These are the best recovery supplements to keep you feeling great and seeing big after a workout.
When it comes to making progress in the gym, you’ve probably heard the cliché saying “no pain, no gain”. More often than not, taking such an approach to training is a great way to push yourself to reach your fitness goals, whether that is strength, size, or something else. Whatever the case, if you’re planning on going all out during your workouts, it’s vital to make recovery a priority after your sessions with a solid recovery supplement to aid in nutrition and provide for solid energy.
The issue is that there are so many recovery supplements available that it can be hard to choose from. To help make your decision easier, the following article will delve deeper into the top workout recovery supplements available nowadays and will discuss exactly what they do to help you and your nutrition needs.
Along the way, we’ll look at:
- Why you should pay close attention to post-workout recovery
- The science behind recovery
- Which ingredients are best for recovery
- Our recommendations for the top workout recovery supplements
Important Information For Your Post-Workout Recovery Routine
Achieving peak performance is something many people set their sights on, particularly for elite athletes who continually strive to push themselves forward in their fitness journey. But if you don’t take into account your recovery post workout, you’ll potentially miss out on a prime opportunity to nourish your muscles and keep your body in an anabolic (tissue building) state.
For anyone who likes to go all out during their sessions, a robust recovery plan is even more crucial, as this ensures that your body will effectively repair the muscle breakdown that occurs during exercise making workout recovery supplements highly effective for your nutrition and energy levels.
Perfecting your workout recovery routine takes time, dedication, and consistency, but a great way to take things to new levels is to make use of supplements. However, one thing to remember is that not all ingredients will be as helpful as they may seem, which is why you must read up on the best ingredients for workout recovery supplements.
As it happens, that’s what we’re about to cover in the next section.
Top Ingredients For A Faster Recovery
For anyone looking to boost their exercise performance, pre-workout supplements are usually the first port of call. However, it’s important to choose wisely, as many products on the market are loaded with stimulants that can increase energy, but will cause unwanted side effects such as jitters.
Luckily, a good caffeine-free pre-workout containing proven ingredients such as L-citrulline, beta-alanine, and creatine enables you to avoid such side effects and upgrade your strength and intensity during tough training workouts with great recovery supplements.
To take things a step further, it’s well worth consuming the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) – leucine, isoleucine, and valine, immediately after your workout. This is because BCAAs are great for reloading your muscles for healthier and faster recovery, while also helping to reduce muscle soreness.
Read on as we take a closer look at recovery ingredients that experts most commonly recommend for after training.
Creatine
Creatine monohydrate is an ingredient that plays an essential role in the muscle growth and recovery process – allowing athletes to train harder for longer and reduce muscle damage. [1]
And given that exercise depletes creatine from the muscles, it would be beneficial to supplement with this ingredient, even more so if you’ve gone hard during your session to maximize effects of a workout recovery supplement like creatine.
In fact, a 12-week study looking at the benefits of creatine supplementation discovered that those who consumed creatine post-workout recovered from strength training significantly faster than those who didn’t supplement with creatine. [2]
Not only that, research also suggests that creatine monohydrate is effective at improving body composition and strength while it works to reduce muscle damage. [3]
Protein
You’ll likely already be aware of the benefits of a high-protein diet for muscle building and recovery. But if you’re looking to take full advantage of the anabolic window which can remain open for up to 36 hours post exercise, you must keep your protein intake high and consider supplements with branched chain amino acids.
Experts recommend consuming around 1.4 g – 2 g of protein per kg of bodyweight every day for best results. You can split this into separate doses throughout the day.
And for those looking to optimize muscle protein synthesis (MPS) overnight, it’s recommended that you consume around 30-40 g of protein immediately before going to bed.
There are many whey protein powders to choose from on the market.
The Top 5 Best Supplements for Recovery
Given that you’ve stumbled upon this article, there’s a good chance you’re searching for supplements to enhance your recovery after tough workouts, right? There is a whole lot of them to choose from, but it’s essential to do your research, so you don’t end up with a recovery supplement that isn’t good enough for your nutrition goals.
Thankfully, there’s no need to sift through the wealth of poor quality, synthetic products you’ll find scattered across the web, as we’ve done the hard work for you.
Continue reading for our top 5 recommended supplements that will help you max out your recovery and return to peak performance for your next session.
1. Performance Lab® Sleep
Performance Lab Sleep is great for optimizing overnight repair and recovery and works to disrupt any muscle twitches and stabilize your circadian rhythm. Working with top ingredients , this allows for a stress-free sleep cycle and optimal sleep support.
We all know how important sleep is for optimal rest and recovery. But for one reason or another, it’s not always possible to get a decent amount of undisturbed sleep each night.
Step in Performance Lab® Sleep—an ultramodern sleep aid that comes with many benefits, including:
- Sleep support, muscle comfort, and muscle recovery
- Natural melatonin from Tart Cherry (CherryPURE®)
- Maximization of your anabolic potential on rest days
With no groggy side effects, Performance Lab® Sleep speeds up sleep onset by relaxing muscles and nerves, while extending the deepest anabolic sleep phases so you can enjoy a restful night’s sleep.
You can take Performance Lab® Sleep on both training and rest days. It contains science-backed, high quality ingredients including CherryPURE® Montmorency tart cherry (500 mg), TryptoPure™ L-Tryptophan (250 mg), and a Magnesium Complex (100 mg), all working in combination so you can wake up feeling revitalized and ready to take on the day.
Check out our full review of Performance Lab Sleep here!
2. Transparent Labs Post
Transparent Labs CoreSeries Post is a great supplement to optimize recovery and muscle repair with 6 great ingredients. Paired well with any protein supplement, this can ensure big gains are met.
For those looking to get the most out of their post-workout routine and recovery, this post-workout supplement is a great addition to what you already have. Whether you take a whey protein concentrate or a whey protein isolate, or maybe you just load up on a solid home-cooked meal, CoreSeries Post Workout ensures you do not miss any of those nutrients vital for recovery and muscle growth.
Transparent Labs CoreSeries Post Workout offers the benefits of a great recovery and muscle-building supplement with added benefits to enhance your overall health and wellness. With six science-based ingredients included in a synergistic formula at clinically effective doses, Post Workout seeks to optimize recovery and muscle repair by pumping you full of recharging nutrients.
Check out our full review for Transparent Labs POST here!
3. Transparent Labs Creatine HMB
Transparent Labs Creatine HMB is clean and effective for tackling all of your strength building needs. With no artificial additives or preservatives, what you get is pure creatine with added HMB for better strength.
StrengthSeries Creatine HMB only contains three ingredients to aid in your recovery supplement needs. With no added dyes or harmful additives, this product is simple and effective in helping you towards the intended goal. Being gluten-free and non-GMO as well adds to the cleanliness and quality of this supplement.
This creatine product is for those looking to really boost their recovery and performance without suffering the consequences of losing their hard-earned gains. Creatine monohydrate and HMB together have been shown to promote strength, increase endurance and prevent lean muscle loss, all while helping to decrease fat mass at the same time. The added BioPerine allows for increased bioavailability and absorption so this supplement reaches its maximum capacity to aid in all your fitness needs.
Check out our full review for Transparent Labs Creatine HMB!
4. Nutricost BCAA
Get some great intra-workout recovery for an even greater price by using Nutricost BCAAs.
When evaluating Nutricost BCAA, it’s essential to consider the quality of ingredients and the taste and mixability. The composition includes essential amino acids without any unnecessary additives. The quality of ingredients directly impacts the effectiveness of the product.
Additionally, the variety of flavors and mixability contribute to the overall user experience, affecting their representative of the company feel. Both factors are crucial in determining the value of the product and can significantly influence whether a user will reorder.
Check out our full review for Nutricost BCAA!
5. Nutricost Whey Protein Isolate
Looking for a cheap whey protein Isolate? Check out Nutricost Whey Protein Isolate! A quality protein supplement at half the cost of other leading brands.
The Nutricost Whey Protein Isolate comes in a well-designed, sturdy packaging. Available in different size options, such as 2lb or 5lb containers, it caters to the needs of both casual users and those with more specific dietary requirements. The transparent labeling provides clear information about the product, making it easy for consumers to understand what they are getting.
An eye catching feature of this supplement is its impressive macronutrient count. Many protein powder supplements will have a decent amount of fat and carbs, but Nutricost Whey Protein Isolate has almost no fat and no carbs.
Protein: 30g
Fat: 0.5g
Carbs: 1g
Check out our full review for Nutricost Whey Protein Isolate here!
Final Thoughts
Recovery is something that many people fail to get right, especially to begin with. But if you’re struggling to always perform at your best during workouts, using a good recovery supplement either on its own or as part of a stack can make an enormous difference and the having the right products can really boost training.
The first step is to give your muscles enough time to repair and grow while keeping your intake of water high on both training and rest days. Once you’ve taken this into account, it’s then time to focus on the diet and supplementation side of things by finding good products.
Over time, you’ll soon find that returning to peak performance in time for your next session becomes far more natural, especially if you opt for any of the supplements we’ve recommended above.
But if you’re looking to upgrade your anabolic potential, maximize your muscle gains, and kick your recovery process into gear, it’s well worth taking our these products into consideration, some of them immediately after your session.
References
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469049/
- https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-6-13
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3750511/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649036/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3374095/pdf/726_2011_Article_1200.pdf
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1728869X12600070
- https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/131/9/2569S/4687610
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5302255/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5596471/
