I just finished up an expert Q&A for Men’s Fitness on the topic of pre and post-workout nutrition for optimal results. I spent several hours conducting in depth research to prepare for the Q&A, so I wanted to share with you what I learned about pre-workout meal nutrition. Here’s the follow up article on post-workout meal nutrition.
Pre-Workout Meal Benefits
A pre-workout meal is a whole foods meal that falls within 3 hours of your workout. When you eat the right foods in the right amounts as you will learn shortly, these nutrients can offer a number of benefits, including:
1) More Energy During Workouts – Filling up your glycogen stores (body’s energy tank) before a workout can help improve your energy levels significantly during a workout. If you have a very low carb diet, an intense workout can turn out to be very difficult to handle because glycogen stores are low. Energy levels are also affected by sleep patterns, when you have the most energy during the day, and hydration to name a few.
2) Protect Your Hard Earned Muscle – When you workout hard, especially with heavy weights, the body is in a catabolic environment, which can break down muscle tissue to use it as energy. A solid pre-workout meal can prevent muscle breakdown and improve energy repair and recovery.
3) Increased Muscle Growth – Eating protein during your workout meal can help slowly release amino acids into your blood stream, which can promote protein synthesis. If you are breaking down muscle and eating enough calories, muscle growth can be improved.
While there are benefits of a pre-workout meal, if you are on a fat loss program, you must budget in the calories of your pre-workout meal.
Some guys will have big pre and post-workout meals without any appreciation for how those extra calories effect their total calorie intake. These guys then wonder why they are not losing any fat!
Whether you are trying to lose fat, or build muscle, having an appreciation for the calorie implications of your pre and post-workout meals can be very helpful for you.
Pre-Workout Meal: What & When To Eat?
To construct the best pre-workout meal possible, we need to understand the rate of digestion of different foods to determine meal timing.
In general, dietary fat takes around 6-8 hours to digest, protein 3-4 hours, and carbs 2-3 hours (depending on the source). In this context, digestion is the amount of time it takes for food to move from the stomach to the small intestine. Of course, the food is still not totally digested, because from the small intestine food makes its way toward the large intestine for further digestion and absorption of water. Total elimination of food residue can take anywhere from 24 hours to several days.
Before getting into specifics, the good news is that your meal does not have to be “fully” digested to have a great, energy filled workout.
Here’s a breakdown of what your pre-workout meal should look like:
Dietary Fat – Because fat takes the longest to digest, the pre-workout meal should be relatively low in fat, so stay away from fatty meats and oils.
Protein – A moderate amount of a meat (4-8 ounces) or dairy sources that are low in fat can work. A major benefit of meat, or dairy is they contain Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA), which can help increase the rate of protein synthesis and decrease protein breakdown during and after your workout.
Carbohydrates – Low Glycemic (slowly releases into blood stream) carbohydrates should help fill up glycogen stores to help you power through a tough workout and also create a more anabolic effect.
The challenge is knowing how much food you can eat pre-workout, which is based on your own response. Some people can eat a full meal as little as an hour before a workout, while some others who have sensitive stomachs can wait 3-4 hours. In general, a meal around 500-600 calories for a 180lb man 2-3 hours pre-workout should suffice as a solid pre-workout meal during a fat loss program. You should experiment with the timing to suit your individual needs.
If you are fueling for overall performance for an intense athletic event, more carbs should be added. For muscle building, a larger pre-workout meal combined with a pre-workout protein shake can be very helpful.
Pre-Workout Meal Ideas
Let’s put together everything you’ve learned so far into simple meal ideas:
…and don’t forget to drink plenty of water! A good 16+ ounces can help you optimize your performance.
If for some reason it’s been longer than 3 hours since your last meal, you can consider adding a pre-workout snack, such as fruit (apple, strawberries, blueberries etc.), some yogurt, or a pre-workout protein shake can also work. In addition, for those who get up very early in the morning and don’t have time for a pre-workout meal, or snack, a simple sports drink (like G2) with 5 grams of BCAA’s can help improve energy levels and protect against catabolism (muscle breakdown).
