What Makes a Good Pre-Workout Meal?

We all have heard that our diet and nutrition is the most important component to reaching our goals. Within our nutrition, the meal we eat before we workout is arguably one of the most important of the day. The quality of our pre-workout meal can make a huge difference in the quality of our workout. Further, the quality of our workout can play a big role in the progress we make and how confident we feel in the gym. In this article, I’ll explain what an ideal pre-workout meal looks like, as well as examples of the foods you’d want to eat before exercise. My source for all information discussed will be from Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

Meal Timing

In general, you want to eat your meal anywhere between 1-4 hours before you exercise. Anything earlier than 4 hours will run the risk of getting hungry before or after you work out. I can tell you from personal experience, there is nothing more annoying than starting to feel hungry in the middle of your workout. Anything later than 1 hour before you train will likely still leave you in the middle of digestion during your workout, which can make you feel sluggish. Another rule of thumb is the closer you are to the 4-hour prior mark, the larger you want the meal to be. Conversely, the closer you are to the 1-hour prior mark, the smaller the meal should be. Again, this is to try to avoid being in the middle of digesting your food as you are working out.

What the meal should include

First off, your meal should consist of a lot of carbohydrates. Carbs are your body’s preferred source of energy for high intensity exercise because you are able to convert carbohydrates to energy much faster than any other macronutrient. The amount of carbs you eat should be around 1-4 grams for every kilogram that you weigh. To find this, simply divide your bodyweight in pounds by 2.2 and multiply that by any number between 1-4. As mentioned before, the closer you are to 1-hour pre-workout, the closer that number should be to 1 gram per kilogram bodyweight. Similarly, the closer you are to the 4-hour pre-workout mark, the closer the number of carbs you eat should be to 4 grams per kilogram bodyweight.

More simply, think of it this way. Carbs are a must have in your pre-workout meal. The farther away your meal is from the workout, the more carbs you want in the meal. Conversely, the closer your meal is to the workout, the smaller the number of carbs should be in the meal. You really don’t need to measure it out perfectly unless you are an elite athlete.

It is also a good idea to have a bit of protein with your pre-workout meal. The amount of protein you eat though is going to vary on what type of exercise you are doing. For endurance/aerobic exercise, the amount of protein you want is around .15-.25 grams per kilogram of bodyweight. For weight training or any other type of resistance training, you should eat between .35-.45. The same rules apply as with carbs: the closer to your workout you have the meal, the less you should eat and vice versa.

Another note on protein is that you will want it to be a faster digesting protein. Basically, just think of protein sources that will not leave a heavy feeling in your stomach after eating them. Protein sources you might want to stay away from pre-workout are fried meats, fatty beef, or salmon. Examples of protein sources you might want to include will be listed later in this article.

What the meal should NOT include

You generally want to avoid foods that take a long time to digest. A good rule of thumb for this is to limit fat and fiber intake. Because these tend to move through your digestive tract so slowly, then can make you feel sluggish in your workout and increase the risk of getting a stomach cramp. Therefore, if you are able to have your fat intake and fiber intake either earlier than 4-hours pre-workout or after your workout, you will likely feel much better while training.

Additionally, any foods that have any history of giving you any sort of GI or stomach problems should be avoided. This also includes new meals or foods that you haven’t tried before. This should go without saying for most people; though, it still is worth noting that right before a workout is not typically the best time to experiment with foods.

Hydration

This is a factor that many people get wrong or just neglect entirely. However, it can make a much bigger difference than you think. So, let’s talk about what’s worth talking about.

The first and most obvious point is going to be your water intake. you’re going to want to drink around 3-7 ml/kg bodyweight of water 2-4 hours before you train or compete. For someone who weighs 150 pounds, this is going to equate to 200-450 ml of water. It’s also good to note that you should be continuously sipping on the water and not just chugging it all at once. Trying to drink this much water at once is one-way ticket to bloating like you’ve never seen before.

Something else to keep in mind is that getting a sufficient amount of electrolytes in is very important as well. The electrolytes of importance are going to be sodium, chloride, and potassium.

The sodium intake can be as easy as putting a little salt in your water. If that sounds gross to you though, sports drinks like gatorade or Powerade will be salted to an effective degree without the taste of seawater.

For potassium, the easiest option is going to be to have a banana. It takes no preparation, has a significant amount of potassium, and contains fast-digesting carbohydrates which are also helpful before a workout.

Examples of pre-workout carbohydrates

1. toast with jelly

2. bananas

3. potatoes

4. pasta

5.  rice

6. quinoa

Examples of pre-workout protein sources

1. eggs or egg whites

2. protein powder

3. chicken breast

4. pork loin

5. lean beef

6. white fish or shell fish

Conclusion

The take-home that I think you should have from this reading is the general trends that were discussed. I know that a bunch of specific numbers were discussed and you can absolutely follow each numerical guideline perfectly if you’d like. However, if you’d prefer to save yourself the time of doing that, this article can really be summarized into the following: Lots of carbs, moderate protein, minimal fats and fiber, and lots of water. If you follow this one sentence, you really should be reaping all the benefits of a good pre-workout meal.