The Best Post-Workout Drinks

Here's my list, I'm stickin to it.

1. Beer

I bet some of you could be real surprised by this one. But I'm not! I'm somewhat of a beer snob and love a good brew. Whats so cool about beer is that it is built on a lot of the stuff that you just lost in your workout! It can also replenish some calories and carbohydrates too. A lot of athletes and heavy work-out-errrrsss...(whatever) tend to feel uncomfortable eating after an intense session. Drinking a beer can also help loosen up the body and help it relax. It is a depressant you know. The trick here is to not get carried away. Obviously don't drink a ton of beer. Limit it to one pint, sometimes two. If you are watching calories, try light beer. If this isn't one of your concerns, stick with the tastier regular version. Also, don't be drinking and driving please.

2. Chocolate Milk

This stuff is awesome. I've given my speech on milk before, but it is packed to the brim with the good stuff: protein, carbohydrate, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin D, multiple B vitamins, magnesium, potassium, sodium,and the list goes on. Basically all that stuff you just worked with (glycogen) and sweated out (minerals), you can replenish with milk. But why chocolate you ask? Because chocolate itself has some awesome qualities. Depending on the quality of chocolate milk you are getting, you can be adding some antioxidants to your recovery that you want. Also, it tastes sooo good. Try a glass of choco milk (or even just milk) the next time you are done with your work out. Tell me how you feel the next work out.

3. Yogurt Smoothie

So with yogurt you can get some awesome protein (especially Greek yogurts) along with some beneficial bacteria for your gut (helps digestion, as you all know). By adding fruit, you are punching this thing with a lot of natural carbohydrates that your body needs to recover. Plus these fruits will also provide fiber making it an awesome long term energy source. This alone is one reason to invest in a blender. You can be so creative with smoothies that it's impossible not to get a lot of use out of it. Plus with smoothies, it's really easy to add anything you want to help post workout like whey protein, flax seed, and chia seeds.

Pretty basic stuff. I'm sure a lot of you already figured those three things are good for after work outs. But I like to remind people exactly why its so good for ya. Take home message? Get carbs, protein, and electrolytes after a work out (in that order of preference too).