Sports drink vs recovery drink options

Does anybody have a suggetion for a good sports drink and a recovery drink that does not cost an arm and a leg to buy?

besides water.....

 

As you obviously know, most sports drinks, except Gatorade and Powerade, which are basically sugar water (fructose or high Corn Syrup) with a very poor mix of electrolytes compared to the good sports drinks such as Heed ( Hammer Nutrituion), ELoad and Accelerade, are all fairly expensive and I know of no good substitute. Eload has good electrolyte mix and can be bought in individual packets that make 16 oz. mixed with water for around $1.40 per packet.
You can make your own recovery drink with apple or orange juice (for the carbs, though high in sugar), Whey protein powder and L-Glutamine, which can be purchased in health foor stores or throughh dozens of places online, (google it), and is not too expensive. Hammer Nutrition puts 3000 mg (thats 3 grams!) per serving in their recovery drink, Recoverite, which is expensive but excellent.

 

Recovery drink: 16oz of skim milk and about 4 spoons of sugar. Make sure you drink it within 20 minutes of finishing the ride.

 

Best thing I've found is "Aftershock." It contains an ultra-fast absorbing whey protein as well as simple carbs, creatine, glucosamine and chondrotin, branched chain amino acids, glutaiming and so on. gl.

 

I like Cytomax Performance Drink and PowerBar Endurance. Both are in powdered form. You can often get them on sale at Performance Bike (www.performancebike.com) if there is not a store close by. I put one in each bottle on my bike so I have variety. I personally do not drink a recovery drink but if I do not want to go home and eat a healthy meal, I make a smoothie with fresh fruit, ice, some juice or soy milk and some protein powder.

 

As far as the recovery drink goes... Check this out. I mix Hersheys syrup and skim milk. I've use Endurox R4 before, and this performs just as well if not better.

http://www.gotmilk.com/news/health/chocolate_milk_pdfs/chocolate_milk_as_recovery_aid.pdf

 

anyone tried accelerade?

 

I have & I like it-has the 4:1 carb/protien ratio but is somewhat costly.

 

I've used Ultragen for a while and it seems to work fairly well. As mentioned above, you should focus on getting the right amount of simple carbs into your system along with some protein within 20 minutes of your workout.

BTW, for the men out there, soy milk is probably not the best solution.

 

You can use lowfat milk or whatever you like in your smoothie. I am allergic to milk so that is why I said soy milk.

 

i use endurox. sometimes i mix it up thou, and do a super shake = 1 c green tea, 1 c frozen berries, 1 scoop protein, 1 tbsp ground flaxseed, 1 tbsp greens+, 1 tbsp mixed nuts. blend for 60 secs and drink. really tasty. enjoy

 

Try The Energy Drink. It is a superfood that has allowed me to compete with 20 year olds and has increased my stamina. (I'm in my 50's) I have found that The Energy Drink has given me more energy and it has helped with recovery after a long ride. I am no longer sore for a couple of days. I am not as sore and tight as I used to get. This product has a money back guarantee that it will help you feel better after a long ride or your money back.
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- chocolate milk - carb + protein (perfect 4:1 ratio) + simple some sugar for high glycemics index quick absorption + water for hydration.. goes down really easy!
- plus take a couple of aspirin for muscle soreness/inflammation... Tylenol won't help with inflamation and ibuprophen has been shown to block recovery.

cheap, quick, effective and tastes good too...

 

Most chocolate milk contains high fructose corn syrup that is a detriment to good health and quick recovery. Enzymes are most important for energy and with the food we are eating today, enzymes are almost non existant. So you must supplement in order to keep your metabolism running smoothly for energy and digestion. Milk contains almost no enzymes so in order to digest it, those enzymes have to come from somewhere. They are taken from the metabolism.

Chocolate milk also contains antibiotics and growth hormones used by farmers to keep the cows healthy and fatten them up for eventual slaughter.
Those antibiotics kill the good flora that is needed to prevent colds, flue and other GI tract sicknesses.

Asprin is not a good answer to inflammation because all it is is a coverup for the pain. When muscle damage occurs, as it does with any exercise, then you need to help with the healing. When you cover up the pain, it could allow for even more damage to the muscle tissue without even knowing it.

Products are available that can help heal the damaged muscle quicker.
If chocolate milk and asprin were the answer, professional baseball, basketball, football and many other professional athletes would be using it.

They are not.

 

huh?
have you ever been injured before? every doctor i know prescribes ice, NSAIDs (ASA or ibuprofen) and stretching... what doctors do you go to? they may priscribe other things as well but asprin or ibuprophen will almost always be prescribed to reduce inflamation an speed up recovery. i've done 3 stage races this year one 4day, others 3 stage 2day and have used asprin (before and after stages) and cold showers and have never recovered as well...

not sure milk choc necessarily contains fructose, corn syrup but so what? can you show me how it is that this somehow blocks recovery? i've never heard that one before.. i've heard that it is not really the best for an sport drink since it can cause upset stomach and doesn't absorb as fast as something like maltodextrin, but i've never heard about it slowing recovery???

i'm not even going to get into the milk debate... you're obviously an member of the anti-milk collective... you will be assimilated... resistance is futile and all that...

to the OP.. as long as you're not lactose intolerant, choc milk taste good, is cheap, very available and is a great recovery drink... it just works. and NSAIDs and cold showers, icing also will speed recovery... some marathon runners actually take ice baths after runs to speed recovery (i'm not going to go that far but..)... i think the fact that stevetroyer is questioning something as basic as the use of NSAIDs to decrease inflamation and speed recovery kind brings all of his other "facts" into question...

anyway there is the advice use it or not...

 

http://www.milknewsroom.com/downloads/stager_chocmilk_study.pdf

 

water in addition to a balanced diet will provide you with ample fuel for exercise, and ability for recovery.. and will save you from throwing money away on expensive sugar water.

 

I use Cytomax in my water bottles and EnduroxR4 post-ride, for rides 2 hours plus.

 

Im a big fan of creatine for recovery.. I have always used creatine monohydrate but have now switch to CEE beacuse of the better absortption into the muscles. BSN Cell Mass (http://www.illpumpyouup.com/bsn/cellmass.htm) is the one I have had the best luck with.

 

I use the same. I'm not convinced that EnduroxR4 does anything for me, but I have a big tub of it so I'm going to use it. At some point it will run out and I will see if it did anything when I don't have it any more. That will be my test.

I like Cytomax for during the ride, but I can't make it 100% strength. I use about twice the water. It still seems to do the job. I used to use a product called Sportalite but I have not seen it in a long time.