Is there "something" that would enable endurance athletes to be more resilient and ultimately recover faster from day-to-day? Imagine the perfect food that would immediately activate and boost your psychological systems to restore and replenish your body with 10% effectiveness. Well, sorry to tell you, but there isn't a perfect food nor a perfect pill. However, you can implement two key nutritional recovery "tools" that will dramatically expedite your rebound time from your hard training sessions.

First, recognize that training consistently and implementing a progressive protocol will generally over-ride all the other training variables: nutrition, massage, injury preventative strength and stretching, plus psychological preparation.

Second on my list after training is a sound nutritional program. Yes, there are athletes that have notorious nutritional habits, but for long term health and short term optimal recovery, a neglectful nutritional plan will eventually lead to a gradual fall-off in performance. Seemingly, athletes are able to survive on a diet of donuts and fried pork rings, but eventually the body will not be able to maintain optimal performance nor recovery. So what can you do to properly fuel your body post-workout - and what are the two key nutritional elements?

Number One

Window of Opportunity (WOO) - Carbohydrates and Proteins.

Our body's muscle and liver glycogen stores, protein synthesis and immune system are "jet started" with immediate fuel (15-60 minutes) post exercise. You miss this window to refuel and you've just started a cascading dive of your ability to recover. If you neglect the window of opportunity, your body simply will not recover, mend, heal and regenerate to your pre-exercise levels. At the conclusion of your training sessions, your body assimilates high glycemic carbohydrates. It does not like a healthy bowl of black beans - it prefers the fluid replacement drink (FRD) that is comprised of mixed simple sugars. Additionally, combining protein (not a turkey sandwich) in a FRD enhances the factors mentioned above plus increasing amino acids uptake, maintenance of lean muscle mass and elevates fat oxidation post exercise fueling during the WOO, you cells are essentially starving for carbohydrates and protein. The assimilation in a liquid fluid replacement drink is the best choice. The most important trait to recognize is: ingest the fuel at a ratio of 3-4 parts carbohydrate to one part protein. Accelerade and Endurox (for recovery) are equally effective. Endurox is about double the dosage of Accelerade and depending on your taste preference and stomach sensitivity - either one is effective.

Lastly, the rule of thumb is to ingest approximately 40-60% of the calories burned, less calories consumed during the session. I.E. If you burned 600 calories and consumed 200 during the session, the balance is 400 calories. 40-60% of 400= 160+240 calories to be consumed during the WOO. Once the WOO consumption is under way, your body will need to continue to refuel for another 2-6 hours, depending on the volume and intensity of your session(s). This growth and protein synthesis phase is vital to enhance the immune system and to derive the maximum adoption from your training session. So what can you do?

Number Two

There is a myth that all proteins are created equal for human nutrition. This myth states that a gram of one type of protein is as good as a gram of another protein for building body proteins. That is, it doesn't matter if you eat a steak or put two scoops of whey or soy in a glass of milk, the benefit to the body will be the same since "its all protein." But this in fact is not true.

The most important factor to consider is how much of each dietary protein is used in the body for protein synthesis. And all proteins are not equal in this value.

BioBuilde is effective because 99% is used for body protein synthesis. Another very important factor is that less than 1% of BioBuilde is broken down into nitrogen waste. This is miniscule compared to whey and soy which have over 80% nitrogen waste, or beef or fish that result in over 65% nitrogen waste. This nitrogen waste is an added burden that the endurance athlete just doesn't need. BioBuilde optimizes protein-building and minimizes nitrogen waste. Again, a swift recovery also benefits the immune system by keeping the endurance and strength athlete healthy.

My biggest focus with the athletes that I advise is not their ability to train, but more importantly, to keep them training at their highest potential every day, season after season, without illness or injury. By adding BioBuilde as a part of their comprehensive nutritional and training plan, they have a greater chance of meeting their training goals.

If you are considering taking BioBuilde, the optimum period is in the 2-6 hour window after you exercise. This is also the time that you can include the bowl of beans with a turkey sandwich.