Imagine you have just completed your workout routine, and you are tired and thirsty. As always, the first thing to do is to hydrate your body with water. However, even after drinking water, you feel that your body need something stronger and flavorful.
The first thing that comes to mind is to grab a refreshment drink. Unfortunately, most of them are packed with high amounts of processed sugar, which derails your fitness goals.
Fortunately, there is a better alternative, and that’s tea. Yes, there are post-workout teas that you can drink to rehydrate your body, boost your metabolism, and help with your recovery. Besides, they are delicious.
In this guide, we will discuss different recovery teas you can drink after a workout to help fight swelling and inflation, cut muscle and joint pain, supply your body with essential nutrients to help it build stronger muscles, and provide more energy so you can do other tasks after workout sessions.
Whether you hit it hard at the gym, do laps in the pool, put rubber to pavement, or swing ropes at home, the following post-workout teas can help you in recovery once your exercise routine is over.
1. Rooibos Tea
Also known as red bush tea or red tea, Rooibos tea comes from South Africa. This tea is gaining popularity thanks to its flavorful and caffeine-free nature. This makes it a great alternative to green and black tea. This tea is rich in minerals such as calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, and potassium.
The calcium helps to strengthen joints and bones. This makes it an ideal post-workout drink, especially for people whose workouts are intense and involve a lot of lifting or jumping. Rooibos tea will help you avoid joint pains and also speed up muscle recovery, which results in less aches. This antioxidant also helps to boost blood circulation and fight inflation, which accelerates the healing of damaged tissues.
Besides, rooibos contains zinc and magnesium, which promote testosterone production. This, in turn, helps improve your body’s ability to grow and recover. Also, this tea is rich in manganese and calcium, which are essential for bone health.
Another way rooibos tea helps in post-workout recovery is by helping the body absorb iron, which enhances the delivery of oxygen to the muscles.
This caffeine-free tea is a great choice for taking before bed as it has relaxing effects that promote quality sleep.
You can get it in flavored version, but pure rooibos tea also has a slightly smoky flavor and sweet taste that makes it delicious all by itself.
Related Article: Rooibos Tea: A New Lease of Life
2. Green Tea
Green tea is popularly known for its health benefits. Just like rooibos tea, green tea is rich in antioxidants such as catechin, which helps increase metabolic rate, reduce fat storage, boost energy levels, and reduce muscle damage caused by exercises.
There is also evidence that green tea can increase your body’s ability to burn fat, thereby helping you reach your weight loss goals faster. It does this by signaling fat cells to release fat, which is then converted into energy.
This makes it a useful tea to take after a workout so that your body can keep burning more fat. However, while there are numerous benefits for drinking this tea after a workout, it is also great for pre-workout. This is because it contains caffeine, which boosts your energy levels.
Unlike coffee, green tea release energy in a more balanced way, and thus great for people with diabetes as it can keep their energy levels stable after a workout.
Therefore, we recommend that you take this tea before and after a workout as it is effective in both instances. It not only helps you feel energized and productive but also helps boost metabolism after a workout to help your body burn more fat.
Related Article: What is Green Tea? Origins, Taste And More
3. White Tea
This is one of the healthiest teas you can drink and is considered to be more natural as it is not processed like the others. This tea is harvested and sun-dried before it gets packaged and shipped to grocery and online stores.
White tea contains a higher concentration of potent antioxidants such as catechin and polyphenols than processed teas, which help to prevent formation of new fat cells.
In addition, catechins help prevent inflammation and stress in muscles, a common thing in people who engage in strenuous exercises. Catechins promote muscle recovery and also reduce inflammation.
In one study conducted to examine the effects of white tea on inhibiting the formation of new fat cells, researchers discovered that it has EGCC, an antioxidant, which inhibits production of new fat cells. This helps you to reduce weight even after you are through with your workout.
Besides, these antioxidants were also shown to speed up the process of burning of fat, making white tea an excellent addition to your weight loss diet.
