Chocolate Milk – The Old School Sports Drink

Make sure to choose fat-free or low-fat chocolate milk

Few people know that one of the best post-workout drinks is fat-free chocolate milk. The two hour window for post-workout or post-exercise nutrition is neglected, yet extremely important. This window is what begins to fuel your muscle building and fat loss. If you skip it, you are missing out on the huge amount of the benefits that come with exercising and working out. 

Fat-free chocolate milk helps your muscles recover at a faster rate, builds muscles faster, and maintain lean muscle mass. According to a 2010 study by the American College of Sports Medicine, chocolate milk offered a recovery advantage to help repair and rebuild muscles, compared to specially designed carbohydrate sports drinks. Even elite athletes drink forms of chocolate milk. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Michael Phelps was seen drinking Carnation Instant Breakfast (a chocolate milk with more vitamins and minerals) during his break between swims.

Chocolate milk is also a less expensive option to other recovery drinks. It is packed with high quality protein and carbohydrates that refuel tired muscles. It also contains calcium, potassium, and magnesium. So the next time you wander pass the milk section, grab some low-fat or fat-free chocolate milk and don’t feel guilty!

 

The “Bartendaz” factor

Reading magazines can be the most educational source for health and wellness. The short reads are enough to grab your attention and get the point across, while not boring you with mind numbing statistics. One that inspired me was an article that brought to light the group “Bartendaz.” If you haven’t heard of them, a quick youtube search for their name will give you the picture. The Bartendaz are a group of guys that are some of the most sculpted humans I have ever seen!

The main man of the group is Hannibal. A monster of a human. And when you see him workout, its more entertainment than education. The group does all off their exercises on nothing more than jungle gym equipment. Pullups, chinups, hanging crunches, etc., all with nothing mor than a few poles and pullup bars.

After reading and watching videos of them, I was inspired to attempt some of their workouts in hope to gain respect for going old school, barebones style. I imagined it will take time and after the first workout, that was quickly established. I am heading down to Disney World, and I know that our resort on Disney grounds has a massive playground. I hope my motivation for attempting new workouts is contagious and a few family members will expand their fitness routines and find a fun and challenging way to stay in shape.

I encourage you to do the same and find a new and fun way to workout! It may be barefoot running, yoga classes, tai-chi classes, or using a TRX Suspension Trainer. Whatever the case, there are hundreds of new ways to workout that give you that wonderful feeling of accomplishment after a fun and exhilarating workout!

Thanks for reading!

 

Understanding fitness motivation

How is it that every latest gadget, fitness center, pill, or elixir claims to have the easy solution to being in elite athlete condition? There are still very few people who can purchase the products or services and see the amazing results it claims will happen. People do see results though, and I believe there are two types of people who are motivated to get in shape.

“The Go Getter”: Individual is motivated and has a goal they have to work for (note: for  a procrastinator this is a no go).  The individual works hard and understands that eating healthy, along with their workout routine, can and will yield results.

“Purchase Exerciser”: This type of individual is known to only be motivated to workout after purchasing a product or service. I am part of this group and so are most Americans. The perfect example happened a few weeks ago to me when I walked into a local supplement store to kill some time, and the man behind the counter stepped out and gave me his two cents and convinced me that some good ol’ fashioned protein to help me build muscle will give me optimum results. In turn, I noticed that I was more motivated to workout, the intensity of my workout increased, and I stuck to a routine better, at least for a week or two anyway. The purchase does not have to be just protein, I have seen this effect with many people. They purchase a product or service, and in turn, they feel the strong need to workout because they spend their hard-earned money on a product to get them in shape. If I drop $120 on P90X, you bet I am going to use it and get the most I can out it by working out the 6 days a week and following the low carb diet they tell me to. Same goes for a gym membership or personal trainer sessions.

Don't stop if its working.

People are motivated by different things, the name of the game in fitness is to make sure you are having fun. If you don’t, your healthy lifestyle will be short-lived when you dread working out. If you are like the first individual I described, I envy you. If you are more like the second individual, there is nothing wrong with this and you simply need to understand what is motivating you and if you need to hire a trainer, purchase a membership to a gym, pick up some supplements, or sign up for a run or walk, then so be it. As long as you find yourself exercising day in and day out, you can reflect on what is motivating you and hang on to that notion.