I know coconut water is a big thing in training now a days, but I was talking to an olympic sports nutritionist the other day and we were talking about how it's worse than sports drinks for you. It gives you way more sugar per serving and doesn't give you any sodium (what's most important for your body to absorb water after a workout). There is a lot of potassium in it, but watch out.. Potassium isn't something you want to get more than your daily recommended allowance of. Did you know the hype over coconut water actually came from a study done in like the 1930's in which coconut water was injected directly into the veins as an IV fluid in an EMERGENCY situation for severe dehydration?

Now.. I'm not saying gatorade and powerade are all that much better. The sugars in them aren't an optimal fuel source and the concentration of them actually increases your core body temperature after a hard workout, and there isn't enough sodium in those either to replace what was lost in sweat (now this is talking about after an elite endurance athlete works out).

I haven't looked into this yet, but the best thing after a workout is to drink water with sodium citrate. You have a longer window to get the carbs and protein..