Many of our clients seek the assistance of our sports nutritionists for pre-training nutrition. Reason being, many look to improve their pre-workout diet. Pre-workout nutrition optimization is no doubt key to improved athletic performance. As such, we feel it’s important to address the topic in some depth.
So how do you determine if your pre-workout nutrition is an area that requires some attention?
The below questions can perhaps guide to a clear-cut conclusion:
Are you an athlete or someone who exercises regularly and often feel like you have low energy going into workouts? Or do you cramp often during games, practices or other forms of exercise?
You could even find that you feel excessively sore and drained the following day after a hard workout, even though you follow a seemingly adequate diet.
If any of these pertain to you, your current pre-training nutrition could contribute to these negative effects.
Pre-training nutrition is an important part of sports nutrition that is overlooked by many active individuals. The key to understand here is that your needs are unique to you. And, by aligning your nutrition with them, you can better take control of your performance.
In this post, we will take a look at what is pre-training nutrition timing. We will then outline the benefits of practicing it. Last, we will provide a framework that shows how to actually do it.
We will also highlight some other effective tips for pre-workout nutrition.
Pre-Training Nutrition: What is it and Why Does it Matter?
You may now be asking yourself what exactly is pre-training nutrition. Pre-training nutrition is, quite literally, as it sounds, nutrition before training or exercise.
This practice gained a great deal of traction in the early 2000s, when the idea of “nutrition timing” was thought to maximize an athlete’s performance. Since then, this concept has been critically researched and tested to become cemented as a core nutrition principle for anyone looking to optimize their performance for fitness and sport.
The International Society of Sport describes nutrition timing as the methodical planning and eating of whole foods, fortified foods, and dietary supplements at planned times throughout the day to impact the body’s response to acute and chronic exercise (Kerksick et al., 2017).
Consequently, we will focus on the pre-training nutrition part of nutrition timing. We will then explain how to tailor your pre-workout nutrition to take advantage of its many benefits, such as:
- Decreased fatigue
- Increased strength and power
- Increased endurance
- Improved recovery
- Increased muscle gain
- Increased reaction time
- Improved cognitive function
(Dietitians of Canada, 2016) (Kerksick et al., 2017) (Wildman et al., 2010)
Considering how impactful pre-training nutrition can be on an individual’s performance, it is no wonder why it is held in such high regard when it comes to maximized performance and effective workouts.
Related: The Importance of Meal Timing
Carbohydrates–Fuel for the Work Required:
No pre-workout nutrition tips list would be complete without a close look at the role of carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates reign as the king of pre-training fuel, suggests our Edmonton nutritionist, Alana. Countless studies have consistently shown carbs to be our body’s preferred and most efficient energy source. This is especially true for endurance and ultra-endurance sports.
How many carbs should I consume?
Generally, an intake of 1-4g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight taken in 1-4 hours before exercise is a range that can be applied to most forms of strenuous exercise that plan to last longer than an hour (Dietitians of Canada, 2016).
The downfall of this range, however, is that it has a very wide margin. You will need to identify two other factors to better predict how many carbohydrates to have.
These are:
1. Know the type of training/sport that you will be doing (e.g., endurance sports such as cross country or cycling, ultra-endurance sports such as marathons or triathlons, “stop-and-go sports” such as hockey or soccer, strength training, or light cardio).
2. How long before you start will you be able to ingest the pre-training snack/meal.
Once you have identified the answers to these questions, you can better plan how many carbohydrates you should have within the 4 hours before.
So let’s review the different scenarios to these questions and their impact on the carbohydrate ranges.
Type of sport:
This point is critical.
Ultra-Endurance sports such as marathons or triathlons require the most carbohydrates with the upper end of the range of 3-4g/kg.
Endurance and “stop and start” sports such as swimming or hockey don’t need quite as much, so aiming around 2-3g/kg would be better suited.
According to Megan, our sports dietitian in Nova Scotia, strength or resistance training requires the least, ranging from 0.5-2 g of carbohydrates, depending on how long and hard you will be training.
Aim to have a daily intake of 6-10g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight over the course of the day, spaced out between meals and snacks. This is considered optimal for most athletes (Dietitians of Canada, 2016).
Related: Swimmers’ Nutrition Myths
Time before training:
Considering how long before you start training is extremely important. Reason being, it’s important to ensure your body has the optimal amount of time to digest the food you eat. This is not only to maximize energy levels, but also to reduce the risk of GI issues such as nausea, cramping, or vomiting (Wildman et al., 2010).
Below is a general guideline to refer to:
- > 3-4 hours before training: This is when you have enough time to digest a big and complete meal full of protein, carbohydrates, fats and fibre. If you compete in an intense sport or doing hard training later in the day, aim to have 60-65% of your meal consist of complex carbohydrates. This can include rice, potatoes or bread.
- 1-2 hours before training: It’s recommended to stick to a small meal. This can mainly consist of carbohydrates with minimal fat and fibre. Aim for around 1-1.5g/kg or 60-90g of carbohydrates. This could look like two pieces of white bread with a tbsp of honey. A fruit or a bowl of oatmeal sweetened with maple syrup and berries can also be added.
- <1 hour before training: With minimal time, it is best to avoid meals. Stick to around 30-50g of simple carbohydrates (sugar) with very little or no fat and fibre to minimize the risk of GI upsets. This could be a low-fibre fruit such as a banana, a sports drink or crispy rice bars.
Generally, if the exercise lasts less than 45 minutes and isn’t overly strenuous (e.g., light cardio, light-moderate weight lifting), you don’t need to consume many carbohydrates beforehand. It is recommended, however, to have a small amount of 20-30g to help ensure the best performance possible.
Protein–Not Only for After Workouts:
This is an important, yet sometimes overlooked pre-training nutrition tip.
Protein is most typically correlated with post-training nutrition and recovery.
Many studies, however, have shown a positive effect on performance and recovery following training when a small amount of protein, 0.2-0.5 g/kg, is consumed with pre-training carbohydrates (Kerksick et al., 2017).
Doing so can increase the absorption of carbohydrates to be used by the body for energy. It can also reduce the catabolic effect (breakdown) on muscles during prolonged training. What’s more, it assists with recovery following exercise (Kerksick et al., 2017).
Ideally, you would still want the protein source to be either fat-free or low in fat, suggests our dietitian Tylor. This is because fat and fibre slow digestion and can lead to GI upsets or feelings of sluggishness.
Some great sources of protein to work into a pre-training snack are:
- ½ cup 0% fat Greek yogurt
- 1 cup skim milk
- Half a chicken breast
- 100g of tofu
- ½ scoop of protein powder mixed with water
*Note that you should always experiment with new pre-training workout foods on practice days instead of competition days to gauge GI tolerance.