A Closer Look At Around-Exercise Beverage Choices

If you’re about to put in a hard workout session, staying hydrated is going to be critical to optimizing your performance. In addition to that, you also must be sure that you re-hydrate after the workout is over because this will help you make a speedy recovery and ensure that you don’t go about the day in a dehydrated state.

There are many different types of fluids that you can use both while exercising and immediately after to help with the hydration process and possibly provide even a few more benefits.

But, if you don’t choose wisely, benefits will not be had and rather, the beverages will work against you.

Let’s have a quick peek into the main beverage choices that people often use and whether they are effective or not.

Sports Drinks

Sports drinks are a very popular choice, especially among endurance athletes who choose to use them while they are doing the exercise session. Even some exercise equipment include holders for your favorite drink.

While they can provide key electrolytes that your body needs, the downfall with these is that they also often provide sugar as well.

And, sugar can lead to a spike in blood glucose followed by a crash, which could make your performance take a turn for the worse.

If you’re going to go with a sports drink, you may want to consider a lower sugar variety to be on the safe side and look into other fueling options to keep you energized as you exercise.

Milk

The next beverage that’s more touted as a post-workout drink is milk. This one is actually a fantastic choice because it provides a good dose of protein, some calcium, and if you go in for chocolate milk, you’ll actually also get a good dose of energizing carbs as well to refill muscle glycogen levels.

Milk is often said to be one of the best post-workout beverages, so definitely do give it some consideration.

Protein Powder

Moving along, protein powder is the next beverage of choice for some people. Whether you mix this water or milk as stated above, it provides your body with a fast acting source of protein and one that will definitely help with the repair and rebuilding process.

Especially for those who are doing strength training based workouts, you will want to get some milk into the picture.

Just be sure you aren’t mixing protein powder with juice unless you just did a very strenuous workout session. Just isn’t the best post-workout carb source as it contains half fructose content, which won’t help out with restoring muscle glycogen.

Water

Finally, you simply can’t go wrong with water. No other beverage is going to hydrate you better than water and it’s completely calorie free, so great for those who are after fat burning results.

Water is the top choice here in almost all cases as long as a good diet is followed so you’re getting proper nutrients and energy in.

So there you have a look at the top beverages to hydrate yourself. Choose wisely and your performance will be all the better because of it.

For more information on the importance of hydration, see this article.