A drink with sugar, a little protein, and a tiny bit of fat after a workout helps muscles recover energy, but not quite as well as a drink with just sugar.

After a long workout, drinking a sugary sports drink helps your muscles refill their energy stores much faster than not eating anything at all.

If endurance athletes eat some protein with less-than-ideal carbs after a workout—especially when they have less than a day to recover—it probably helps their muscles refill energy faster and boosts performance a little bit next time.

If endurance athletes eat a specific amount of carbs right after a workout—especially a mix of glucose and fructose—they’ll probably refill their muscle energy faster, especially if they’re not eating a lot of carbs overall and need to recover quickly for their next session.

If young, healthy guys take 20 grams of creatine every day while eating a super high-carb diet after intense exercise, they rebuild their muscle fuel 82% faster in the first day compared to just eating high carbs alone.

After a long workout, men and women refill their muscle energy stores at the same rate when they both drink the same recovery drink — even though women burn more fat during the workout.