Recovery Nutrition Guidelines After Hard Exercise

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If you are an avid athlete, you've undoubtedly noticed the latest hype surrounding recovery nutrition. The sports supplement industry is bombarding us with commercial recovery foods and fluids that generally offer some combination of carbs and protein.

Questions arise: How important is proper nutritional recovery? And how essential are these products to your performance? The purpose of this article is to help you refuel appropriately after your workouts and optimize your performance.

More: How to Refuel After a Hard Workout

If you are a fitness exerciser--an athletic person who works out three or four times a week for 30 to 60 minutes--you can be less focused on recovery nutrition than the athlete who works to fatigue one or two times a day. Your body does not become depleted during fitness workouts, plus you have plenty of time to refuel before your next exercise session.

But if you are an athlete who exercises to exhaustion, does double workouts and needs to rapidly recover from one exercise bout to prepare for the next one, your recovery diet deserves full attention.

More: Recovery Nutrition Guidelines After Hard Exercise

A few examples include:

  • Soccer players in a weekend tournament
  • Swimmers competing in two events at a meet
  • Triathletes doing two-a-day workouts

... and yes, even ...

The compulsive exerciser who spends too much time at the health club.

More: 4 Delicious Recovery Smoothies

You'll be able to perform better during repeated bouts of hard exercise if you have planned your recovery diet and have the right foods and fluids readily available to adequately replace calories, carbohydrates, protein, fluids and sodium.