a combination of carbohydrates and protein makes it possible for your body to absorb glycogen at a much faster rate. This is because in tandem, these two macronutrients are known to be more effective at boosting insulin levels, which, in turn, helps speed up the anabolic (recovery) processes in your body.

Meals or supplements?

Most of us don’t have the time to prepare so many meals throughout the day so we rely on supplements and other forms of artificial meal replacements for a steady supply of post-workout nutrition. But why settle for these things? There are better alternatives available in the market today. One of them is liquid egg whites.

Egg whites are known to contain the highest quality protein available in any food source and liquid egg whites are the perfect way of getting top-grade all-natural egg white nutrition instantly. But the coolest thing about them is that you can easily add them to your favorite food or drink-or you can just grab a bottle of the ready-to-drink flavored variety. There are some nice flavors to choose from like chocolate egg whites.