What to drink after a workout, and when

First, fluid

The joint position of the American College of Sports Medicine, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and Dietitians of Canada sets out fluid, carbohydrate and protein as the work of the hours after exercise.¹ For fluid, the practical rule is to drink more than you lost, because you keep losing some through urine as you rehydrate: around 1.25 to 1.5 litres for every kilogram of body weight lost.¹

The simplest way to know what you lost is to weigh yourself before and after a hard session. Most people never do, which is why a steady drink after training and with the next meal is the realistic version.

Water or electrolytes?

Sodium helps the body keep the fluid you drink.¹ After a long session in the heat, an electrolyte drink, or water alongside a salty meal, does that job. After a short session in a cool gym, water and a normal meal usually cover it.

Researchers have compared how well different drinks are retained. In a trial that built a beverage hydration index, milk and an oral rehydration solution were retained better than still water over the following hours.²

Milk, and chocolate milk

Milk is one of the most studied recovery drinks for a reason: it brings fluid, protein, carbohydrate and electrolytes in one glass. After exercise that cost about 1.8% of body mass in sweat, people who drank milk stayed better hydrated than those who drank a sports drink or water.³

Chocolate milk gets the attention online. A 2019 meta-analysis of 12 studies found it gave similar or better results than placebo or other recovery drinks, and noted that the evidence is limited and that larger, better-controlled trials are needed.⁴ If you tolerate dairy, it is a sensible, cheap option. It is not magic.

How much protein, and how soon

The International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests around 0.25 g of high-quality protein per kilogram of body weight in a serving, or 20 to 40 g, spread across the day every three to four hours.⁵ The same position stand notes that the effect of exercise on muscle lasts at least 24 hours, so the timing is more forgiving than the old idea of a 30-minute window.⁵ A shake is convenient; a meal works just as well.

And the beer?

One drink is unlikely to undo a session. A heavy night is different: in a small study, around twelve standard drinks after hard training lowered muscle protein synthesis even when protein was taken alongside.⁶ The detail is in Beer after training: what alcohol does to recovery.

Later, in the evening

Once you have rehydrated and eaten, the drink has a different job: helping the day end. That means less fluid, no caffeine late, and little or no alcohol. We cover that window in What to drink in the evening after training, and the wider questions in Recovery drinks for athletes: questions answered.