Nutrition

What is a Muscle Recovery Formula?

So you took your pre-workout supplement, exercised and now need something to help your muscles and body recover. While water will get you hydrated, it lacks certain crucial nutrients your body lost during your workout. To adequately refuel your body and prepare it for your next workout, you need to consider a post-workout supplement. With an ideal mix of nutrients to trigger muscle and energy recovery, a post-workout recovery supplement provides your body with branched-chained amino acids, whey, carbs and other essential recovery nutrients when your muscles are at their hungriest: immediately after a workout.

What is a post-workout supplement?

A post-workout supplement is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a supplement intended to be taken after you exercise. It’s a scientifically designed mix of nutrients meant to help your body recover  It doesn’t matter what type of activity you do – cardio, weight training, rock climbing, surfing, etc. – because a men’s post-workout recovery supplement works for all types of fitness and sports activities.

How does a post-workout supplement work?

During a workout, muscle breaks down and your body’s stores of glycogen – aka energy – become depleted. After a workout, your muscles are hungry for nutrients that repair this damage – they’re like super-absorbent sponges. When we finish exercising, many of us head to the water fountain or reach for our water bottle to rehydrate. Others take a whey protein shake. These two beverages simply aren’t enough to completely help you recover from a workout.

Only a supplement that’s been specifically designed for post-workout consumption can give your muscles exactly what they need. And what they need is a mix of nutrients: protein to help rebuild muscle, carbs to restore energy and amino acids to accelerate the recovery process.

What are the benefits of a men’s recovery supplement?

The main benefit is obviously faster recovery. If you’ve ever been sore or felt sluggish after a workout, a post-workout recovery supplement for men may help minimize the duration of these sensations. Because you’re fueling your body when it’s at its most receptive, a men’s recovery formula ensures maximum absorption of a number of critical recovery nutrients.

Aside from faster recovery, a post-workout supplement for men also helps build muscle. Protein is one of the building blocks of muscle and is needed for muscular growth and maintenance. Without it, you’re cheating yourself out of big muscle gains. And because your muscles fibers need help repairing and rebuilding after a workout, there’s no better way to help them then by consuming a post-workout recovery supplement for men that contains protein.

In a nutshell, a muscle recovery formula like MenScience Post-Workout Accelerated Recovery Formula serves four functions:

1. It hydrates. After a workout, your body is dehydrated from all that sweating. Mixing a post-workout powder with water helps restore fluid levels and fuels proper hydration.

2. It replenishes glycogen levels. As mentioned earlier, your body raids glycogen stores during exercise for energy. The mix of simple and complex carbs in a muscle recovery formula helps refill these stores to accelerate recovery processes and make sure you still have energy to get through the rest of the day.

3. It helps muscles repair. High-intensity exercise breaks down muscle, which needs protein to repair. A post-workout supplement with whey provides a critical dose of fast-digesting protein to help rebuild muscle quickly.

4. It helps stimulate anabolic processes. A post-workout supplement takes recovery one step further by kick-starting the processes to build new muscle mass. Anabolic activators like HMB and glutamine help spark protein synthesis to encourage the growth of lean muscle tissue.

What should be in your post-workout supplement for men?

Look for the following nutrients in your post-workout formula for best results:

Whey Protein: Whey protein is one of the fastest-absorbing proteins available, beating out other popular proteins like casein and soy. Its high-bioavailability means it’s not only absorbed faster but utilized by the body more efficiently as well. Protein is especially important after a workout because your body breaks down muscle during a workout, and it needs protein to start rebuilding.

Carbs: Your body uses carbohydrate energy – aka glycogen – to get you through a workout. Carbohydrates can help replenish your glycogen stores and may help reduce the soreness that typically follows exercise. A post-workout supplement with a mix of simple and complex carbs is ideal for immediate and long-term results.

Branched-Chain Amino Acids: Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and there are three that are critical to post-workout recovery and your overall health: leucine, isoleucine and valine. These three are branched-chain amino acids, in reference to their chemical composition. BCAAs have been shown to possibly help increase lean muscle growth.

Anabolic Activators: Anabolic nutrients like HMB may help you significantly build new muscle tissue by stimulating muscle-building processes within the body. They may also help reduce muscle breakdown, thereby shortening recovery periods after a workout.

For a great-tasting post-workout supplement that meets all this criteria, check out MenScience Post-Workout Accelerated Recovery Formula. Designed to provide a powerful post-recovery boost, this muscle recovery supplement is formulated with only the most advanced ingredients to ensure optimal recovery.