Performance nutrition is highly individual.

But for recovery, there’s a couple good rules of thumb.

Because what we put in our body after training (or competition) massively influences how well and how fast we can recover.

So we can get the most out of our next session. Or even just to feel good enough to enjoy the next day.

We wanna focus on:

• 💧 Water and electrolytes to replace what we just sweated out
• 🍯 Carbs to refill our glycogen (energy) stores
• 🥛 Protein to repair our muscles
  

But the timing, quantity and type are important too.

(Forewarning: lots of numbers, the takeaways at the bottom are your friend)

See the stuff that's critical for performance like water, glycogen, sodium, magnesium and potassium... is also critical for recovery.

So we've gotta replace what we've just drained.

⏱ And the sooner, the better.

I think most of us are across hydration.

Drink often. Before, during (if you can) and after.

🎯 But if you want to really zero in, get the scales out. Weigh yourself before and after. Replace 1.25x of the difference (in litres).

‍(So if you weigh in before at 60kg and after at 59kg, you lost 1kg. Drink 1.25L of water).

Hit two birds by adding an electrolytes mix to your bottle (more on that here).

Particularly sodium. It increases blood volume. So helps pump oxygen and nutrients to the cells. Recovery gold.

We also want to replenish glycogen fast (our main energy source). We do this with carbs (food, glucose powders or my favourite manuka honey).

And again, the sooner the better.

In fact, glycogen synthesis is only half as effective when we consume carbs a few hours after training (compared to immediately after).

🎯 Aim for about 1g/kg of body weight (about 80g for an 80kg human).

But we can adjust this number (50-150%) based on how hard we’ve just worked.

E.g. For our 80kg human: an easy session might cut it down to 40g, but a hard session 120g.

Now, protein.

Training breaks down our muscles, ligaments, tendons, tissues and cartilage.

Protein helps rebuild them (hopefully stronger).

But there's confusion about when...

See, the anabolic window describes the period of time around training when our muscles are most receptive to protein.

It was once thought this window was within 30 minutes of finishing.

⏱ Turns out the window is anywhere between 4-6 hours (so a few hours before or after training).

In fact, having protein in that 30-minute window may actually slow down our recovery. Because if you’re an athlete or if you’re training super hard (where every inch of recovery is going to help), the focus should be on getting in your water, electrolytes and carbs asap.

This will start the recovery process.

Don’t have it with protein (or fats). These take longer to digest. So everything will take longer to digest.

(But the everyday athlete probably doesn't have to worry too much about this – just get it in when you can)

🎯 Aim for about 0.5g/kg of body weight (about 40g for an 80kg human).

Ideas for quality sources here.

If I haven't lost you yet, here's a good example... Stan Efferding is a performance nutrition wizard (and formerly a world-class bodybuilder).

This is his post-training drink:

• 🧂 600mg sodium‍
• 🍚 50g dextrose (powder) – a carb that replenishes muscle glycogen‍
• 🍊 25g fructose (orange juice) – a carb that replenishes liver glycogen‍
• ☕️ 100mg caffeine – accelerates absorption of the above
  

He gets his protein in after.

📝 Takeaways:

• 💧 Water (+ electrolytes): 1.25x of the weight (in litres) you lost, ASAP (without drowning yourself)
• 🍯 Carbs: 1g/kg of body weight, ASAP (or adjust based on session: 0.5g = easy, 1g = moderate, 1.5g = hard)
• 🥛 Protein: 0.5g/kg of body weight, 30 mins to 2 hours after finishing

Whether you’re an athlete chasing gold, or an everyday athlete chasing high-energy days, these are some good numbers to keep in mind to maximise recovery.