Now first things first, I don’t mean make your own shake from scratch (personally I don’t have a lab for making protein in my back garden). However it’s my opinion that supplements like whey protein are advantageous after your workout to change your body’s state from destructive (catabolic) back to constructive (anabolic). You can’t build muscle when in a catabolic state! In this state your body is breaking the muscle down due to a lack of amino acids in the bloodstream following your workout. So to get back to a muscle building state you need to effectively ‘flood’ your muscles with the energy (carbs) and protein it lost during a punishing workout. And yes even moderate cardio for longer than 45 minutes will result in your muscles being broken down (time largely depends on genetics and age).

So hopefully I haven’t lost you… if you decided to skim the first paragraph I basically said after a workout you need to replenish your carbohydrate and protein stores to build muscle. Protein alone will help, but carbs and protein wil ensure a quicker recovery. The optimum ratio of carbs to protein that some dudes in lab coats discovered for the quickest muscle recovery is a 3:1 ratio of Carbs:Protein .

So you then panic and think oh no my whey protein isn’t enough I need to get a supplement which says something like “Instant recovery” or “recovery max” or something like that, and then you end up paying twice as much as a normal protein supplement just because of some fancy words! Without dropping names a certain popular supplement – let’s called it “Minimuscle Tornado” has 33% dextrose – that’s just sugar. So you pay a premium for what is basically protein and sugar, not what I’d call money well spent!

Or if you hate seeing your money disappear from your bank (like us all!) follow the tips below and:

Make Your Own ‘Optimal Recovery’ Shake

Or whatever fancy name you want to call it! Here is what you need:

• Fast digesting protein powder (whey isolate, concentrate, blend etc. Doesn’t really matter)

• Simple sugars (Glucose or Dextrose)

Now here comes the complicated part… are you ready?

Check how much protein is in one serving. Add double the amount of sugar into the bottle. Mix. Done.

Example:

It doesn’t matter what brand it is as long as its good quality (that doesn’t mean it has to taste like Nesquick!). My protein contains 22.5 grams per serving… so to get the 3:1 ratio of Carbs:Protein I need 45 grams of sugar… so I add 67.5g dextrose sugar to my 22.5g whey protein and there we have it…

The best thing since sliced bread (or the Nintendo Wii) and all for the extra cost of a pack of sugar!

Or if you can’t be bothered with the hassle of adding sugar to your shake and you have extra cash lying about you could splash out and spend a premium on the latest recovery supplement!

What about you guys? What do you have post workout?