How to Fuel for Optimal Post-Exercise Recovery

If you regularly engage in sports or any kind of fitness activity, then there’s a good chance that recovery is the most important thing you’re not paying much attention to.

By recovery, I mean engaging in practices that help support our body’s natural recovery process. That includes activities (like sleeping, eating high protein foods, and stretching) that help our body repair our muscles, improve circulation, restore muscle length, revitalize our energy, and keep us protected from illness.

Because this is such an important topic with so many components, I’m breaking it into a two-part series. Today’s post will focus on eating and drinking for recovery. You can view a previous post on the importance of stretching and foam rolling, complete with recommended stretches. And next week I’ll discuss massage, acupuncture, saunas, cold plunges, and other bonus practices for recovery that might be less accessible but still (potentially) helpful.

Why Do We Neglect Recovery?

Recovery is easy to neglect because it’s so hard to quantify. When we work out, we can point to the number of minutes, reps, calories burned, or goals earned to show the effort we put in.

Over time, we might notice that our effort corresponds to pounds or inches lost, muscle gained, or a greater ability to lift heavier, run longer, or climb harder.

The benefits of devoting time to recovery are harder to quantify. Stretching, consuming enough water and protein, and, if we’re lucky, getting massages or acupuncture all translate into lower injury and infection risk.

But we never know when we prevented an injury that would have happened if we hadn’t stretched or eaten enough protein. And it’s hard to pull apart whether our run feels better because we’ve been recovering sufficiently or because we’ve been running more regularly. It’s always tempting to attribute improvements to the most obvious thing and neglect the thing that has been subtly helping us in the background.

Benefits of Recovery

Because it’s hard to quantify and see the benefits of recovery, it’s hard to make time for it. If you already struggled to make time for a 30-minute workout, it feels even harder to add on 10 minutes for stretching. And if we’re desperate to get in the shower and get on with our day, it’s easy to forget to drink enough water or consume protein right after our workout. “How much harm can it really cause?” we might think. “Wasn’t the important part working out anyway?”

We tend to forget how easily our work comes undone when we are injured and so how important it is to prevent injuries and support our bodies. If we don’t recover properly, we also risk experiencing low energy, which can even turn into relative energy disorder (RED). RED is a serious disorder associated with persistent and severe lack of energy. Our form, stamina, and body’s capacity to build muscle can also suffer when we haven’t recovered sufficiently. This translates into worse performance and reduced physical gains or even losses.

Eating for Recovery: Protein

So, when it comes to nutrition, what do we need for recovery? The first thing that might come to your mind is protein, and for good reason. Protein helps us repair and build muscle. In practice, it can be very difficult to get enough protein, however. And we generally need more protein than we think if we are regularly active.

Specifically, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) recommends that those who are regularly active and who are mainly looking to maintain or increase their weight should consume 1.3-1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. That translates to 88-116 grams of protein for a 150-pound person. Athletes who want to maintain their muscle mass should consume 1.6-2.4 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. If you are doing regular strength training, long runs, and other high-intensity exercises, you may need the upper end of these ranges.

If you think you are not getting enough protein, I encourage you to consider supplementing with plant-based sources. Recent studies have found that those who do not consume meat produce 75% less emissions in total than those who do. However, keep in mind that our bodies don’t absorb protein from plants as well, so you may need more protein if you are getting protein from primarily those sources. Great sustainable protein sources include sardines, beans, peas, lentils, tofu, eggs, quinoa, nuts, seeds, spirulina, and lab-grown meat.

To put it into perspective, beef involves about 100+ times more carbon emissions than most of these protein sources. A little food for thought!

Drinking for Recovery

It’s confusing to know how much water we should drink. Is it 8 cups? Is more helpful? Do we just drink when we’re thirsty? The current guidelines are that women need to drink, on average, 11.5 cups of water a day to stay hydrated and men need to drink, on average, 15.5 cups a day! It’s important to note that other beverages can help satisfy that requirement. And we get water from food. For more tips on how to stay hydrated, see this post from Wellness Warrior.

The important point is to drink enough water so that you feel hydrated. If your skin is overly dry, your lips are chapped, you are easily fatigued, or if your pee is a color other than light yellow, you should consider upping your water intake.

