Table of Contents
Table of Contents
When we discuss pre-workout and post-workout nutrition, oftentimes, post-workout steals the spotlight. It’s much more common to hear others discuss what you should eat following a workout than what to consume before. In theory, this makes sense, right? After all, we just exerted energy and worked out, so it’s normal to think, “What should I consume to create a positive change?”
While post-workout nutrition is certainly important for creating positive workout and recovery adaptations, pre-workout nutrition is just as important. What we eat before a workout can set our body up for better performance and post-workout recovery.
In this article, we’re going to cover what pre-workout nutrition is, why it matters, and how you can leverage it for your benefit.
Pre-workout nutrition constitutes everything that we intentionally put into our bodies before a workout. Generally, this means the foods, fluids, and sports supplements that we consume about two hours before our workouts are designed to optimize performance and recovery.
In the context of working out and intent-driven training, pre-workout nutrition often entails consuming a high-quality protein and carbohydrate source that will then be used to support performance.
In reality, everything that we put into our bodies before a workout could be considered pre-workout nutrition, but for brevity and the sake of this article, we’re going to limit the context of what’s discussed to a more finite timeline (2-4 hours pre-workout) and discuss pre-workout nutrition regarding the consumption of a protein and carbohydrate source.
There are countless reasons and benefits behind why we should consider our pre-workout nutrition.
Before reading further, it’s important to note that you don’t need to be a serious athlete or lifter to be concerned about pre-workout nutrition. Positive performance and body composition changes are created through the culmination of small, intent-driven actions, and pre-workout nutrition can be one of those actions that can help support growth across a variety of performance and life fronts.
The first reason why pre-workout nutrition matters is for recovery purposes. When eating throughout the day, our body is constantly digesting what we’ve consumed, then utilizing the foods and fluids consumed for fuel and recovery. The rate at which various foods and meals are digested will vary based on multiple factors, but digestion is usually taking place at some level, assuming one is not fasting.
In the context of working out and muscular growth, muscle protein synthesis is usually the variable that most lifters are concerned about. Muscle protein synthesis entails the utilization of protein for muscle building and recovery. By strategically eating before and after a workout, we can create an environment that favors muscle protein synthesis, which can support better recovery and growth.
The second reason why pre-workout nutrition is important to consider is for performance. We all want to perform our best, and we all know what it feels like to perform with low energy levels, so by creating a strategic pre-workout nutrition plan, we can hedge our bets and prevent poor performance days due to inadequate nutrition.
We all train with different intensities and modalities, which means we need to account for our pre-workout nutrition with a level of individuality. This means making pre-workout selections based on what helps us feel and perform our best, and aligns with food options that we have readily available and enjoy. Basically, we need to individualize our plan and not follow an arbitrary cookie-cutter idea of “perfect” pre-workout nutrition.
Instead of me providing pre-workout meals and calling them the “best,” let’s instead discuss this topic from a systems point of view. Nutrition is highly individual, and we need to remember that when constructing pre- and post-workout nutrition choices.
Essentially, let’s create a means of selecting pre-workout meals based on multiple criteria, including:
If we can create a pre-workout nutrition flow that works for the individuality of our lives and goals, then we’ll be much better suited to create better adherence toward them.
A key question to consider when creating a pre-workout nutrition plan is the type of activity you plan to perform. Are you performing long-duration endurance activities, short bouts of power, or moderate-intensity work? All of these activities will utilize different energy systems and stores at various points during a workout. By accounting for this, we can better select food options that are suggested to support performance better.
Here are some examples of how you could structure meals based on your activities:
From here, we can then relate the activities we’re performing to the adaptations we’re aiming for. For example, if you’re an endurance athlete, then increasing your work capacity is probably at the forefront of your goals. In this case, selecting carb sources that will sustain your workout duration will be a good bet. It could also be useful to look into intra-workout carb sources for elite endurance athletes.
If muscle gain and growth are the goal, then opting for carbs and high-quality protein sources pre-workout would make the most sense when considering muscular hypertrophy. Remember, carbs and protein have been suggested to play a role in increasing muscle protein synthesis post-workout.
Once we’ve acknowledged our workout’s activity and intensity and considered our goals, then we can begin to build meals that make the most sense for us based on our preferences, availability, and cost.
Some basic dietary points to keep in mind when optimizing pre- and post-workout nutrition include:
Let’s build some examples of what pre-workout meals could look like. Remember, these are just examples, so populate your nutrition choices based on your dietary preferences!
The above are examples of meals that could be optimized for pre-workout nutrition. The point of these examples is to highlight that your pre-workout meals should be constructed with the foods you prefer and have readily available.
While we often obsess over macros, water is arguably the most critical "supplement" for performance. Research consistently shows that starting a workout in a dehydrated state (even a fluid loss of just 2% of body weight) can significantly impair aerobic performance, reduce mental focus, and increase perceived effort. To ensure you are "euhydrated" (adequately hydrated) before you step into the gym, a practical rule of thumb is to consume 16–20 ounces (approx. 500–600 ml) of water roughly 2 hours before exercise.
However, water alone isn't always enough, especially if you are a heavy sweater or training in heat. You need electrolytes—specifically sodium—to help your body retain that fluid and maintain proper muscle function. The American College of Sports Medicine notes that consuming beverages with electrolytes before exercise can help balance fluid volume better than water alone. If your pre-workout meal lacks salt, consider adding an electrolyte mix to your water to prevent cramping and early fatigue.
Nutrition is not "one size fits all," and your pre-workout meal should reflect your specific training goals. Here is how to adjust your intake based on what you want to achieve:
The goal here is to fuel the training intensity without creating a caloric surplus. Focus on a high-protein meal with moderate carbohydrates (rather than high carbs). This ensures you have enough energy to train hard—which is necessary to burn calories—while prioritizing protein to help spare lean muscle mass during a caloric deficit. Research indicates that protein ingestion prior to exercise can help increase resting energy expenditure (metabolism) compared to carbohydrates alone.
If your goal is building size, you need to minimize muscle breakdown and maximize synthesis. Consume a meal rich in both protein and carbohydrates. The carbohydrates (aim for 1–2 g per kg of body weight) provide the glycogen needed for high-volume lifting, while the protein ensures a steady stream of amino acids is available in the blood during the workout, which creates a favorable anabolic environment.
If you are running, cycling, or performing long-duration cardio (>60 mins), carbohydrates are your best friend. Your primary goal is to top off glycogen stores to delay fatigue. It's recommended to consume high carbohydrates (1–4 g per kg of body weight) in the 1–4 hours leading up to the event to maximize endurance capacity.
By working within our means, we can be better suited to build a structural plan that is realistic for our long-term growth.
References:
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