8 Best Workout Recovery Drinks to Keep You Hydrated

When you get done with a workout, you want to make sure you are getting the nutrients you need to help recover after a workout and feel good.

While there are all sorts of drinks out there claiming to be the perfect workout recovery drink on the market, you don’t really need them. In fact, some of the best options are the ones that you can make at home or just get in any standard grocery store. So here are the 8 best workout recovery drinks for you to try out.

8 Best Workout Recovery Drinks

1. Water

Before, during, and after your workout, it’s good to make sure you stay hydrated. While regular water isn’t the best choice after an intense workout, it’s still a necessary part of your diet.

Generally, for every pound of water weight you lose in a workout, you want to drink 16 to 20 ounces of water to replace it. You can add a pinch of salt to help with your sodium levels and replace essential nutrients as well.

While water is necessary and important, it doesn’t contain all the vital nutrients you need after a workout. When drinking plain water, you want to generally pair it with a post-workout snack that is full of essential minerals, proteins, and carbohydrates.

You can also reduce the amount of water you are drinking and mix it with other great recovery drinks that have essential nutrients to allow you to recover fully after exercise.

Some examples of good water to use:

Regular tap water
Sparkling water
Bottled water
Water with flavorings
Water with electrolyte packets

2. Coconut Water

If you think you might need a boost of electrolytes after a workout that water just can’t provide, consider using coconut water instead. Coconut water is packed full of electrolytes, with 11 ounces having 14 grams of sugar and 670 milligrams of potassium. If you add a sprinkle of salt in there, you can also get the necessary sodium.

These levels make it far better than most sports drinks. However, the coconut taste is pretty strong, which can make the drink unpleasant for some. To cut the taste while still getting some nutrients, you can mix the coconut water with regular water or even juice.

Start with a 1-to-1 ratio and see how that tastes. Over time, you can slowly add more coconut water to the mix to get more of the nutrients.

Some of the best coconut waters to try after a workout include:

Harmless Harvest Coconut Water
Vita Coco Coconut Water Organic
Zico Natural 100% Coconut Water
365 Whole Foods Market Coconut Water

3. Coffee

After an intense workout session, you may not gravitate towards hot coffee as your drink of choice. However, a plain black coffee, hot or iced, contains caffeine. Caffeine helps the body to absorb carbohydrates faster and easier, which then refills glycogen stores.

Coffee can also increase calorie burn by boosting your metabolism, so you get the benefits from your workout for longer. Some of the antioxidants in coffee can also help your muscles recover faster and feel less sore after a workout.

Best coffees after a workout include:

Any black hot coffee
Any black cold coffee

4. Tea

Tea, especially green tea, can be beneficial after a workout. You can drink it hot or cold, or in powdered, matcha form.

Not only does tea contain small amounts of caffeine, which is beneficial for carbohydrate absorption, but green tea also contains catechins which help fight against heart disease and cancer.

Green tea is beneficial to drink at any time, not just after workouts. However, some studies have shown that drinking green tea within 60 minutes after a workout session can provide the nutrients and water that your body needs. This is especially the case for those that work out daily.

This is because the antioxidants in the tea can reduce muscle soreness and swelling after exercise. Additionally, studies have shown that green tea can boost your metabolism, so you can burn even more calories and keep your body working even after your exercise is over for the day.

Some green teas to try after a workout include:

Matcha green tea
Hot green tea
Iced green tea
Green tea with peppermint
Green tea with chamomile
Green tea muscle recovery by Yogi

5. Chocolate Milk

Chocolate milk may seem like a sugary sweet drink made mostly for kids, but it’s a great drink to have after a workout. This is because the carbohydrate-to-protein ratio is around 4:1, which is ideal for muscle repair and glycogen replacement.

Generally, after a workout, you want between 15g and 25g of protein, which equals roughly 500 and 750 milliliters of chocolate milk you want to drink.

There have been studies on the benefits of muscle health after chocolate milk and they have shown that it can speed up recovery time and slow down time until you feel exhausted after a workout. This is due to the protein, calcium, sugar, vitamin D, and sodium present in chocolate milk.

Like sports drinks, this isn’t the best drink after every exercise. You generally want to drink it after more intense workouts as it is high in sugar and calories.

Though regular milk may seem like a good substitute if you want to cut some of the calories, it doesn’t have the right amount of carbohydrates or a good carbohydrate-to-protein ratio, and the calories aren’t all that reduced, with a maximum of about 80 calories difference between a serving of both.

Good chocolate milk options to drink after a workout includes:

Fairlife Chocolate 2% Ultra-Filtered Milk
Muscle Milk Knockout Chocolate
Soylent Creamy Chocolate Protein Nutrition Shake
Low-fat or fat-free milk with honey and unsweetened cacao powder

6. Juices

Both fruit and vegetable juices, or a mix of the two, are beneficial after a workout. Tomato-based juices are considered to be one of the better options because they have antioxidants in them to help with muscle recovery.

If you enjoy vegetable or fruit juices, they can be a good replacement for sports drinks because a lot of vegetables have higher levels of potassium than most sports drinks.

Potassium is a necessary mineral in the body, especially after workouts. It helps maintain normal fluid levels in the cells and assists in the contraction of muscles and stable blood pressure.

Fruit juices also tend to have more electrolytes than sports drinks. They also tend to have a lot of healthy carbs and glucose that you will need to replace after an intense workout.

As far as fruit juices, tart cherry juice is one of the most popular post-workout because it has anti-inflammatory properties to stop pain and soreness in the muscles. Cherry juice also offers a lot of benefits to the heart.

Some of the best recovery juice mixes include:

Blueberry pomegranate
Ginger and beet
Watermelon and tart cherry
Tomato basil
Cucumber coconut
Celery and orange
Carrot and kale

7. Smoothies

Smoothies, especially those with healthy yogurts and frozen fruits and berries can provide simple sugars and protein which are important for glycogen replacement, muscle repairs, vitamins, and antioxidants to reduce soreness and pain in the muscles.

You can get pre-made smoothies from the grocery store or local smoothie shop, or you can make your own.

Some fruits that you can add to smoothies to get the best mix of nutrients are:

Bananas
Blueberries
Oranges
Mango
Strawberries
Raspberries

On top of yogurt for a boost of protein, some other ingredients you can add to your smoothie include:

Peanut butter
Chia seeds
Oats
Chocolate milk
Protein powder
Cacao powder
Spinach
Spirulina
Coconut water

8. Sports Drinks

Sports drinks are most people’s go-to after exercising. While they can be a great drink, they also contain fairly high levels of sugar and calories. They can be good after a very intense workout, but they might not be great for shorter and more casual workouts. Generally, workouts over 60 minutes may benefit from sports drinks.

However, they contain a wide mix of electrolytes that some of the other drinks on this list may not contain, like magnesium, calcium, sodium, and potassium. They can help rehydrate your body and provide energy and electrolytes.

Some of the better energy drinks to try include: