01gt4.6

Just curious how many of you knew that test have shown that chocolate milk one of the best post workout drinks that you can have. I just wanted to throw this out there. Check it out guys & girls, just google it.

I totally forgot about this and might start to work this in to my diet as well.

01gt4.6

yep yep

I know I told somebody about this maybe a year ago, they looked at me like I was crazy... until the googled it.

Good news SJ
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercis...-after-workout
"While only men were studied, one would expect women to gain the same post-workout benefits from chocolate milk, he says."

tandoorichicken

I believe it. I had a roommate in college who was freaking ripped who drank chocolate milk religiously after he came back from the gym. You get an all-in-one - fast carbs to fill up your tank, protein to rebuild muscle, and plenty of leucine, the amino acid responsible for new muscle synthesis. Probably best of all - now no one needs an excuse to drink chocolate milk

01gt4.6

true, plus it's cheaper than protein powder.

InfectedElf0

01gt4.6, I find that this study does nothing more than demonstrate the obvious by doing a very weak experiment.

A carb only sports drink contains zero grams of protein (obvious). Chocolate milk contains several grams of protein (also obvious). Protein is required for protein synthesis (obvious). The study essentially shows us that consuming protein increases protein synthesis. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT?!?!

The second thing the study found was that the chocolate milk promoted more glycogen stores than the sports drink. One would expect a sports drink that featured only carbs would have been designed exactly for this purpose, and perhaps also expect a drink which has lactose as the sugar would fall miles behind the sports drink. But we must not overlook the protein factor. It is understood now that a balance of carbohydrates AND proteins taken after workout promotes the highest insulin response and therefore replenishment of glycogen stores. This is why post workout shakes and those kind of things (not "sports drinks") contain a mix of carbs and proteins.

So, quite obviously, chocolate milk is vastly superior to a sports drink during the post workout. A "sports drink" featuring only carbs is almost certainly meant to be consumed DURING activity to keep you from tiring out. If anyone uses something like that for recovery, they are a fool.

A more interesting study would be to pit chocolate milk against a real post workout shake. I'm talking something that features whey isolates as the protein source and dextrose/maltodextrin as the carb source AND is formulated to have a specific balance of each. I think the winner here would be as obvious as in the study you're talking about, 01gt4.6.

In my opinion, if you are looking for optimum results, chocolate milk is not the best choice. But if you are looking for easy/better tasting and can deal with weaker results, then by all means go for it. It (obviously) beats drinking a red bull or whatever.

vabeachgirlNYC

I wish I could drink chocolate milk! I'm allergic to milk, too bad... chocolate milk taste great and is a great way to add cals!

tandoorichicken

But Elf, you're missing the real point here... why would you drink a serious PWO shake when you could drink a (a) much cheaper and (b) much more lighthearted chocolate milk that ties in with the whole "working out should be fun, not a chore" mentality? Yeah, you could drink a shake with all the right ratios of nutrients but in my mind that just reinforces the whole obsessive-compulsive over-analyzing nature of serial workout-aholics that over time, just kills one's motivation to work out.

Chocolate milk owns any protein shake on that front.

InfectedElf0

Am I? The original post said:

The experiment compares it to one drink. One that wasn't designed in any way to be post workout. This in turn makes the chocolate milk seem like it is a super potent choice for post workout. But the test doesn't show that it's 'one of the best'. All it does is show us that it is better than sugar water. And as I said:

So it should be pretty obvious that I understand chocolate milk is an easier and tastier alternative. But that ISN'T what we're talking about here. The point I'm hammering is that unlike what 01gt4.6 or the study claims, chocolate milk is not an optimum choice.

RockyCapone5

Who funded the test, Hersheys?

01gt4.6

I know I've read before in the past that it was also compare to other PW drinks. I don't have the time right now to google it (that's why I posted in my original post to google it), but I remember reading that chocolate milk has the right ratio of fat, carbs and protein for a post workout drink.

FWIW I make a Whey Protein Isolate & cottage cheese PW shake with fat free milk, and eat a banana. This way I get a fast & slow digesting protein and a fast carb, I get my fat from almonds. But I think that chocolate milk may be a good alternative.