Recovery Product after exercise?

Muscle repair after intensive exercise is an important part of optimal performance. Human (professional) athletes already know for a long time that nutrition is a crucial part of optimal athletic performance, and your dog is not a (professional) athlete? Today, the best performing athletes are the ones that recover fastest, resulting in fitter, faster and stronger athletes ready for the next match. Effective recovery after exercise is also healthier: muscles get the nutrients delivered directly when needed. Furthermore, faster recovery also makes muscles less susceptible to muscle injuries. Glycogen is an important source of energy in the muscles, and muscle glycogen concentration decreases during exercise, reducing performance capacity. These factors make it crucial that the amount of glycogen in the muscles is replenished fast in order to maintain optimal performance. In order to achieve this the proper nutrients need to be delivered to the muscle directly after the exercise.

QUESTION: What is the relevance of a recovery shake for active dogs? Nonsense or effective?

Answer: ANSWER: Dog muscles use muscle glycogen during exercise, especially short and intermediate exercise (upto 45 minutes); Glycogen is a readily mobilized storage of carbohydrates in a muscle. The more intensive the exercise the more muscle glycogen is used. Even dogs that did not reach their performance limit during exercise and are completely exhausted after finishing have used muscle glycogen. The glycogen stores will always be consumed, when glycogen stores are replenished faster after exercise the muscles recover faster. Fast and efficient recovery is the best preparation for your next workout or competition. Scientific studies have shown that in order to replenish muscle glycogen a combination of fast carbohydrates and highly soluble protein works superior. Not all proteins are the same and holds true for carbohydrates, therefor it is important to make sure you choose the right ingredients, the right amount and use at the right time to obtain optimal results.

The right combination of carbohydrates and proteins will induce a higher blood insulin concentration, which not only speeds up glucose uptake by the muscles it also enlarges the glycogen storage capacity of the muscle. In addition, proteins are essential building blocks for the repair of so called microruptures in the muscles that are the result of intensive exercise. Scientific studies have proven that you can optimize muscle repair in dogs if they are supplemented with a well formulated mixture of fast carbohydrates (maltodextrin), whey-protein, anti-oxidants and vitamins within 30 minutes after exercise. It was shown that muscle repair as measured by glycogen content and oxidative stress was reached in only 4 to 8 hours instead of the normal 24 to 48 hours after an intensive exercise of moderate duration. This is off course an interesting find for all active dogs and that is the reason we started developing our FASTDOG recovery products. Initially only for our own dogs but as our products showed great potency and people were asking for our products they are now available for everybody.

In sum, it is definitely useful and effective to supplement your dog with a recovery shake (or the biscuits that are made containing the same core ingredients) to optimize muscle repair in your dog. Human athletes performing intensive exercise have been using recovery bars and shake for decades, so why not your dog? The FASTDOG products are specifically made for dogs, with the right ingredients in the best possible composition. Effective, easy and a great reward after an intensive training or competition.