(Don’t miss Sports Nutrition Series #1 on Hydration)
Many people are comfortable with the idea that eating before exercise improves performance.**
But what should you eat?
The basic guidelines:
- High in carbohydrate
- Moderate in protein
- Low in fat & fiber.
Carbohydrates are important before exercise to help maintain blood sugar and to maximize glycogen stores. A low level of fat & fiber helps keep stomach discomfort at bay.
When you eat affects how much to eat. Smaller meals or snacks can be consumed closer to the time of exercise, while bigger meals should be eaten with more time between the meal and the workout.
Recommendations include:
2 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight 4 hours before exercise & .5 grams of carb per pound 1 hour before exercise.
What does that look like? For a 150 pound person, that means 300 grams of carb 4 hrs before a workout, then another 75 grams an hour before exercise. (That’s about 1200 calories for a meal 4 hours beforehand, and 300 calories as a snack later.)
Despite any of these suggestions, the most important guideline to follow:
Figure out what works for you!! (Specific numbers don’t really matter.)
Every person is different & handles food in a different manner. Some people can eat a huge plate of nachos and go for a run with no trouble, while others eat a cracker and suffer from neverending stomach distress.
Practice what works for you before a big event!
Also, any fuel is better than no fuel!!
**Don’t believe that? Let’s recap a little study.
Athletes with low glycogen stores (i.e. not much stored fuel) biked hard for 45 minutes, then sprinted 15 minutes.
Let’s compare the improvements in that final sprint based on what they had to eat 5 minutes before exercise:
1. No food – 0% (baseline)
2. Sugar (180 calories) – 10% improvement
3. Energy bar (270 calories) –10% improvement
4. Energy bar(5 minutes before exercise) PLUS breakfast 4 hrs before (800 calories total) – 20% improvement
A 20% improvement just from eating is a BIG DEAL!!!
Still not buying it?
In another study athletes biked as hard as they could until exhaustion:
The individuals who ate a 400 calorie breakfast 3 hrs before exercise biked 27 minutes longer than those who had nothing to eat.
Not too shabby if I do say so myself. How many hours of biking & training would it take to improve your endurance that much?!
Make eating a part of your training!
{ 9 comments… read them below or chime in }
Great post! I never eat before running and I think I actually run better that way. It helps me to eat a big snack before bed and I am good to go in the morning.
I used to eat a bowl of cereal with half of a frozen banana in it before my workouts in the morning (usually wolfed down in 10 minutes so I could stretch and do some crunches before the gym opened) so I ate from 5:15-5:25, and got ready by 5:45 when I could head out of the dorm and get in the gym.
Now I just drink about 8-16oz of water and look forward to a nice breakfast when I get done. I’m not sure if I did better before or after, I probably should have taken a few notes before making the change =\
I guess it truly does depend on the person – I might try adding a little bit of juice or something to my mornings and see what helps and what doesn’t. I only workout for 30-50 minutes in the mornings; I think how much exercise you do and whether or not you actually train for something plays a big factor too.
so true to all this advice! i’ve noticed that on days when i don’t run first thing, and thus are able to eat beforehand, my workouts are more quality and feel easier than mornings where i do roll out of bed and go. unfortunately my schedule is better suited to support the latter…someday i will get my stomach to tolerate food on a better time table. right now i had to have 2-3 hours between my last meal/food before i go!
I agree with Matt above. What works best for me is a snack right before bed and then I usually eat a little applesauce in the morning about 5 minutes before and then I am good to go!
Great post!
Do you have any recommendations for morning workouts? I TRY to workout first thing but struggle with eating too little, too much…today I ate a Trader Joe’s Cereal Bar and then ran 5 miles. I kinda felt the cereal bar was a little too heavy in my tummy though.
I usually try to eat something carbohydrate rich before bed the night before. (I usually have cereal.) That might be enough if you’re working at really early, or just have something light in the morning. I like to have some crackers or another handful of cereal. Some people like juice instead of solid food.
I like it best when I can actually eat something and then give it time to digest, so sometimes I just get up a littler earlier. (Although that’s not much fun either haha)
This is a great post! And I loved reading the study results. It’s interesting because I typically run in the afternoon/evening, after a day of eating. But yesterday I decided to go first thing in the morning and was dragging. I didn’t have the energy I typically do and ran so much slower than usual. I know part of it is just getting used to a new schedule, but I really think the fact that I had no fuel made a huge difference.
And great point that you need to find what works for you and stick with it. Everyone is different when it comes to handling food. There was a girl on my HS track team who could eat a candy bar before a race and be fine! I never understood that…even the THOUGHT of candy before running makes my stomach upset.
Oh gosh, I don’t know if I could do that. I can eat almost anything before other activities- like biking or classes at the gym, but I HAVE to digest before I run, or it’s bad news.
Wow – interesting info. I typically eat breakfast, but I usually don’t eat RIGHT before I run. I may try it in the future…but just not for my upcoming marathon because I don’t want to try something new like that on a big race day. Thanks for sharing!