What to eat before and after a workout

What should you eat before a workout? The short answer: eat enough, at the right time, so your workout doesn’t leave you drained and your stomach doesn’t get in the way. What you eat after a workout is just as important, because that’s when your body determines how well it will recover.

Old-school bodybuilders understood one thing well: nutrition is about more than a hefty helping of calories. It makes the difference between building lean muscle mass and gaining unwanted fat along with the weight. Training gives your body the signal. Food provides the building blocks.

What to eat before a workout: why timing matters

If you head to the gym or do cardio without any thought to when or what you’ve eaten, the results can be unpredictable. One day you feel strong; the next, your legs feel heavy and your heart rate climbs too quickly. Often, the reason lies in what was circulating in your blood before your first set or your first minute on the treadmill, rather than in the workout itself.

Carbohydrates provide energy for exercise. Protein helps preserve muscle and improves recovery. Water keeps your blood flowing and your body functioning. When these three are in place, your workouts are usually more consistent. When they’re out of balance, your body can enter a catabolic state—a state of tissue breakdown—more quickly.

Fueling for cardio and for strength training isn’t the same thing. Before cardio aimed at burning fat, it can sometimes help to keep carbohydrate intake low. Before heavy strength training, however, you often need carbohydrates and protein; otherwise, you lose the ability to push hard and end up just trying to make it through the final part of your workout.

Honestly, you don’t need to turn this into a science project. You just need to know whether your goal is to burn fat, build muscle or simply recover better. That determines what goes on your plate.

Cardio and what to eat before a workout

If your goal is to stay in shape and keep your body fat percentage under control, cardio can be part of your training program year-round. The original recommendation for bodybuilders was 30 – 45 minutes of cardio per week. That doesn’t mean more is always better. During a bulking phase, too much cardio can interfere with gains in muscle mass.

As competitions approach and reducing body fat becomes more important, cardio volume usually increases too. It may rise to as many as 5 – 6 sessions per week, with each workout lasting up to 60 minutes. At that volume, nutrient timing becomes a very practical consideration.

Before cardio

For fat burning, the basic idea is this: the fewer readily available carbohydrates there are in your blood, the more likely your body is to draw more heavily on its fat stores during cardio. That’s why fasted morning cardio has been a popular approach in bodybuilding. After a night without food, carbohydrate levels are lower and your body is primed to use fat more effectively.

This doesn’t mean everyone should train fasted. If you feel dizzy or your pace drops off straight away, pushing through isn’t a smart act of heroism. But if your goal is fat burning and you continue to feel good, easy-paced fasted cardio can be an effective option.

The original text recommended taking 3 – 6 grams of amino acids before cardio. The important thing was for the product to contain the key amino acids: alanine, arginine, cysteine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, serine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine and valine. Another option was whey protein, such as an isolate or hydrolysate, but without carbohydrates or fat.

During and after cardio

Water is the best drink during cardio. Marathon runners may use energy drinks such as Gatorade during a race, but bodybuilders often have a different goal. If the aim is to reduce body fat percentage, rapidly absorbed calories can reduce the body’s use of fat.

After cardio, it makes sense to start with protein. Cardio can also put your body into a catabolic state, and rapidly absorbed protein helps slow that breakdown. Whey protein and egg whites are suitable options.

The recommendation was to wait about 90 minutes before consuming carbohydrates. The idea is simple: adding carbohydrates too soon can reduce the ongoing fat-burning effect after cardio. When you do add carbohydrates, aim for about 40 – 80 grams and favor slower-digesting options: rolled oats, rye bread, yogurt or yams. Add a protein-rich food, such as meat or eggs.

Strength training: what to eat after and before a workout

Strength training is a different story. Here, you want your body to have plenty of energy, because heavy sets need fuel. If you start your workout running too low, you might scrape through the first half, only to fade in the second. Building muscle takes more than willpower.

Before the gym

The basic advice is to drink water, eat carbohydrates and add protein before the gym. If you have a fast metabolism and struggle to gain mass, larger amounts of carbohydrates are suitable before a workout. The original text recommended that hardgainers consume 100 – 150 g of carbohydrates with 20 – 40 g of protein about 45 minutes before a workout.

In this case, you can choose faster-absorbing carbohydrates: rice, white bread, honey or whey protein with dextrose or maltodextrin. The aim is to have enough energy and amino acids in your bloodstream during your workout. This makes it easier for your body to cope with the hard work.

If you are a bodybuilder with a slower metabolism working towards a leaner physique, you could keep your intake more moderate before strength training: 70 – 90 grams of carbohydrates with 20 – 40 g of protein. A mix of slow- and fast-absorbing carbohydrates works well here, such as rolled oats with raisins, wheat bread (sepik) or rye bread with jam or honey.

