Swim Better After a Glass of Chocolate Milk

Take a guess at what's emerged as a popular recovery drink for swimmers. Not your typical sports drink or a calorie-free beverage. Instead, it's chocolate milk.Joel Stager from Indiana University explained "Chocolate milk is an ideal recovery drink. It is 'real food', has the right carbs (carbohydrate) to protein ratio athletes need and is less expensive than many alternatives." The study revealed that chocolate milk worked wonders as a recovery drink for swimmers after their first exhaustive swim. It allowed them to be stronger and swim faster during trials later that same day.On an average the swimmers shaved off 2.1 seconds per 200 yard swim, and 0.5 seconds per 75 yard sprint, compared to when they recovered with a traditional carbohydrate sports drink or a calorie-free beverage.Previous studies have shown the theory of 'recovery by chocolate milk' to be true in the case of cyclists, runners and soccer players.This study is the first to test the benefits of chocolate milk in swimmers, and included six division one collegiate swimmers performing a muscle fuel (glycogen) depleting swim bout of 60 x 100 yards followed by five hours of recovery for three consecutive weeks.