DO NOT use ALA post workout! While it is evident that ALA is a glucose lowering agent, ALA's regulation of glucose metabolism in the muscle is quite different to insulins. Insulin clearly produces more dramatic enhancement in glycogen synthesis however ALA actually acts as an inhibitor of glycogen syunthesis and causes glucose oxidation. 400mg of alpha lipoic acid aftre beakfast is good.
As for the P/W shake, I've found that the best post-workout mixture one can have is a mixture of whey protein (40-50g), dextrose (45-50g), creatine monohydrate (5-7g), glutamine (10g) and anywhere between 75-85 grams of carbs.
When working out, muscle fibres are put under a huge amount of stress, which casues muscle cells to deplete adenosine triphosphate (ATP), glycogen and amino acids. After a workout, your body searches for nutrients to restore glycogen and ATP levels as well as repair muscle proteins damaged by weight training.
Make sure that you choose a fast-absorbing whey protein isolate. Whey isolates deliver free-form peptide-bonded amino acids into your bloodstream within 30 minutes. Dextrose (D-glucose) is essential because, being a monosaccharide (simple carb), it finds its way into the bloodstream within 3-5 minutes, and peaks after about 40 minutes. This creates two great effects within the body. One is that it creates a high concentration of glucose (needed for glycogen replenishment). Reason two is that these levels of dextrose stimulate insulin release which, contrary to popular belief, is actaully the body's strongest anabolic hormone. Insulin is the delievry mechanism. It opens up the membranes surrounding the muscles and promotes the transport of amino acids, glucose, creatine and glutamine and carries them to the available empty storae spaces in the muscles you just trained. The great thing about this is that the body then 'supercompensates' by bringing more nutrients to the muscle cells that were previously in place, thus creating muscle hypertrophy.
Good day.