Regardless of your body type, aim to drink around 400 – 500 ml of water or another fluid before strength training. This is no small detail. Dehydration makes training harder, thickens your blood and can impair recovery.

During strength training

Drink water during training. For longer or very demanding workouts, you can also use a drink containing simple carbohydrates and protein. The original text gave a ratio of 2:1: two parts carbohydrate to one part protein. The mixture should be diluted with enough water so that it is not too concentrated.

So what actually happens? Small sips help keep your energy levels steadier. This will not turn a poor training program into a good one, but it helps prevent the final third of your workout from becoming an exercise in dragging things out.

What to eat before a workout for different goals

If you want to lose fat, opt for a light meal before aerobic training or do an easy workout with less food in your stomach. If you want to build muscle, do not go to the gym short on energy. These two situations call for different approaches.

Either way, you need to eat after strength training. You can take the first step towards recovery straight after your workout with carbohydrates and fast-absorbing protein. The original text recommended 40 – 100 grams of carbohydrates after strength training, and even up to 150 g for hardgainers. The amount given for fast-absorbing protein was 30 – 50 g.

When it comes to carbohydrates, you do not have to choose exclusively fast- or slow-absorbing sources. A combination of faster- and slower-absorbing carbohydrates can work well after strength training. The original text also described a 1:1 ratio of fast- to slow-absorbing carbohydrates. The idea is to keep recovery going, rather than give your body just a brief sugar boost.

Plan a proper meal for later, around 60 – 90 min. after strength training. It should include protein, carbohydrates and beneficial fatty acids. If your workout lasted around 60 min. or less, the combination of carbohydrates eaten before and after training can already go a long way.

For protein immediately after your workout, fast-absorbing sources such as whey protein, egg whites or fish are suitable. Slower-absorbing proteins can work well in your later meal: chicken, beef, whole eggs or casein protein. Combining whey and casein is also a good option.

You do not need to fear fat after a workout. Healthy fats aid recovery and support a normal hormonal balance. The original text listed omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, avocados, olives, fish oil, olive oil and flaxseed oil as examples. Even fat from meat or eggs is not automatically a poor choice after a hard strength training workout.

A practical summary of nutrient timing

The simple truth is that the harder and more goal-focused your training, the less you should leave your diet to chance. Below is a brief summary of the same idea, along with the figures given in the original article.

Aerobic training

• Before aerobic training: do not eat if your goal is fat burning and you feel well enough to train fasted.
• Before aerobic training: 3-6 g of amino acids or 10-20 g of whey protein.
• During aerobic training: water.
• Immediately after aerobic training: whey protein or egg whites.
• Later, 90 minutes after aerobic training: 40-80 g of slow-absorbing carbohydrates and protein-rich foods.

Strength training

• Before strength training: 70-90 grams of a combination of slow- and fast-absorbing carbohydrates.
• Before strength training: 20-40 g of protein and water.
• Hardgainers: 100-150 g of fast-absorbing carbohydrates.
• During strength training: water or a workout drink containing protein and simple carbohydrates in a 2:1 ratio.
• Immediately after strength training: 40-100 g of carbohydrates, with a 1:1 ratio of fast- to slow-absorbing carbohydrates.
• Immediately after strength training: 30-50 g of fast-absorbing protein, such as whey.
• Around 60 – 90 minutes later: a meal containing some fast-absorbing but mainly slow-absorbing proteins, with a casein and whey blend if needed.
• Around 60 – 90 minutes later: beneficial fatty acids from food and slow-absorbing carbohydrates with a low glycemic index.

These amounts are not set in stone for everyone. Your body weight, workout duration, goal and digestion all make a difference. But the general principle is clear: strength training needs fuel, while aerobic exercise aimed at burning fat calls for more careful carbohydrate timing.

FAQ: what should you eat before a workout?

Is fasted training always better?

No. Gentle fasted aerobic exercise may be suitable if your goal is to burn fat, but heavy strength training usually requires carbohydrates, protein and water. If you start to feel unwell, fasted training is not a good choice.

What should you eat after a workout if your goal is to build muscle mass?

A combination of carbohydrates and fast-absorbing protein is a good choice after a strength workout. Follow this later with a proper meal containing protein, carbohydrates and fats. This helps keep recovery steady.

Do you need a sports drink during training?

Water is usually enough. A drink containing simple carbohydrates and protein may help during a very demanding or longer strength workout, but extra calories are usually unnecessary during aerobic exercise aimed at burning fat.

Author: FLEX”;i:79;s:27:” Janar Rückenberg (translation)

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Source: WHO – physical activity.

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