Milk For Athletes?

How milk can help with training and performance recovery.

The other day, I got the opportunity to share my Sports and Performing Arts Physical Therapy experience with Amanda B., a Sports PT Resident at University of Illinois-Chicago. Not only did I get to share my love for sports medicine and performing arts medicine by having Amanda shadow me during a run-through of a performance I was covering, but I also got the opportunity to share with her my other passion-performance recovery. As a PT, not only do I treat injuries and provide corrective exercises for injury prevention, but I also educate my athletes and performers on performance recovery. What if I told you an athlete or performing artist could actually skip those fancy and expensive sports recovery drinks and simply drink a glass of milk (yes, I said milk) to get the nutrients needed for muscle recovery?

Milk is an effective drink after training because it promotes increased muscle protein metabolism leading to an improved net muscle protein balance. Muscle structure that got damaged during a hard training will be rebuilt. More specifically, chocolate milk has been shown to improve recovery mechanism and reduce muscle damage.

After your next heavy training, consider drinking a glass of milk! Still have questions about how milk can be good for your body? Read more here.

Resources:

Midwest Dairy Association

National Dairy Council

Team USA Triathlon Blog