Strength Conditioning and Nutrition 101

A question commonly asked is whether protein shakes are necessary for obtaining the benefits previously mentioned. Interestingly enough, they have found that milk can be a viable way of attaining all the benefits associated with protein shakes. Studies have demonstrated that milk consumption can stimulate amino acid uptake by skeletal muscle and result in an increase in net muscle protein synthesis.

Something that I find surprising is that Whole milk appears to be more beneficial than fat free milk, unless you ingest the same amount of caloric value of the fat free as the whole milk.


The difference in amino acid uptake between whole milk and fat free milk is extremely large. Whole milk is capable of raising your amino acid uptake by 80-85% more than fat free milk.

Basically, this demonstrated that milk is a viable form of recovery drink. Some researchers argue that it may be a cheaper and more effective form of recovery than protein shakes.

Now as previously mentioned, having a large amount of carbs associated with the protein intake is important in post training recovery. Well today is your lucky day if you aren’t allergic to milk, this is the perfect opportunity for you because it is chocolate milk time.

YES CHOCOLATE MILK IS A VIABLE REPLACEMENT FOR YOUR POST WORKOUT DRINK.