cam maclellan’s BodyBlog

To get the best results from your training, ensure that your post-workout drink or meal is up to par. After your workout, your body is most receptive to using amino acids to repair muscle tissue, while using carbohydrates to restore muscle glycogen.

One of the best post-workout options is chocolate milk. Most prepared chocolate milk beverages are made with 1% or 2% milk, but you could also create your own fat-free chocolate milk by adding some chocolate syrup to regular skim milk. This will provide you with the benefits of carbohydrates, while giving you the optimal protein source found in milk.

Do make note, though, that different brands will vary in total calorie content, so even across the 1% varieties, the fat content may be the same, but total calorie content (typically ranging from 90 to 200 per 250 ml) will differ.

Here’s why post-workout chocolate milk tops the list when it comes to fueling yourself after a hard session at the gym.

Protein Content

Post-workout chocolate milk is beneficial because of its protein content. Every cup contains between 8 and 11 grams of protein, with the Clover and Bravo Foods brands containing the most. Ideally, you’ll want to consume between 15 g and 25 g of protein after a workout, which equates to 500 ml to 750 ml of chocolate milk.

Also, a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that, when taken immediately after exercise, milk-based proteins promote greater muscle protein synthesis than soy-based proteins.

Finally, another reason why post-workout chocolate milk is beneficial is because cow’s milk contains about 80% casein protein content and 20% whey protein content. This is ideal because the whey protein is fast-acting, allowing amino acids to get right into the muscle tissue, while the casein protein is digested slower, providing a steady stream of amino acids over a lengthier period of time.

Carbohydrate Content

Turning to post-workout chocolate milk immediately following your lifting sessions is a smart move because of the types of carbohydrates it provides. The total carbohydrate count will vary depending upon the brand you choose, with most coming in around 20-25 grams of carbohydrates. The highest carb count is found in Hershey’s 2% Chocolate Milk, which rings in at 31 grams, while Hood’s Calorie Countdown 2% Chocolate Milk has the lowest carb count (5 grams).

This sugar will cause a spike in insulin levels, driving the glucose molecules into the muscle tissue, and replenishing the energy stores for your next workout. Without this insulin spike, you’re going to be looking at a slower recovery period, which could mean more time out of the gym.

A study by the International Journal of Sports Nutrition had subjects perform three interval-style, exhaustion workout sessions on separate days, and then monitored the recovery that was demonstrated. The subjects either consumed chocolate milk post-workout or a carbohydrate replacement fluid.

More reasons to include post-workout chocolate milk into your routine.

It was seen that after the recovery period was over, those who were drinking post-workout chocolate milk showed enhanced performance between the interval sessions, indicating that the carbohydrates in chocolate milk were doing a better job in recovery than the carbohydrates in the replacement beverage.

Calcium Content

Finally, drinking post-workout chocolate milk is a smart move because of its calcium content. Calcium is one of the minerals that plays a critical role in the “power stroke” — when the individual muscle fibers generate tension through a cross-bridge cycling pattern, causing contraction to take place. The calcium ions are what bind to the plasma membrane and send one of the first signals to stimulate the power stroke. So, without enough calcium ions in the body, this process will not take place optimally.

By drinking post-workout chocolate milk you will increase your daily calcium intake, and increase the likelihood of an optimal power stroke. Most brands average between 300 mg and 400 mg of calcium, but if you opt for Hershey’s Chocolate Milk, you’ll get 500 mg per cup.

milk it

Chocolate milk has a bad rep for being full of sugar, but perception is quickly changing and people are turning to it after their workout sessions. So, there’s no need to spend tons of money on mixing up some fancy post-workout beverage — consider using simple chocolate milk instead.

Please Note that this isn’t my own words It is an ask men article just thought it was worth posting on here

REf:

http://www.askmen.com/sports/bodybuilding_200/247b_fitness_tip.html

Last Thursday I was doing a crossfit workout that was Press max 1-1-1-1-1, Push Press Max 3-3-3-3-3, Jerk Max 5-5-5-5-5. I was just finishing my second set of Jerks and was in a clean position. Then "ouch" instant pain in my neck, so I racked it. Then rolled out the muscle a bit with a lacross ball then in true crossfit fashion. Loaded more weight on for  another set… I lifted of the rack and set it back down, there was something wrong. I went to my chiropractor the next day, and he told me I tore some ligaments in my neck. But luckily not too bad, three day of no lifting then back to lifting but light weight he said. and I would still be prone to injury for the next three weeks. So here I am on the fourth day and I still feel the tear but not too bad now. Today I am back to crossfit, hopefully I don’t hurt it more…

Hey all, just wanted to let you know I got a 425lb deadlift yesterday and now hold the deadlift record at Crossfit Kelowna! I am pretty excited but I still feel I have more in me. I would like to hit 500lb by the end of the year.

Lately I have not been feeling up to par. This is common for me after getting over a cold, however it is lasting longer than usual. I have not been eating very clean lately and I think that has a lot to do with it. I am determined to get my diet straight in this stretch before my wedding. I want to focus on a paleo diet in combination with the zone block system. This diet is not meant for weight loss, but is great for sustaining muscle growth while burning fat.

It is about time for wakeboarding season and I need to use that to push me past this. Time to get shredded!

Busy week this week which means no time to do Crossfit at the end of the week. So I went yesterday and I will hit it hard again today to get my two days in this week. I will have to throw in some skipping throughout the week to get a bit of cardio in. It only takes about two minutes to burn myself right out with double unders! But I’m getting better at them, which is awesome cause they suck, but in a good way.

Diet wise this week will be extremely difficult as I am in a wedding.. So We have a rehearsal dinner and a wedding dinner to deal with. Also the wedding is out of town so I will be packing my picnic basket I guess.

Next I will be getting a progress pic up soon. At the moment I don’t have a memory card for my camera  somehow I lost it at the stag…

Haha this kinda contradicts my last post but, that will teach me for posting thoughts so fast…
I’ve discovered that I am in worse shape than I thought. Until yesterday I was doing 800 m or 400 m runs in a lot of my crossfit routines. Yesterday however In the warm up we did two rounds of 10 Kettle bell swings, 60 m sprint, 10 air squats. I tell ya it didn’t feel like a warm up…  Now I can gut out a 800m run. But I have a problem with a 60 m sprint and that worries me. So in the coming weeks I am really going to work on cutting down with a lot of running and sprinting. Also I will still be doing my usual crossfit on top of this. Also I am going to work on my skipping double under’s.

It may have been the fact that I have a cold that I had such a hard time sprinting. But never the less I still need some work on my conditioning.

Crossfit has definitely kicked up my endurance to new levels. Today as my warm up I ran a 800m sprint in 4:04 min. Which is a personal best for me. This is my biggest problem, endurance is a hurtle that I am excited to kick over. That is my other problem, jumping, but box jumping has been helping with that. I will keep everyone posted on the progress on this, I hope to break into the 3:oo min 800m.

I have read many great articles on this site however, there seems to be a lack of good information on Chocolate milk. I Just skimmed a few articles and not one mentioned the benefits of Chocolate milk, only the fact at it has lots of calories! This is crap, who cares about the calories if you want to build muscle. Also even if you are worried about the calorie intake. Post workout is the best time to have a high calorie drink to replenish the energy depleted during a workout . If you are working out at high intensity it is not possible to eat within a few hours anyway. Therefore to even be able to retain muscle mass you need to have some kind of meal or drink full of protein and amino acids. Obviously this isn’t for everyone, if you are lazy and bodybuilding to you is not eating, then your right chocolate milk would probably be the enemy. But if you are on this site for the right reasons, to get bigger, stronger, and generally more useful as Rippetoe would say, then Chocolate milk is the answer. Somebody should write an intelligent article on Chocolate milk that is based on facts. As I do more research I would love to write something however at this moment I don’t have a well researched and verified document to put out there. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated, from either side on this.

I have made a bit of progress since my last post so here is the update. I have been doing crossfit for about a month and a half now. I re-did my Baseline workout the other day which is 500m row, 40 squats, 30 sit ups, 20 pushups, 10 pull ups. I went from a 14+min with assisted pull ups to 6:30min unassisted. In a month and a half I made some good headway I figure. Also I did my first rope climb (15′). I increased my dips from 5 regular dips when I started to 11 regular dips and 2 ring dips (gymnastic rings). My pushups have increased from 10 when I started to 23. Thanks for reading, good luck to you in your gains.

"Stronger people aren’t only more usefull in general they are also harder to kill"