Yes, you read that headline right – chocolate milk! How awesome is THAT? After an intense training session (or a long run, swim or bike ride), who wouldn’t want to reward themselves with something tasty and refreshing? And chocolate milk’s not only tasty and refreshing, it’s also chockfull of what’s required for optimal post-workout recovery. Check it out:
Low-fat chocolate milk contains:
- High-quality protein and carbohydrates to help repair and rebuild fatigued muscles.
- High water content to head off dehydration by replacing sweat losses.
- Key electrolytes (calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium), plus a touch of sugar, which helps you retain water and regain energy. These things exist naturally in milk, unlike the same nutrients in commercial recovery drinks, which are added in a lab.
It’s also got B vitamins for energy, and a combination of five bone-building nutrients (calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus, protein, potassium) that help build and maintain strong bones.
With all that going for it, it’s no surprise that three studies presented at the American College of Sports Medicine (and published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research) have found that drinking low-fat chocolate milk post-workout delivers the following:
- Improved Performance
Power and speed were vastly improved when study participants recovered with low-fat chocolate milk vs. those that drank carbohydrate sports drinks or zero-calorie drinks.
- Quicker Exercise Adaptation
When compared to other recovery drinks, low-fat chocolate milk drinkers had double the improvement in VO2max (a measure for aerobic fitness and adaptation) after a 4 ½-week, 5 day-per-week training program. Double!
- Improved Body Composition (aka, More Muscle, Less Fat!)
In the same study (4 ½-week, 5 days per week training program), low-fat chocolate milk drinkers gained more muscle (an average of 3 pounds more muscle!) and lost more fat than those who consumed the other drinks.
And remember: there’s a 2-hour recovery window after a tough, relentless workout (like the ones we dish out here at O3) to refuel and re-hydrate your body so that it’s ready to withstand whatever additional punishment we subject it to the next day. So after your next class or training session, do your body a big favor – reach for a $2 restorative chug from the O3 mini fridge!
