How to Choose the Right Pre-Workout Food (+ Meal and Snack Ideas)
When it comes to pre-workout food, the macronutrient (carb, protein, fat) balance, timing, and quality are all key. Here’s what to consider as you select your pre-exercise meals and snacks.
Several variables factor into how to meet your pre-workout fueling needs. When many of my private clients learn about what, when, and how to eat before training they realize why they previously struggled to perform well.
The common theme you’ll see in my recommendations is to reach for whole, naturally nutrient-dense foods over highly processed foods. This will broaden your intake of nutrients and antioxidants, maximize mental and physical performance during training, minimize exercise-induced stress, and better support exercise recovery.
Should You Eat Before Working Out?
First, I want to address one of the most common questions I’m asked. Based on the research and my client experience, I don’t typically recommend exercising on an empty stomach. This can lead to poor performance and the breakdown of muscle tissue.
While some research shows that more fat is burned during a fasted workout, lean tissue can also be lost, which can negatively impact metabolism and up injury risk. I dedicated a separate article to fasted workouts if you’d like to learn more about the pros, cons, and bottom line tips related to this strategy.
When is a Pre-Workout Snack Needed?
Whether or not you should eat before exercise is generally based on two main factors:
The type and length of exercise you plan to perform.
The last time you ate.
If you’re about to get on an elliptical and burn 350 calories, you don’t need a high calorie pre-workout snack. Also, if you’re going to work out within a few hours of a meal (i.e. breakfast was at 8am and you plan to do a light workout at 10am), you really don’t need an additional pre-workout snack, unless the workout is going be long or intense.
For a longer or more intense workout, or one that starts three or more hours after a meal, I typically suggest eating a snack 30 minutes before you start getting your heart rate up.
Benefits of Pre-Exercise Fuel
A well-timed and composed pre-exercise meal or snack can:
Keep your belly (digestive system) happy.
Properly fuel your workout and lead to better mental and physical performance.
Minimize exercise-induced cell damage, which enhances post-exercise recovery.
Even with proper hydration, adequate sleep, and mental focus, the wrong nutrition can tank a training session.
Why Is it Important to Eat Before Endurance Exercise?
For intense exercises and endurance events, like a long run, your body relies on glycogen, the form of carbohydrate that gets socked away in your liver and muscles.
Stored muscle glycogen is immediately available to fuel muscle contractions. If you run low or run out, you bonk. For my clients that are professional and competitive athletes, we work on maximizing glycogen stores. For my clients who are recreational athletes, we focus on eating enough strategically timed carbohydrates to properly fuel a workout.
Timing Pre-Workout Food
The closer you get to a workout, the simpler the meal or snack should be. Here are some key considerations regarding timing your fueling needs.
30 minutes before a workout
Within a half hour of a workout, you should eat something that will get digested and absorbed more quickly and easily. If your food is not digested before or during your workout, the fuel will be trapped in your digestive tract and won’t be available to your working muscles (providing fuel is the main goal of a pre-exercise meal or snack).
1-2 hours before a workout
If you eat an hour or two before a workout, you’ll have a little more time to digest and absorb food from your GI tract into your bloodstream. Protein, fat, and fiber all delay stomach emptying and slow digestion. One to two hours before a workout it’s OK to include moderate (but not high) amounts of these nutrients, along with whole food carbohydrates.
2-3 hours before a workout
If you have 2-3 hours or more between the time you eat and the start of your workout, you can have a full and balanced meal and possibly an additional pre-exercise snack.
What to Eat Before a Workout
A good rule of thumb is to aim for 30-60 grams of carbohydrates per hour of exercise prior to the workout (but generally not more than this because your body won’t be able to digest and absorb more).
Best Pre-Workout Snacks
Note: listen to your body as you test different foods and combos at various times (on non-competition days) and adjust as needed based on what feels best to your body.
30 MINUTES BEFORE
A medium banana
½ cup of dry organic old-fashioned oats, cooked with water and flavored with a teaspoon of pure maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon
2-3 pitted Medjool dates
1 large baked sweet potato or leftover roasted fingerling potatoes
1-2 HOURS BEFORE
A lower protein, lower fiber, higher carbohydrate, whole food ingredient energy bar
A small bowl of a lower fiber whole grain cereal (like organic organic corn flakes) with plant-based milk
A smoothie made with banana, berries, nut butter, and plant-based milk
Pre-Workout Meals (2-3 hours before workout)
Veggie and tofu (organic soy-based tofu or soy free tofu made from pumpkin seeds or fava beans) stir-fry over brown rice with chopped nuts
Lentil soup and a garden salad dressed with extra virgin olive oil vinaigrette.
Dietitian Note: For a longer, endurance activity, like a marathon, an athlete will need to eat and/or drink additional fuel to keep going, because the pre-workout food will be burned off before the activity is over.
Foods to Avoid Before Exercising
Everyone’s body is different, but there are foods you should generally avoid to prevent digestive distress:
Acidic foods
Spicy foods
Gassy foods
In addition, if you eat something too high in protein, fat, or fiber too close to the start of a workout, you may experience cramps or a brick-sitting-in-your-stomach feeling, which can lead to poor performance.
Final Thoughts on Pre-Exercise Food
The best way to determine which pre-workout foods, amounts, and times are best for you is to experiment. Many of my clients find “just right” favorites through trial and error. But if you’re in search of additional guidance, contact me to discuss your personal needs.