The Role of Electrolytes

If we’ve been very active and just sweat a bunch, it’s tempting to think we did our due diligence by gulping down water. The problem is that when we sweat, we lose electrolytes and water does not replenish those. This is where electrolytes come in. Electrolytes are a mix of nutrients that include sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride, phosphate, and bicarbonate. I’ll avoid using a lot of scientific jargon to describe what electrolytes do. Basically they help us maintain balance in our bodies. Importantly for exercise, they aid in muscle contraction as well. Without enough electrolytes, we may have low energy, headaches, numbness, cramps, twitching, muscle weakness, and even irregular heartbeats.

The conventional wisdom is that if you’ve had a lengthy, difficult workout (usually lasting an hour or more), it’s important to take an electrolyte supplement. Before a marathon training run, I’ll often take an electrolyte supplement and then also have electrolytes after the run. If your workout is more mild, short, and you won’t be sweating a lot, then you probably don’t need to be taking electrolytes. They are in many food sources, so you’re probably doing okay.

Other Important Nutrients for Recovery

Vitamin C and Zinc

I’m sure you already know that Vitamin C is super important for our immune system. When we work out, our immune system is temporarily suppressed. Vitamin C helps ensure that our immune system is working as well as possible to prevent us from getting any post-exercise illnesses. Likewise, Zinc is key for our immune system. It helps our white blood cells function properly so they can fight off invaders and repair tissue.

On top of that, Vitamin C helps with the synthesis of collagen, which we need for our muscles, tendons, ligaments, and skin. And it helps to to neutralize the harmful free radicals created during exercise, a process called oxidative stress. By reducing oxidative stress, Vitamin C aids in the repair and regeneration of muscle cells, allowing for faster recovery. Zinc similarly helps with protein synthesis and DNA repair.

Citrus fruits, berries, kiwi, and bell peppers, are all excellent sources of vitamin C. You can find Zinc in lean meats, seafood, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. And Zinc and Vitamin C do an even better job when paired together!

Magnesium

When we exercise, our muscles get microscopic tears. Our muscles grow bigger by repairing these tears. Magnesium is key for this process. It helps synthesize proteins which are the building blocks for muscles, facilitating the repair process and aiding in the growth of new muscle tissue.

On top of that, magnesium helps our body maintain proper hydration levels, preventing us from getting dehydrated. If you remember from the electrolyte section above, magnesium is actually an electrolyte! It even has a role in combatting the burn we feel when we exercise. That burn comes from the buildup of lactic acid and metabolic waste products as we exercise. Magnesium helps clear those toxins away, reducing soreness and fatigue.

Nuts and seeds, dark leafy greens, whole grains, and legumes are all excellent sources of magnesium.

B Vitamins

B vitamins are really a group of vitamins, including pantothenic acid, riboflavin, thiamine, niacin, folate, biotin, B6 and B12. They do so much, it’s almost easier to say what B Vitamins don’t do. Primarily, B vitamins help us get energy from food, which is obviously super important for exercise and recovery. They are also important for cellular repair, helping our tissues rebuild themselves after damage, as happens with exercise. And B vitamins support the nervous system by producing neurotransmitters. Without neurotransmitters we wouldn’t be able to do almost anything. They help regulate our heart rate, appetite, breathing, sleep cycle, mood, muscle movement, the list goes on.

Good sources of B vitamins include whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, leafy green vegetables, dairy products, eggs, and lean meats.

Iron

Last, but certainly not least, iron is super important for transporting oxygen around our body. Our muscles always require oxygen, but they require even more when we exercise. Plus, muscles need plenty of oxygen for recovery. We can most easily see the effects of too little oxygen by looking at the effects of anemia (or iron deficiency). Anemia is associated with fatigue, weakness, shortness or breath, and reduced athletic performance.

You can find iron in lean meats, poultry, fish, legumes, tofu, spinach, and fortified cereals. Pairing it with Vitamin C rich foods helps our bodies absorb the iron even more.

Summary

Of course, there are many more nutrients that are helpful for our body’s recovery. It’s important to focus on getting a wide variety of nutrients in your diet. Luckily, you’ll notice that there is a lot of overlap in the foods that give you high amounts of each of these vitamins. By eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, you’ll be most of the way there.

And as with everything, balance is key. There will be days where you don’t get enough protein, days where you don’t drink enough water, days where you mainly eat pizza, and all that is okay. Sometimes the best thing for recovery is to give yourself a break.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider liking, subscribing, or sharing. I always really appreciate it. If you are interested in similar content, check out my posts on pairing foods for maximum nutrition, acupuncture for recovery, and how to burn fat efficiently.