Whether you’re an elite athlete or just want to get in shape, you’re probably always looking for ways to get the most out of your workout and achieve your fitness goals.
Good nutrition is a big part of this equation. Eating the right foods before you exercise can help you perform better during your workout, minimize muscle damage, and recover faster afterward.
The best food to eat before you head to our Thornton gym for your workout can depend on a variety of factors such as the type of workout you’re about to do and what you want to achieve, but below are some tips to get you started.
When should you eat before your workout?
As a general rule, you should avoid eating right before you exercise. You need to give your body a little time to digest the food you ate so that you can reap the benefits from your meal. Also, working out will divert your blood supply away from your digestive system to your muscles, which will slow your digestive tract down while it’s full and give you a pretty bad tummy ache.
If you have a larger meal, wait 2-3 hours before working out. If you don’t have much time, eat a snack-sized portion about 45 minutes before hitting the gym. Then, keep track of how the timing affects you. Some people can eat 30 minutes before working out and feel just fine, while others need more digestion time. Find out which food combination and schedule works for you and stick with it!
Examples of foods to eat before your workout
There are many small meals that will help you before your workout, so you have a variety of options to choose from. The key is to mix protein, healthy fats, and some good carbs to optimize your performance. Below are some examples to try.
Eggs, veggies, and avocado — Eat both the egg whites and yolks so that you’ll get all their high-quality protein and 8 essential amino acids, which will assist with muscle recovery and building. Avocados provide healthy fats and veggies are full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Oatmeal with protein powder and berries — Oatmeal provides complex carbs that are broken down in your body slowly, which gives you sustained energy. A scoop of protein powder will help your muscles recover and rebuild. Cherries, blueberries, and/or raspberries have antioxidants that help prevent cell damage.
Chicken, rice, and steamed vegetables — This is another best-in-class pre-gym meal because it has plenty of protein and complex carbs with some fiber mixed in. Chicken thighs have some extra good fats in them which might keep you fuller, longer than chicken breasts.
Protein smoothie — Always start your smoothie with protein powder and then add in your favorites. Milk (regular or almond), bananas, peanut butter, berries, leafy greens, and avocado are all excellent choices.
Whole grain toast topped with peanut butter or almond butter and banana slices — Bananas are the perfect pre- and post-workout fruit because they’re packed with simple carbs, sugars, and potassium. Peanut butter and almond butter both contain protein and healthy fats, and the toast has complex carbs.
Hard boiled eggs, turkey, and whole grain bread — Another combination that provides ample protein, amino acids, healthy fats, and complex carbs.
Dried fruit — This one’s easy and fast to fix. Mix some dried berries, figs, pineapple, and apricot and eat a handful for a good source of simple carbs. If you’re not concerned about calorie count, add some almonds or walnuts for extra protein and healthy fats.
Fruit and Greek yogurt — Mix carbohydrate-packed fruit with protein-filled Greek yogurt for a one-two punch of pre-workout nutrition. The fruit’s carbs will digest quickly to provide you with quick fuel during your workout, while the protein will keep you fuller later on and help you prevent muscle damage.
Apples and peanut butter — This quick snack provides a great source of fiber (apples) with a suitable amount of protein and healthy fats (peanut butter) to keep you going during your workout.
Three nutrients to keep track of
As you decide which foods you’d like to eat before your workout, it’s important to understand what macronutrients are (carbohydrates, protein, and fat) and the role they play in your body before and during a workout. The recommended ratio that you consume these macronutrients can vary according to a few factors such as your fitness level and the type of exercise you’re about to engage in.
Carbohydrates
Also known as carbs, carbohydrates provide your muscles with the glucose they need for fuel. Glucose is the sugar in your bloodstream that your body uses as energy. If you don’t use all the glucose in your blood right away, it’s stored as glycogen, mainly in your liver and muscles.
For high-intensity and short-term exercise, glycogen is converted back into glucose and will become the main source of energy that your muscles will use.
For longer-term exercise, the amount of glycogen and carbs needed before your workout depends on your overall diet and the intensity of the exercise.
