The post workout shake can breathe life into an athlete. After you finish your workout, you can feel your body in need of nutrients. The issue is that most people can’t eat much after a tough workout. That is where the protein shake comes rushing in. The shake is a meal replacement from a calorie standpoint. When taken at the right time, it can help to aid the body in recovering from the workout.
Recovery is the name of the game when it comes to sports. Most bad things happen as a result of a lack of improvement. A lot of injuries are due to a body that has trained too hard and not recovered hard enough. The protein shake is just another thing you can add to your checklist of things you can do to beat your athletic best. Here are the keys to making sure you get the most out of your post-workout protein shake.
Clean Your Shaker Bottle Well
You may not have been expecting it to be the first point, but it is. I have seen some of the most disgusting looking and smelling shaker bottles in the world. People make their shakes forget them in their locker or whatever, and they sit there and collect nasty in them.
It is important you clean your shakes for a few different reasons. One it can make your shaker bottle smell nasty if you leave the bacteria in their for too long. This can lead to having a harmful odor associated with the shaker bottle. You want to keep your shaker bottle as fresh smelling as possible, so you only think of deliciousness.
The second reason that you want to clean your shaker bottle is that you don’t want to get sick from bacteria. This is especially true if you use a milk-based protein shake. Imagine what starts to form when you leave a milk-based protein shake in a hot locker for a week. You don’t want to do it!
Make it Delicious
A lot of people don’t eat healthy because they associate right for you with bad for your tastes buds. This does not always need to be the case though. There are so many delicious foods you can add to your shake to make sure its a delight to drink.
My favorites are usually fruits, but you can add so much more. The only thing you must stay away from adding as an athlete is pure sugar. It is too easy. Adding pure sugar to stuff will always make it taste better, but if you can manage to do this naturally, you will have a much healthier product.
Make it Nutritious
The great thing about shakes is that you can add so many things to them. Whatever you need to have a complete diet can be added to your shake.
- More calories, add ice cream
- Need more greens, add spinach
- Need more love, add honey
The point is that whatever you want from your diet, your protein shake can make it happen and you can get everything you need from one powerful drink every day. There are not a lot of foods that can be customized so quickly and easily.
Personally, the way I make my shakes awesome is by adding my favorite fruit and spinach. That combination gives me all of the nutrients that I need to get my day started with a bang.
Drink it At The Right Time
One of the most important things to remember about your shake is that you only have a 20-minute attack window. What this means is that after you finish working out your body has a 15-minute window where it is looking for specific nutrients to help replenish the body.
The key takeaway here for any athlete is to have your shake ready to go. Mix it before you start practice so that when you are done, you are prepared for it. After taking it for a while, you will notice that if you forget your shake, your body is craving the nutrients. As soon as you knock that shake back your body is wanting to absorb every last drop.
Use Them to Reach Your Calorie Goals
The last great thing about your protein shake is that it can be used to lose or gain weight depending on what your goals are. If the goal is to lose weight, you can keep the sugar down, and rely more on greens, and fibers, while if your goal is to gain weight, you can add in ice creams, and make the shake as dense a possible.
So What…
It is in this versatility that the protein shake has become the key to success for athletes. There are no other drinks that allow you to add and take away as a classic protein shake. You have to remember that no matter what you do, your shaker bottle must be clean first.
Once it is clean, it is all about customizing the taste, calories, and nutrients to your personal needs. The drink is yours, and you need to feel like you own everything that goes into it. Like all your training, you need only to use the things that get you closer to your goals.
