Is Your Pre Workout Meal The Most Important Meal?

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IN TODAY’S ISSUE
Is Your Pre Workout Meal The Most Important Meal?

Perhaps your most important meal of the day, your pre workout meal. What goes into your body to fuel your training, whatever you may be training for. Now science aside, common sense dictates this isn’t a “one size fits all” set of numbers. Some of you may train first thing in the morning, others might have a long working day before hitting the gym.

This issue also will not cover pre workout supplements, that’s a topic for another issue.

In today’s issue, we will cover what the research has found to be optimal, how important it is, how long before you train should you eat and the results of getting it right.

What You'll Find Out

• 🤓 The Anabolic Window Explained

• 👉 Does The Anabolic Window Exist?

• ✍️ TL:DR - Key Takeaways & Practical Applications

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WHAT’S UP
Pre Workout Meal Timing

For those of you who train first thing in the morning, should you train fasted? This might be a scenario that suits your lifestyle. Personally I train fasted every Saturday as it suits my lifestyle, get in, get it done, get out and enjoy the weekend with my family. It may not be optimal, however I do program my heavy lifting to be done during the week after I’ve eaten several meals which works for me.

As stated above, training fasted may not be optimal, that’s not to say you can’t train well if you don’t eat before hand, you may well find that if your sessions are under 60 minutes in length your perfectly fine, there can be benefits and drawbacks associated with this that you will need to weigh up yourself.

A more in depth larger article will be published on fasted training in the new year for you all, in the meantime this article will focus on non fasted training.

As a general rule of thumb, finishing your last meal 1-3 hours before training is ideal. This can allow your body time to digest the food, resulting in you not feeling full or bloated while training, but not to far away where you may feel hungry or struggle for energy.

A comparative study by (Maffucci & McMurray, 2000) that included 8 active woman, looked at the effects of eating the same meal, spaced either 6 or 3 hours before a moderate to high intensity training session lasting 35-40 minutes. They found that consuming a high carbohydrate, low fat, high protein meal 3 hours before training, to be superior in improving time to exhaustion compared to consuming it 6 hours prior.

SCIENCE BRO
The Role Of Carbohydrates and Protein

The International Society of Sports Nutrition published a review stating their position when it comes to pre workout nutrition (Kerksick et al., 2017) (see below).

A study by (Aandahl et al., 2021), compared a high carbohydrate (3g/kg) vs low carbohydrate (0.5g/kg) intake consumed in the subjects pre workout meal 3.5 hours prior to training, testing time to exhaustion on both well trained and recreational endurance athletes. They also included a fasted group for comparison.

The high carbohydrate intake group saw improved exercise performance relative to the low carbohydrate intake and fasted groups. Demonstrating that a higher carbohydrate pre workout meal is better for performance than low or no carbohydrates.

WHAT CARBOHYDRATE SOURCE?

With that in mind, and the fact that carbohydrates, while not necessary to survive, are the body’s most readily available and optimal fuel source (Kanter, 2018). What kind of carbohydrates do we want?

Well this can be personal preference to a degree, generally the closer to training you eat the faster digesting carb becomes more desirable, as it won’t leave you bloated to train. Take brown rice vs white rice for example, white rice digests a lot quicker than brown…

A randomised controlled trial by (Campbell et al., 2008) compared different carbohydrate sources, unfortunately they did not compare pasta and rice against fruit or sports drinks. The did however compare sports drinks to gels and jelly babies, and found that all carbohydrate sources improved performance similarly.

A review by (Naderi et al., 2023) states that mixed carbohydrate food sources are all viable options pre workout, including- oats, honey, lentils, rice and potatoes. They do also caution when selecting which source on a case by case basis, as some people may be prone to gastrointestinal discomfort, especially when large quantities are needed, yet the food choice is voluminous, ie. potatoes.

HOW MUCH CARBS?

A general guideline and recommendations in the evidence based fitness community is to consume 1g of carbohydrate per kg of your own bodyweight, within your pre workout meal. With scientific literature leaning towards the consensus that the body can oxidise 1.1g of carbohydrate per 1 hour of exercises (depending on bodyweight) (Kreider et al., 2010).

However, The American College of Sports Medicine recommends ingesting 0.7 g/kg/hr during exercise.

This can vary massively depending on your goal, if you are in the middle of a calorie restriction diet you will need to adjust your carbohydrate intake accordingly. Similarly, longer than normal training sessions may require more carbohydrates to fuel your body properly.

If your cutting I’d keep the majority of your carbohydrate intake around your Peri-workout nutrition, (before, during, after), aiming for 0.7g/kg within your pre workout meal. If your bulking, aim for the 1-1.1g/kg range, and spread the rest of your carbohydrate intake as you see fit.

AS FOR PROTEIN.

We know, (covered in the previous issue), that hitting your daily protein goal is the most important factor.

The best approach is to just spread your protein intake evenly across your meals for the day and consume an evenly split percentage of that within your pre workout meal, and you’re all set!

TL:DR
Key Takeaways & Practical Applications

• Aim to consume your pre workout meal 1- 3 hours prior to training

• The closer your eating window is to training, you should prioritise faster digesting food sources.

• The average body can oxidise 1.1g per hour of exercise

• A recommended range of 0.7g/kg - 1.1g/kg per hour of exercise should be consumed. Aim for the lower end if restricting calories and higher end if not.

• If on quite a high calorie restriction, plan your carbohydrate intake closer to your training, ie. remove some from other meals further away from training and prioritise your pre workout carbohydrate intake.

• Your Protein intake should be split evenly throughout your meals for the day and you will have covered all bases.

That’s it for today ✌️

If you have any questions you’d like answered, topics you would like discussed, or perhaps some feedback, email them over to me at: [email protected]

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