When you exercise frequently, you risk depleting your body’s nutritional stores, which are essential for muscle recovery, growth, and protection. Whenever it comes to muscle repair and recovery, post-workout nutrition is critical. This process can be aided by certain important substances.
In terms of physical healing, post-exercise nutrition is an important part of an athlete’s nutrition regimen. Sports drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, and coconut water are commonly consumed before and after exercise because they effectively rehydrate the body by replenishing minerals and electrolytes. Electrolytes play an important role in the body, regulating osmotic pressure in cells and assisting muscle and nerve cell function.
Including the right nutrients in your post-workout program will help you recover faster, improve muscle rebuilding, and prevent muscle breakdown, allowing you to perform at your best. We’ve put up a list of the 7 best supplements for fast muscle recovery to assist you on your way.
Protein Supplement
Protein is, without a doubt, the most beneficial substance for muscle recovery. It aids muscle restoration more quickly and effectively after a hard workout. It’s much more crucial if you don’t get enough protein in your diet. The most popular type of protein is whey. This could be due to the fact that Whey proteins are highly bioavailable, quickly absorbed by the body, and abundant in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), which are found in high concentrations in muscle tissue and are needed to fuel working muscles and increase protein synthesis. Dietary protein should be consumed before, during, and after physical activity for well-trained athletes, as it helps in the growth of muscle mass and strength.
BCAA Supplements
If you want to increase muscle growth, reduce muscle soreness, reduce exercise exhaustion, speed up muscle recovery, and prevent muscle loss, Branched-Chain Amino Acids are a must-have in your supplement stack. Three BCAAs (Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine) are among the nine essential amino acids that human bodies can’t make on their own and must be obtained through food. Amino acids are needed for a variety of bodily functions, including muscle growth, the formation of new immune cells, food digestion, and human tissue repair, to name a few. Amino acids can also be used as a source of energy by the organism.
Creatine Supplement
Creatine is a naturally occurring substance that is found in the muscle cells of humans and other mammals. In the case of heavy lifting or high-intensity activity, it enables your muscles to produce energy. A recent study found that adding creatine to a training regimen enhanced strength by 8%, weightlifting performance by 14%, and bench press one-rep max by up to 43%.
Creatine monohydrate can help with healing and/or reducing the severity of exercise-induced muscle damage. The effect of Creatine supplementation upon inflammatory and muscle soreness markers has been examined in a study following prolonged running. Experienced marathon runners were supplemented (4 doses of 5 g of Cr) for 5 days before a 30 km race. The athletes did not experience any side effects such as cramping, dehydration, or diarrhea during the supplementation period or the 30km race. All of the athletes finished the race in a time that was 5.8 percent faster than their personal best. These findings suggest that creatine supplementation reduced cell damage and inflammation following an exhausting, intense race.
Fatty Acid Supplement
Healthy fats, particularly EPA, contain potent anti-inflammatory compounds that have been demonstrated to reduce muscle soreness and joint pain. They’ll also help you recover faster from your workout, minimizing your risk of pain, especially delayed onset muscle soreness. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is muscle pain and stiffness that occurs several hours to days after a new or severe workout.
Glutamine Supplement
L-Glutamine is found in high concentrations in the human body. However, as your training volume increases, your glutamine stores are depleted faster than your body can replenish them, causing your body to be catabolic and break down lean muscle mass. Low glutamine levels might also weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to infection. Glutamine has been found in studies to help reduce muscle soreness and promote muscle healing after microscopic rips caused by severe training. It exists in two forms: Supplementing with glutamine has been proven to increase glycogen storage, which may have an impact on some types of exercise performance.
Complex Carbohydrates
Following an exercise, it is critical to consume a high-quality meal that contains complex carbohydrates, protein, and a variety of micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients. Because your muscles use up glycogen while exercising, especially during high-intensity training. Carbohydrate consumption at high doses (8 – 10 g/kg/day) after exercise has been demonstrated to increase muscle glycogen resynthesis, while protein (0.2 g – 0.5 g/kg/day) added to carbohydrate has been proven to enhance glycogen re-synthesis.
Electrolyte Supplement
Electrolytes, which provide calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphate, potassium, and sodium, are frequently included to replace those lost due to sweating during intense exercise. These substances are present in your blood, bodily fluids, and urine. Electrolytes assist the body hydrate, balancing blood acidity, and pressure, and repairing damaged tissue. The inflammatory response of muscles can lead to a lack of healing and increased pain and soreness if the right alkalizing minerals aren’t present in sufficient amounts.