Whether it's for building muscle or losing weight, refueling your body after a hard workout is of vital importance. For many bodybuilders, this is known as the "window of opportunity" meaning you have a certain amount of time to refuel your body after your workout usually within 30 minutes, if not most of your training efforts will go to waste. If you deprive your body of proper nutrition post workout, you won't see the muscle gains you're longing for.

The simple reason is after working out, your muscle glycogen stores are depleted causing muscle fatigue and leaving your muscles flat as a pancake. Your glycogen stores are what fuel your body during your workout due to glycogenolysis which is a catabolic process responsible for the breakdown of glycogen to glucose. Glucose is simply blood sugar and this is what gives you energy. As glycogen depletion is natural after an intense workout and results in depleted muscle tissues as well, you'll need fast-acting protein and carbs to repair and rebuild those tissues because failure in doing so will result in flat muscles. What you want is fuller and denser muscles.

After a grueling workout, this is really a critical time to have a recovery drink. A drink is favored over a solid meal as the former is easier and faster to digest than the latter. The main question many weightlifting adherents ask themselves is "What supplement to take after workout?" and for good reasons because let's face it, supplements are convenient and handy and they work. Using supplements as part of a solid nutrition program will give you an upper edge.

Most people usually have recourse to a whey protein shake with some dextrose which works pretty well for muscle recovery. Dextrose is a fast-acting carb and many lifters vouch that it's a good carb to shuttle the protein and amino acids fast to your muscle cells. In short, dextrose triggers insulinotropic which is the stimulation of insulin production and activity. By provoking an insulin spike, it's like muscles are repaired and rebuilt faster resulting in muscle anabolism(muscle gain) instead of muscle catabolism(muscle loss). Others will have some fruits like bananas and some whey protein which work too. Although bananas are medium-acting carbs, they are rich in potassium which is a great nutrient for boosting muscle recovery and growth.

Whichever fast-acting or medium-acting carbs you take, be sure to have a solid whey protein with them. One of the best whey protein out there is a 100% pure whey protein isolate like Muscle Feast which is totally natural with no artificial sweeteners, additives and fillers. In my honest opinion, this is one of the best whey protein isolate money can buy. Whey protein already contain some branched chain amino acids(BCAAs) like Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine but if you want to up your BCAAs intake for best results, you can take a separate supplement like POWERBUILD Clinically-Dosed Post Workout Recovery & Muscle Building Supplement. Powerbuild contains an amazing array of muscle building nutrients as follows:

L-Glutamine(5 grams) - This is extremely effective post workout as it aids in muscle recovery and fight overtraining as well.

L-Leucine(4 grams) - Of all the BCAAs, Leucine is the most important as its primary goal is to stimulate protein synthesis and the more effective protein synthesis is, the more muscles you can potentially build. Having the prefix L in front simply means the Leucine is in free form, hence it does not need to get digested but instead get shuttled to your bloodstream fast for use by muscle cells immediately. Free form amino acids don't need to get broken down by your stomach.

Creatine Monohydrate(3 grams) - Boost strength, power and stamina and promote muscle growth.

Other important ingredients include L-Carnitine L-Tartrate (2 grams), Beta Alanine (2 grams), Betaine Anhydrous (2.5 grams) and Bioperine®(5 mg).

To resume, a great post workout supplementation would be as follows:

Mix 1 scoop of POWERBUILD with 10-16 ounces of water and have it immediately after your workout.

After 20-30 minutes, have your whey protein isolate shake with some dextrose added about 1.75 times the number of grams of protein. So if you're having 1 scoop of Muscle Feast whey isolate at 26 grams of protein, you should use 46 grams of dextrose(26 x 1.75 = 45.5) which is the equivalent of 1 scoop of Muscle Feast dextrose. Mix 1 scoop of Muscle Feast whey isolate and 1 scoop of Muscle Feast dextrose with 8-12 oz of water. You can use a blender or a shaker.

Pure WPI - Whey Protein Isolate Natural 5 Lbs

POWERBUILD Clinically-Dosed Post Workout Recovery & Muscle Building Supplement - Boost Muscle Growth, Recovery, & Strength - Creatine, Glutamine, & 5 More Powerful Ingredients - Mixed Berry Blast, 483.6g

Dextrose 7 Pounds unflavored

Why you should have a whey isolate post workout is because whey isolates are really high on the biological value(BV) of proteins as they rank at 156. The higher the value, the faster the digestion and absorption rate into your muscle cells, this is why a whey protein isolate is highly popular post workout whereby fast-acting proteins are needed. After your post workout whey protein isolate recovery shake, be sure to have a solid meal after 1 hour or so. Some brown rice, chicken breast/fish and broccoli drizzled with some extra virgin olive oil for instance is a perfect muscle-building meal. For bodybuilding recipes and ideas, try Anabolic Cooking.