What Kind of Milk to Drink after Workout?

In the human body, muscle is a remarkable tissue with some odd properties. For one thing, it turns chemical energy into motion and force. For another, it's very plastic or malleable. For example, if you do nothing, your muscles shrink. But if you work your muscles hard, they change shape and get bigger and stronger. People have spent a lot of time and energy working out the best way to pump iron in a gym, so they can bulk up as quickly as possible. But what about immediately afterwards, when you've stopped pumping iron? It turns out that what you eat or drink in that time period after you finish pumping iron is crucial to laying down some muscle. The research is still limited, but studies are showing that milk can be a very effective post exercise drink. The beneficial effects of drinking milk after exercise have been shown to apply to muscle growth, fat loss, and rehydration. One study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has found that consuming milk after resistance exercise leads to greater muscle hypertrophy, a greater increase in lean body mass, and a greater decline in body fat than consumption of a soy beverage with macronutrient (proteins, carbohydrates, fats) ratios equal to that of the milk. Another study, reported in the British Journal of Nutrition, has shown that low-fat milk is a better rehydrating beverage after exercise than a commercially available sports drink. Read the rest of this article to learn more! Muscle mass gains from baseline were 6.2% (3.9 kg) in the milk drinkers, 4.4% (2.8 kg) in the soy drinkers, and 3.7% (2.4 kg) in the carbohydrate drinkers (p<0.05 milk vs. soy and carbohydrate). There was also a tendency for milk drinkers to gain more strength especially in the leg muscle groups (p=0.08). Gains in muscle fiber size mirrored those seen in muscle mass. Okay, So What Kind of Milk Should I Drink? Drink regular skim milk. It has very little calories and almost no fat content, but the same protein, carbohydrate, calcium and electrolyte content as the higher fat milks.