Pre-Workout Nutrition Tips
The goal of the pre-workout meal should be to help you feel and perform your best during your workout. So if you want to optimize your pre-workout meal; what should you eat?
What should I eat before I workout?! I’ve had some version of this question posed to me dozens of times by eager clients. The answer, as always… it depends. Ultimately what you should eat before your workout depends on factors such as how long before your workout you’re eating, the type of workout you’re doing, and your own personal preferences.
Before I dive into the details of the optimal pre-workout meal, here’s a quick note about nutrition in general. When we think about your health like a pyramid, nutrient timing is at the tippy top meaning that it’s really the icing on the cake in terms of optimizing your routine. What’s most important is your overall nutrition habits (aka the base of the pyramid). Think about nailing your total calorie intake, protein and fiber needs, and water consumption before you spend too much time obsessing over your pre-workout meal.
That being said, if you’re going to think about optimizing your pre-workout meal, what should you do? Well the goal of the pre-workout meal should be to help you feel and perform your best during your workout. This means that you need to have enough energy to do so without eating a meal that’s too big or not going to sit well in your stomach.
So the food that you eat is going to depend on when you have time to eat! If you’re waking up at 5am for morning sessions, you probably don’t have time to eat and digest a full meal. Vs if you’re training at 7pm, you might have time to eat your normal dinner a couple hours before hitting the gym.
Pre-Workout Meal Considerations
1. Timing
What you eat before you workout will really depend on when you're eating relative to your workout
If you're eating 1-2+ hours before a workout, you can just eat a full meal
If you're eating within an hour of working out, a quick snack will do
The goal is for you to feel and perform your best during your workout so keep that in mind when deciding what you eat and when
2. Nutrient Intake
1-2+ hours before
Normal meal with a balance of carbs, protein, fat, and fiber (ex: pasta, ground beef, tomatoes, mushrooms, and sauce)
<1 hour before
Smaller snack made up of fast digesting carbs to provide quick energy
Stay away from fats since they slow the digestion of carbs
Go for foods that you know sit well in your stomach and won’t make you feel too full
3. Snack Ideas
Toast with Jam
Fruit (banana, berries, apple)
Fruit yogurt
Protein Bar
Fruit Smoothie
Bagel
Rice Cake
Oatmeal
TLDR: don’t overthink it! Prioritize consuming a balanced diet throughout the day and if you haven’t eaten a whole meal in the ~2 hours leading up to your workout, go for some fast digesting carbs in the 15-60 minutes leading up to your session.
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