What should I eat before working out?

When we are regular bodybuilders, we ask ourselves thousands of questions about our diet. Depending on when you decide to do your session, you will need to optimize your workout with the foods you are going to eat. So before or after?

We will discuss what to eat before your training.

It doesn't matter if you train at home where in the weight room your muscles need to be properly nourished to build and develop.

What is the impact on your muscles?

What you eat before and after your workout will have a big impact on how you feel physically, on the quality of your workout and its intensity and of course on your recovery and obviously the results you get.

So it doesn't matter if you're looking to gain mass or lose fat if you don't know what to eat before and after your workout and you're just going through the motions, your progress will be greatly slowed down.

Although the timing of your meals is secondary as we have seen in other videos, what you eat around your workout is still important and can accelerate your progress more than the other meals you consume during the day.

And many practitioners focus only on their post workout meal, i.e. after their training.

And the first thing that comes to mind is Whey protein or creatine to of course take advantage of that famous 30 minute Anabolic window (which I remind you is a big myth). As a reminder, this window is not timed.

And yet we don't realize the importance of pre-workout nutrition for building muscle in the long run. And if you focus on pre-workout nutrition correctly you will see gains in development and strength fairly quickly.

My personal experience

As a coach for 20 years, I have tried many techniques. Indeed, I prefer to see for myself what I have learned during my 8 years of study in nutrition and sport and put them into practice to have my own experience. Even if I take into account that we are not all the same, I recommend to everyone to test to see what suits best to each person. So I will share this.

To realize this, try the experiment I have been doing for the last three months:

Try the young intermittent and your fasting workout with nothing on your stomach. This has many beneficial effects on the body but unfortunately for me, not on my training.

The stocks of glycogen will be emptied very quickly if they are not already empty before you start your session. And once they are completely drained, the muscles that you took so long to develop will be the source of energy that your body will use.

Of course the other consequence of poor pre-workout nutrition is that the intensity of your workouts and your strength will suffer and therefore you will burn fewer calories during your workout (so a negative long term effect if you are on a dry run too).

The consequences of not having anything in your stomach before your session

The consequence of all this is that you will not be able to push your body to its limits or even beyond and as a result your performance will be limited and you will stagnate.

The result is that you will not be able to stimulate your muscle fibers sufficiently and therefore cause micro-traumas important enough to lead to repair and new muscle construction.

As you can see not taking care of nutrition before training can really make a difference and you will lead to a plateau and therefore stagnation.

What to eat before weight training?

If you train in the morning after breakfast, this is not a problem, but if you train in the evening and your last meal was at noon, then this is not optimal.

As a general rule of thumb, it is best to have a solid meal within two hours of your workout. Consume a slow-digesting carbohydrate source with a medium or low glycemic index: such as oatmeal, wholemeal or rye bread, basmati rice or wholemeal pasta, and of course controlling the portions. This is fundamental as a source of energy for your training that follows.

It will also prevent your body from not using your muscles as energy and it will allow you to sustain your effort throughout your training, which is why it is not recommended to consume high glycemic index carbohydrates that will be used up too quickly.

Proteins. Of course your meal won't be complete without protein - it's really the foundation for building new muscle tissue and is vital for maintaining a positive nitrogen balance and therefore stimulating protein synthesis. The ideal way to get a good ratio of amino acids is to consume a complete protein source such as white egg whites, chicken or turkey.

And for those who are in a hurry and don't really have time to prepare a solid meal, a Whey protein shake can do the trick.

As for fats, we will try to limit them around training, they will not bring any real benefits at that time because they are long to digest.

Then of course it all depends on your metabolism. As I said above, everyone is different and some people don't like to train on a full stomach

You can also consume a food supplement such as a pre-workout containing caffeine to improve your focus and energy just before the session (those containing arginine allow vasodilation). Be careful not to exceed 300 to 400 mg of caffeine per day, which is equivalent to about three to four espresso coffees, as some people are more sensitive than others. This supplement is not a must because it can have certain side effects such as insomnia, abnormal heart rate, excessive anxiety, stomach ache or heartburn. In short, everyone reacts differently.

Other supplements can be taken before the session such as citrine, citrulline malate, beta alanine ... Find in the video below the details of their benefits.

Finally, it is not useful to take a whey shaker just before your session if you have followed these tips well, especially if you take BCAAs during your training. Do not forget that it is essential to drink water during your session with or without amino acids.

To conclude

By following these simple steps and of course making sure that the rest of your day is on point with your diet you will have noticeable gains in terms of volume and muscle development and strength.

Try to follow these few tips by yourself and I guarantee you that the results will be there and you will be able to start your bodybuilding program with peace of mind.

Do you need a more calibrated diet?

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Additional articles :

5 Protein snacks for weight training

How to successfully build muscle mass: The basics?