What to Eat Before You Exercise

Fueling correctly before your workout will help you perform better and recover quickly. Ideally, you want to have energy during the workout without feeling too full. By eating a healthy, well-considered meal 1-2 hours before exercise, and another healthy, well-considered meal within 1-2 hours after exercise, most people can meet their workout nutrition needs without anything else. Here’s how to achieve that ideal balance, whether you work out first thing in the morning, mid-day, or in the evening.

Learn more at Precision Nutrition.

5 & 6 AM classes

The ideal training nutrition guideline is to eat 1-2 hrs before a workout.  But there's absolutely no reason to eat at 3 AM for a 5 AM workout! Instead, consider eating something that will digest quickly:

• banana

• berries

• a small bowl of oatmeal

When I trained at 5 AM, I drank my protein smoothie with berries and Creatine at 4:30 AM.

8:30 AM and 12 Noon classes

These later-in-the-day workout times allow you to stick to a normal nutrition schedule. Eat a breakfast that contains mainly protein (eggs, salmon, yogurt, etc.) with fruits and vegetables. You may also want to consume your protein shake about 30 minutes before class.

4:30, 5:30, and 6:30 PM classes

Our afternoon classes allow you time to eat a normal breakfast and lunch. You might need some carbs for a quick pick-me-up such as toast with peanut butter. You can eat this about 30 minutes before hitting the gym.

Summary

Try these nutrition guidelines and see how you feel. Do you have more energy during the workout? Are you recovering better? If not, you may need to adjust the type and quantity of food to find what works best for you.