What should I eat before a workout?
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Photo by Lily Banse
By: Mark Sisson
Pre-workout nutrition is one of those areas where people love to lose themselves in the minutiae. They obsess over what to eat, when to eat it, and how much of it to eat. Instead of just getting into the gym or out into the world and getting active and lifting something heavy, they read blogs and watch videos for weeks, searching for the one pre-workout meal to rule them all. They end up avoiding the gym altogether because they can’t figure out the “perfect” pre-workout meal, or whether they should eat something at all.
Even when you figure out what to eat before a workout, you can go too far. You know the type of guy. This is the guy who travels with a suitcase full of powders, pills, and packaged foods. He’s so wedded to the pre-workout ritual that he can’t skip a day—even on vacation. If he doesn’t get his 40.5 grams of waxy maize, 30.2 grams of whey isolate, and preworkout blend of superfoods he can’t operate in the gym. He crumbles without the perfect, most optimal pre-workout nutrition.
Don’t be like this. Let me tell you what to do so you can stop stressing about what to eat before a workout. Let’s simplify things.
General Rules for Pre Workout Meals
What you eat will depend on what kind of workout you’re doing, what your goals are, and what kind of diet you’re already following, but there are general rules that apply to everyone.
Keep things light. No heavy meals. If you eat too large a meal, you may have trouble digesting it, or some of the energy that’d otherwise go to your muscles will be diverted to your gut.
Eat foods you know you can easily digest. No surprises.
Salt your meals. Sodium is an enormous boon to exercise performance, particularly if you’re on the lower-carb side of things.
Powders are fine. While whole foods are usually ideal, for quick pre-workout nutrition, protein and carbohydrate powders can be very helpful and beneficial.
Include 15-20 g collagen and 50-100 mg vitamin C. This a great way to improve connective tissue health when taken pre-workout.
Protein and carbs are more important, dietary fat less important pre-workout. If all goes well you’ll be eating the fat on your body.
Oh, and you don’t have to eat anything. You can fast (it’s what I typically do). It’s just that this article is intended to help people who are interested in pre workout nutrition.
What to Eat Before High Intensity Interval Workouts. . .
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