I hope this was helpful for you and let me know if you have any questions!
Great info as usual Marc! Thanks a bunch!!!
Marc your awesome. Your posts keep me going. For the 1st time i feel like i’m getting my workouts right. YOU ROCK!!!. Can you pls list out some rich carb sources?
@Francis – your comment made my day. Thanks! In terms of carbs sources, I do plan on writing more articles about it, but here’s a good start:
Starchy Carbs:
Yams
Sweet potatoes
Rice
Squash
Steel Cut Oats
Fruit Carbs
Anything – I like berries the most because they are packed with anti-oxidants, they are relatively low in sugar and high in fiber, grapefruit, oranges, it’s all good. Organic is ideal if you can get it. One quick tip is consider rotating fruits with your breakfast, or as a snack – for example. So I’ll have strawberries/blueberries for a week, then I’ll have grapefruit etc.
Fibrous Veggie Carbs
The more the merrier – broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, etc. No one ever gained weight eating fibrous veggies!
Hope that’s helpful, again plan on a lot more in coming months.
Marc, Thanks for the outstanding information you send us. I wake up at 4 am and only have an apple. It seems to be enough. However, because of GERD, I can’t eat much before yoga and pillates.
Built Lean can read thoughts! Few days ago I was thinking about nutrition before workout and…..here it is! Mark, you are the man!!!
@Dmytro – Haha. Happy to see I created an article that was timely for you.
i wake up early in the morning and tend to hit the gym within an hour after gettin up!is drinking a protein shake on an empty stomach advisable?
or Wat other alternative can i have before i go to the gym!
@Thejas – I think a protein shake and an apple could do the trick. I would get a light protein shake that has very little carbs/fat, mostly pure protein. In other words, a heavier shake like MuscleMilk might not work so well. In place of the apple, you can also consider relatively fast digesting fruits that are higher on the glycemic index like a banana or mango. I think you should definitely experiment with different amount and types of foods and see what works for you. If you feel great before/during your workout without a meal/snack beforehand, then by all means skip the pre-workout meal and worry about the post workout nutrition.
hi marc,
i hurt myself working out (hamstrings) and was told that i did not warm out my body properly,or i was not warming up at all. is this true?kindly tell methe best warm up exercises and any other kind that will prevent such injuries
julz
@julz – Sorry to hear you experienced that injury. Warming up is absolutely essential and as I get older (and smarter), I find myself spending a good 10-15 minutes warming up. My two favorite warm ups are foam rolling (which I don’t have a specific article on, although this an intro: myofascial release) then Dynamic Stretching. Preventing injury can be a complex subject, but foam rolling and dynamic stretching before a workout can make a very big difference!
Great info, replenishing and preparing your body for an intense workout is key for maximizing results!
Great article, Marc. The more I read from you the more I love the site. I take a 6:30 am spin class or a 6 am weights class, so eating anything that early is hard to squeeze in. If I have a non-fat Greek yogurt, I always feel a little nauseous but is a banana is enough before an hour-long workout early in the morning? I don’t want to be sabotaging my workout because I’m not eating the correct pre-workout snack. Thanks.
@Kat – Thanks for the kinds words Kat. I really appreciate it. I plan on covering the early morning workout topic in more depth soon.
With that said, it’s something I think you should play with. Some people do well with no pre-workout snack/meal, while others do better having a solid meal. In my humble opinion, it’s all about energy. If you can have an energy filled workout without eating anything pre-workout, then that’s totally cool. If however, you notice your energy levels are stronger after eating some fruit like berries (I love having a handful of strawberries/blueberries if I’m feeling hungry but only have 20 minutes before I workout), then go for it. A banana can certainly work too, but for me it’s a little heavier on the stomach than berries.
Again, I think pre-workout nutrition is something you should play with to see what works best for you.