Related Article: What is White Tea? Origins, Taste And More
4. Oolong Tea
We can all agree that gym workouts and outdoor fitness routines are sabotaged by exhaustion from previous day workout and lack of energy. Oolong tea reduces mental and physical fatigue, which makes it easier for you to look forward to another intensive workout session. This makes it a great addition to your recovery arsenal.
Of course, this might seem a fancier tea to drink post-workout, but it has a calming effect and might be better than some tea. If you engage in strenuous exercises and your trainer recommend that you take a drink after hitting the gym, oolong tea is worth a consideration.
Although this tea doesn’t get as much press as green tea, both share most of the health benefits, thanks to its catechins and caffeine content. These two have been found to promote fat loss and increase metabolic rate.
Oolong tea is promoted both as a pre- and post-workout tea by athletes, bodybuilders, fitness trainers, and health enthusiasts, and it is easy to see why.
It is incredibly energizing and healing, and also contains EGCG phytonutrient, which helps your body convert fat into energy, thereby helping with weight loss. A cup of oolong tea after a workout will help with relaxation and muscle recovery.
If you want to achieve your fitness results in a natural, healthy way, ensure that you consume some oolong tea before and after a workout. Not only will you feel energetic to undertake intense workout but also you will feel relaxed.
In addition to muscle recovery, oolong tea has other health benefits, including reduction of chronic health conditions such as inflammatory disorders, heart diseases, and high cholesterol levels.
Therefore, you might think you are just taking this tea to reduce muscle inflammation and fatigue, but its benefits are long-term and go a long way towards helping you live a healthier life.
Related Article: What is Oolong Tea? Origins, Taste And More
5. Ginger Tea
If you have experienced how achy body is agonizing, then you know the need for having quick tricks for relief. However, most people do not know that ginger is an effective remedy for sore muscles. A cup of ginger tea after a strenuous exercise is a natural solution for muscle aches. Ginger tea also boosts up digestion and enhances mood.
The antioxidant packed in this tea, which has long been thought to boost the immune system, can also help you reach your fitness goals easily by lowering inflammation and muscle pain after a workout.
A study done on this spice found out that ginger speeds muscle recovery after lifting weights. In another study, ginger was found to help tame inflammations that are caused by resistance training or running.
The two findings above are enough to conclude that adding ginger tea in your post-workout routine, especially after engaging in high-intensity exercise, can help in your muscle recovery.
The anti-inflammatory properties that ginger tea boasts of can help with post-recovery of sore muscles.
6. Passionflower Tea
Passionflower tea winds up our topic on best drinks for post-workout. Although not popular as other teas we have discussed above, this tea boasts of numerous health benefits ranging from relieving anxiety and preventing insomnia, to lowering blood pressure and helping with muscle recovery.
Speaking of muscle recovery, this tea has powerful anti-inflammatory properties that make it a great addition to your recovery arsenal if you want a drink that relieves those muscle aches.
The antioxidants in Passionflower tea have been proven to inhibit the production of enzymes that causes inflammation.
There you have it- our guide to 6 best teas for post-workout. Before we wind up our guide, let’s discuss how these teas work.
How the Above Teas Helps With Workout Recovery
There are many ways recovery teas can help you feel great and relaxed after a workout and stay ready for other activities:
- It helps to offer relief from swelling and inflammation
- Increase muscle tone
- Help shred fat
- Support hydration
- Supply your body with essential nutrients that help to strengthen bones and repair tissue as well as body build muscle
- Support healthy cleansing and detoxification
- Helps your muscles to tone more
In other words, the above herbal teas are a great addition to your fat-loss, muscle-building, or general fitness routine.
Bottom Line
Drinking tea is a delicious way to staying healthy and achieving your fitness goals. The above herbal and detox teas for weight loss and workout recovery can help you feel relaxed and energized to do other things. Therefore, add a few cups of any of the above teas to your post-workout routine, if you want to reap the benefits of your workout routines.