What to Eat Before Beginning a Workout

Every trainer should take special care in preparing the body for physical performance. By eating a variety of carbohydrates, meats, fruits and vegetables with regular meals will help ensure enough energy is available for peak performance. Healthy snacks are important as well.

Maintaining an energy balance should be the concern of everyone involved in a fitness program. The amount of energy taken in and the amount of energy needed for performance should influence good eating habits. An individual’s energy balance is not just affected by how much is consumed put by proportions of carbohydrates, proteins, fats and nutrients that will be burned off during exercise. Carbohydrates, proteins and readily available nutrients are much easier for the body to burn off then stored fats. To ensure peak performance be certain to eat the proper balance of foods needed to produce an ample supply of energy.

What to Eat

Although there is no right or wrong way to eat before an event or workout, considerations for pre-workout eating are: eating to be certain the muscles are fully loaded with enough glycogen, but not so much they will cause distress during performance and also ensuring the body is properly hydrated. Below I have listed some helpful guidelines on what to eat, when to eat and what to avoid.

Pre-workout nutrition should include foods with a low or moderate glycemic rating; these are foods that raise sugar levels in the blood at a slower rate. Carbohydrates are high octane fuel for peak performance and being aware of their glycemic ratings will help in eating the right foods at the right time. Fruits such as bananas, apples and oranges are good examples of pre-workout foods with low to moderate glycemic ratings.

Eat foods that are familiar and easy to digest, stay clear of foods difficult to digest unless adequate time is available for metabolizing.

Eating sensibly everyday will solve 75% of the energy equation ensuring peak workout or event performance.

When to Eat

You should always allow pre-workout food to adequately digest before beginning a workout or high performance activity. Here is a timetable:

half hour to 45 minutes for a small snack

an hour to 90 minutes for a blended or liquid meal

2 to 3 hours for a small meal

3-4 hours for a large meal

Always allow more digestion time for a high-level performance workout then before a low-level workout. If you tend to get nervous and your digestive system doesn’t tolerate food before a workout or event don't force and don’t eat. If this is usually the case make certain to eat well the day before. Again if you are eating a performance diet of foods everyday you shouldn’t have too many problems with glucose or energy production.

What not to Eat

Always limit the amount of high fat proteins such as cheese, steak, hamburgers and peanut butter before a workout. Also refrain from foods with a high glycemic rating sure they will give you a quite burst of energy but it will followed by just as quite of a crash-which could come half way through the workout!

Eating food selections with high glycemic ratings may provide initial energy during performance but you can be certain the energy will not last. The sugar is not complex enough to sustain a workout of 30 minutes or more. Example foods to avoid before a workout are: Sodas, soft drinks, sports drinks, candies, dough nuts, cakes, ice creams and muffins. Managing your energy balance through portion control and food selection is an important part of fitness and shouldn’t be a neglected aspect of training.