Optimum Nutrition 2:1:1 Recovery–Final Review

We’re happy to bring to you the final review in our Recovery Drink series.  Since the beginning of March we’ve brought you a series of posts on various recovery products.  Today, we bring you the final review for this series.  We’ve been testing Optimum 2:1:1 for about two weeks.

Our initial review of the Optimum Nutrition 2:1:1 Recovery was published a bit less than two weeks ago.

Final Review of Optimum 2:1:1 Recovery

For the past 2 weeks, we have used this product daily in my training routine. We found it to gives the calories and nutrients post-workout our body needs. After each use, we felt our ravenous post-exercise appetite markedly reduced. Our only qualm with the product is that it has not helped notably with muscle soreness. We do, however, think this product is an excellent supplement, and we do feel refreshed after use. It is packed with complex carbohydrates and proteins, with an advanced formula of amino acids (2 part leucine, 1 part isoleucine, and 1 part valine). As you may have noticed, we have done a number of recovery product reviews over the past month, and previously we mentioned the GU recovery was the best tasting by far. After becoming accustomed to the flavor of this product, we stand corrected. we much prefer the ‘very vanilla’ 2:1:1 to any of the other recovery product’s flavorings. It is the least artificial – and as we mentioned in the initial review, it almost tastes like a milk shake. After a few days, we really began to look forward to this drink after our workouts for the taste and the boost.

Notes and Suggestions:

Make sure you wash this product out of your water bottle completely right after use. Otherwise, it is like rotten milk sitting in your bottle. We’ve had to bin a few bottles for this reason. Totally our fault, but you should definitely rinse this product out. We also recommend drinking from a non-transparent bottle, since the look of the recovery drink is not as appealing as the taste.

Final Recommendations:

Overall, we recommend this product as a recovery drink to any multisport athlete, with perhaps the exception of those experiencing muscle soreness problems.  In our half-Ironman training, we haven’t experienced serious muscle soreness problems.  Of course, we get sore after hard workouts, but in general, our muscle soreness dissipates quickly.  Until the final week or so of our training we hadn’t experienced any significant muscle soreness issues.  If you are prone to serious muscle soreness, you might need to consider an additional supplement or try a different recovery drink.  When selecting a recovery drink, we’re looking for something that provides a boost after the workout and helps replenish us for our next workout.  The 2:1:1 Recovery absolutely provides that boost.