Pre-workout nutrition: Priming the pump
Hopefully most of you grasp the importance of solid pre-workout nutrition. This provides the
body with all the raw materials it will need to fuel an intense and productive weight training
session. I like to see my clients get in a minimum of two solid-food meals containing both lean
proteins and complex carbohydrates prior to training. The protein source can be chicken or
turkey breast, white fish, or even leaner cuts of red meat such as filet or top sirloin if one is
training later in the day. Good carbohydrate sources would be oatmeal, sweet potatoes, or
brown rice. These are all slow-burning carbs that will deliver time-released energy, as opposed
to fruits and other simple sugars that digest too quickly and can leave you with an insulin crash
while training. Equally important to the food intake is adequate hydration. This is particularly
applicable to anyone using thermogenic products. Most of these have a diuretic effect, which
means you need to take care to drink a bit more water to compensate for the fluid loss. Notice
that I said water and not diet soda. Carbonated drinks tend to be too filling and hence you don't
drink enough. A common question I get is, how soon before the workout should my last meal
be? Generally speaking, you want your last meal to end about one hour before your workout
begins. The exception would be legs. Since heavy leg training is so metabolically demanding,
the last meal should be a bit earlier - say ninety minutes. These are just guidelines. If you are
the type of person that is starving an hour and a half after a clean meal, you probably don't ever
want to let more than an hour go by from the end of the pre-workout meal to the workout. If you
seem to digest your food more slowly and get nauseous when you eat too close to the workout,
adjust your meal timing accordingly. Staying away from high-fat foods or sugary items should
help stave off feelings of nausea while training.
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