Either way, your body can only store a limited amount of glycogen. As the glycogen is depleted, your performance will decline. At that point, your body will rely on fat and lean muscle for fuel. Unfortunately, using lean muscle as a fuel source decreases your strength and endurance, which decreases performance. Fat takes longer to convert into energy than glycogen, which means you might not get fuel as quickly as you need it.
By consuming carbs before your workout, you can increase your stores of glycogen that your muscles will utilize when you exercise.
Proteins
Generally speaking, you can’t go wrong with eating protein (either alone or with carbs) before a workout. Protein consumption has consistently been shown to improve performance. Eating protein also improves muscle protein synthesis, which is the protein produced to repair the muscle damage caused by intense exercise.
Eating protein is especially important before weight training. When we lift weights and perform other strength-training exercises, we cause small tears in our muscle fibers. When we rest, our bodies repair these small tears, making our muscles bigger and stronger than they were before. But we need to eat sufficient protein for our bodies to do this.
Overall, the benefits of eating protein before a workout include:
- Better muscle performance
- Better muscle growth
- Better muscle recovery
- Increased strength
- Increased lean body mass
Fats
Fat is the source of fuel your body uses for longer and low-to-moderate-intensity exercise. However, the effect of fat intake on athletic performance is usually seen when someone consumes a high-fat diet for a long period of time instead of right before exercising. For example, if you’re a trained long-distance runner and ate a high-fat diet for weeks before a marathon, you might notice increased endurance during the marathon.
Other important nutrients
In addition to carbs, proteins, and fats, here are some other nutrient-based terms you’ll want to pay attention to in your quest to eat the best foods before your workout.
- Amino acids — These are the building blocks of protein. There are 20 total amino acids and 9 of those are considered essential because your body can’t produce them and they must be obtained through your diet.
- Antioxidants — Are believed to help prevent cell damage.
- Complex carbs — Complex carbohydrates increase your blood glucose levels over a longer period of time than simple carbohydrates, producing a more lasting energy boost. That means complex carbs are deemed more effective than simple carbs at providing the body with energy. Healthier sources of complex carbs include whole wheat bread, oats, wild rice, and other whole grain foods. Potatoes, legumes, and nuts are other healthy sources of complex carbs. Processed sources of complex carbs like refined white flour, white bread, and white rice are considered less healthy.
- Fiber — Aids in digestion.
- Healthy fats — Not all fats are created equal. Polyunsaturated fats (such as Omega 3 fats found in walnuts, flaxseed, and fatty fish like salmon) and monounsaturated fats (found in nuts, olive and canola oils, avocado, and peanut butter) are believed to have a variety of health benefits like reducing inflammation, promoting healthy function of the brain and nervous system, and lowering cholesterol.
- Potassium — This is an electrolyte that is lost through sweat. Getting enough potassium can help you prevent muscle cramps.
- Simple carbs — Simple carbohydrates, also known as sugars, are quicker for your body to digest than complex carbohydrates. That means simple carbs will give you a fast boost of energy, but it won’t last that long. Healthier sources of simple carbs include whole fruits, milk, milk products, and vegetables. Examples of low-nutrition sources of simple carbs are candy, table sugar, syrups, and sugary drinks.
- Water — Your body needs water to function and perform well. Try to drink 16-20 ounces of water at least four hours before exercise and another 8-12 ounces of water 10-15 minutes before exercise. Sodium and other electrolytes (potassium, calcium, etc.) are important, too, so you can replace some of this water with a sports drink, or drink a sports drink immediately following exercise. Believe it or not, even coffee has been recommended as a performance-enhancing beverage because of the caffeine it contains. In studies, caffeine and coffee have both been shown to significantly improve athletic performance.
Discover what works best for you
We’re all individuals and have our own food preferences. Some people love protein shakes while others live on chicken and veggies. And that’s okay! Thankfully, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to what, and when, you should eat before working out. Just do what’s right for you.
Learn more
The staff at Adventure Fitness Athletic Club is here to help you with all your workout questions and needs. If you’re looking for the best gym in the Thornton area, call us or visit our front desk. You can also call Susan at 720-849-0245 or email her at susan@adventurefitness.club.
To read more articles from Adventure Fitness Athletic Club, check out our Adventure Corner blogs by clicking here.
