Hard training is essential to increasing performance, breaking records, and experiencing the kind of results you expect from a life dedicated to proper diet and exercise. And, as important as hard training is, you can only train as effectively as you recover.
In other words, while the focus tends to be on training, an equal emphasis needs to be placed on recovery. Your ability to set PRs, go stronger, last longer, etc. is directly tied to how effectively your muscles and nervous system have recovered from the previous training session.
Poor sleep, inadequate nutrition, and excessive stress can all affect your body’s ability to effectively recover each day/week, which will ultimately undermine your ability to train hard and continue to make progress.
Years of intensive scientific research has shown us that the peri-workout window (i.e., what you eat before, during, and/or after training) can play a pivotal role in supporting the body’s ability to recover quickly by replenishing glycogen, halting protein breakdown, enhancing protein synthesis, and more.
Essentially, the more effectively you recover the more frequently you’ll be able to train hard, thereby improving at a greater rate.
This is precisely why Recover Elite was created -- to be the most advanced, scientifically backed, and effective recovery supplement for endurance athletes on the market!
Here’s why:
Tri-Phasic Energy Blend
Carbs fuel elite performance. There’s no two ways about it.
Unfortunately, most supplements use poor quality, suboptimal sources of carbohydrates that leave individuals feeling heavy, sluggish, or sprinting for the bathroom. We’ve addressed those issues (and more) with our novel tri-phasic energy blend containing:
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Cluster Dextrin
These three sources were also included in the original Recover Elite formula; however, we’ve tweaked the ratios and increased the Cluster Dextrin by 33%!
Now, you may be wondering why Recover Elite includes three forms of carbohydrates.
Well, the truth is that the body can only absorb so much glucose (dextrose) at a time. However, research has shown us that combining different carbohydrate sources (e.g., dextrose and fructose) can increase total exogenous carbohydrate availability, thus allowing for greater carbohydrate utilization [1,2], which supports better performance and recovery compared to consuming only glucose.
Fructose co‐ingestion is also noted to accelerate post‐exercise liver glycogen repletion rates, which is desirable when athletes have a quick turnaround between training sessions (<24 hours between intense activity).
GI distress is a common complaint among athletes regarding carbohydrate supplements. This is due to using poor quality carbohydrates that are heavy on the stomach as well as consuming too large of a quantity in each time frame.
Combining fructose with glucose can lower gastrointestinal distress when relatively large amounts of carbohydrate (>1.2 g/kg/h) are ingested during post‐exercise recovery. [1,2]
4:1 Carb-to-Protein Ratio
Carbohydrates are key to efficient recovery, but research has shown that for truly elite recovery, it’s beneficial to ingest protein alongside carbohydrate.
Several carbohydrates:protein ratios have been investigated over the years, but the most extensively researched is the 4:1 carbohydrates:protein ratio.[3]
Recover Elite supplies 14.4 grams of whey protein isolate 90% plus an additional 1.2 grams of L-leucine. This maintains the 4:1 carbohydrate:protein ratio supported by research while also supplying a full 2.5 grams of leucine, thereby fully stimulating the mTOR pathway to kickstart protein synthesis, ignite muscle recovery, and halt muscle breakdown.
When looking to optimize recovery, every second counts, that’s part of the reason we included whey protein isolate. It contains minimal amounts of fat or lactose, thereby increasing speed of digestion while also reducing the risk of GI distress on account of a high lactose concentration (which is prevalent in poorer -- cheaper -- quality protein sources).
Glutamine to Support Muscle Recovery
Glutamine is a conditionally essential amino acid that plays a key role in immune function, gut health, cell proliferation, and energy production. Under normal circumstances, the body has ample stores of glutamine; however, intense stress can deplete glutamine stores and outpace the body’s ability to meet demand.
Glutamine supplementation is an effective method for increasing glutamine availability and research shows it may support muscle recovery and offer anti-fatigue benefits.[4]
Specifically, glutamine activates an enzyme called glycogen synthase. This stimulates glycogen synthesis in the body, which promotes greater recovery. In fact, glutamine + carbohydrate supplementation has been found to increase whole body carbohydrate storage to a greater extent compared to carbohydrate supplementation alone.[6]
Furthermore, glutamine may also reduce ammonia accumulation. [4,5] FYI, ammonia accumulation is one of the main causes of fatigue.
AstraGin for Enhanced Absorption
Now, glutamine (as well as many other supplements) suffers from poor bioavailability, which means it has reduced impact and benefit.
Recover Elite includes a full 50mg of AstraGin to enhance amino acid and protein uptake, which supports promoting efficient substrate utilization for greater muscle repair and recovery, which in turn allows you to train hard, more frequently.
Added Albion-Chelated Magnesium
Magnesium is a critically important mineral and electrolyte in the body, involved in over 300 biological processes. From a sports performance and recovery standpoint, magnesium plays a key role in helping support muscles to relax and avoid cramping. Magnesium also activates vitamin D, and low levels of vitamin D can result in muscle weakness and pain.
To top it off, magnesium is also one of the most common micronutrient deficiencies, especially among hard training athletes.
Recover Elite includes the premium form of magnesium supplements in Albion Chelated magnesium, which offers superior bioavailability and uptake compared to other forms of magnesium supplements included in recovery products, such as magnesium oxide.
How to Use
Recover Elite is designed to facilitate rapid glycogen replenishment, halt muscle breakdown, and kickstart the body’s inherent recovery mechanisms. As such, it is suggested to consume 1-1.5 servings of Recover Elite immediately after training.
If you are competing or training multiple times in the same day, you may want to consume 1 – 1.5 serving(s) immediately and every 1 – 4 hours thereafter between bouts of training.
While Recover Elite is intended to be used as a post-workout recovery supplement, it can also serve as a between-meal snack or on-the-go option when you’re pressed for time and need to get in high-quality nutrition to fuel your mind and body.
When to Use
Consume 1-1.5 servings of Recover Elite immediately after intense training. If you are performing a lighter training session, consume 0.5-1 serving (depending on intensity of training and bodyweight).
References
- Gonzalez JT, Fuchs CJ, Betts JA, van Loon LJ. Glucose Plus Fructose Ingestion for Post-Exercise Recovery-Greater than the Sum of Its Parts?. Nutrients. 2017;9(4):344. Published 2017 Mar 30. doi:10.3390/nu9040344
- Fuchs CJ, Gonzalez JT, van Loon LJC. Fructose co-ingestion to increase carbohydrate availability in athletes. J Physiol. 2019;597(14):3549-3560. doi:10.1113/JP277116
- Kloby Nielsen LL, Tandrup Lambert MN, Jeppesen PB. The Effect of Ingesting Carbohydrate and Proteins on Athletic Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Nutrients. 2020;12(5):1483. Published 2020 May 20. doi:10.3390/nu12051483
- Coqueiro AY, Rogero MM, Tirapegui J. Glutamine as an Anti-Fatigue Amino Acid in Sports Nutrition. Nutrients. 2019;11(4):863. Published 2019 Apr 17. doi:10.3390/nu11040863
- Varnier M, Leese GP, Thompson J, Rennie MJ. Stimulatory effect of glutamine on glycogen accumulation in human skeletal muscle. Am J Physiol. 1995 Aug;269(2 Pt 1):E309-15. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.1995.269.2.E309. PMID: 7653548.
- Bowtell JL, Gelly K, Jackman ML, Patel A, Simeoni M, Rennie MJ. Effect of oral glutamine on whole body carbohydrate storage during recovery from exhaustive exercise. J Appl Physiol (1985). 1999 Jun;86(6):1770-7. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1999.86.6.1770. PMID: 10368336.
