What to eat before a workout to build muscles?
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A common question with so many answers!
But which answer to move ahead with is indeed a difficult job.
The most difficult part of following a workout regime is setting up the right pre-workout foods on your plate.
After all, what you eat shows in your gym routine
Athletes and sportsperson are always ready to explore new ideas that can enhance their performance. One of their favorite ideas is eating the right meal to have the right effect.
Good nutrition is very important for your workout as it not only helps you perform better but also helps you recover faster after every exercise.
If you take the right foods before your workout, it will maximize your results and would also curb down the chances of muscle injuries.
Taking all this into consideration, here is a complete guide on the best pre-workout foods for you to look into!
Best Pre-Workout Foods – A Must For Workout Routines!
Giving your body the right dosage of nutrients will boost up your energy and power to perform well in your daily sets.
Each nutrient that enters your body has a specific role to play in your workout results. However, for that, you must know the dosage and the correct ratio of the nutrients you need to consume.
These ratios depend on the different exercises you follow
Let us look at how the exercises affect your pre-workout food intake.
Do the types of exercises decide which food you should take?
Usually, the type of exercise you do has no particular changes in your pre-workout foods.
However, people in professional bodybuilding or athletes have special sets of guidelines for their pre-workout diet.
The food intake for specific exercises are:
#1. Low Intensity
Low-intensity exercises do not have a special effect on your pre-workout foods. These exercises mostly include cycling, biking, or walking.
These exercises work on large muscles, and thus your diet doesn’t need to change to accommodate them.
Rather, you must focus on more nutrients rich food.
However, high-intensity exercises like running, swimming, or sports need a little nutrient planning.
#2. Cardio Exercises
Long-distance cardio exercises need special attention to your nutrient intake. To be more precise, it asks you to focus on carbs intake.
But, instead of taking in carbs from pasta or wheat, try bringing in natural sources.
These nutritious sources of carbs can be sweet potatoes.
#3. Single Workouts
For people who visit the gym quite often, car loading is not necessary.
But, make sure that your pre-workout meal is light as heavy meals take time to digest
You can, however, have a large meal two hours before your exercise regime begins
In fact, natural pre-workout foods work great for a single workout. In case you don’t know what single workouts are, a single workout can be weight-lifting, running 3.5 miles on a treadmill, or 20 miles on a stationary bike.
With that being said, let us now bring our focus towards the different nutrients you must focus on while planning your pre-workout meal.
What Nutrients You Must Introduce In Your Pre-Workout Meals?
Here in this section, we will highlight a few pointers on the role of different macronutrients in our body:
#1. Carbohydrates
Your muscles derive energy from carbs in form of glucose.
Glucose is stored in our body in the form of glycogen, mostly in the liver and muscles
When you indulge in short or high-intensity exercises, your muscles derive energy from the stored glycogen in them But, during the long exercises, the usage of carbohydrates as a source of energy depends on different factors.
Some of these factors can be intensity, duration, and overall diet. However, the stored glycogen in your muscles is limited.
Once this stored glycogen depletes, your muscles fall on a shortage of energy and thus you lose your intensity.
Carbs intake, thus boost this storage and help your muscles keep running on this fuel.
#2. Protein
Consuming protein in your pre-workout food helps boost your athletic performance.
In fact, if you take in a solo diet of protein as your workout meal, your muscles will see an improvement in protein synthesis.
Some key benefits of using protein as your pre-workout meal are:
- Boost in muscle growth
- Better muscle recovery
- Boost in strength and leaner muscle mass
- Better muscle performance
#3. Fats
Longer and moderate exercises need fat for their energy.
Many studies show that fat intake prior to exercises can have a positive impact on results
For example, one of the studies done on trained runners following 4 weeks diet of 40% fat saw an increase in endurance running time.
Now, you know the importance of including different macronutrients in your pre-workout diets.
But it is equally important to know the right sources of these nutrients.
Thus, here we have curated a list of the best pre-workout food for general as well as specific exercises.
Best Pre-Workout Foods – What Should You Include In Your Meal?
There are certain foods which can be called the superfoods for your pre-workout as they maximize your efforts and yield good results
While we are already aware of the importance of nutrients in your diet, these foods below have a complete pack of all these nutrients.
Let’s get started with the list of general workout foods.
#1. Bananas
One of the most favorite pre-workout foods of many athletes and bodybuilders is a banana.
They are loaded with carbohydrates and potassium, which have a great role in your nervous and muscular system.
Carbohydrates, as you already know from our above sections act as a source of energy.
Moreover, 90% of banana calories include carbs.
#2. Oats
You must have got this suggestion of munching on oats from all your friends. Let us tell you why
Oats are full of fibers and thus slowly release carbohydrates into your body. These slow-release, energy levels are maintained throughout your workout routine, pointing towards your longer workout sessions.
They also have rich values of Vitamin B that acts on carbs and converts them into energy.
Most people prefer taking Irish oats. The reason is its lower glycemic load.
Thus, make sure you go for Irish oats rather than instant oats for your pre-workout meal.
#3. Grilled Chicken, Broccoli, And Sweet Potato
When planning for muscle mass or a circuit training method, then this combination is worth giving a try.
It has got everything that you need for putting on a great muscle show.
#4. Dry Fruits
Dried fruits serve as the most effective and quick pre-workout meal.
Munch on some dried figs, apricots, and berries to get your body filled with simple carbs. Simple carbs are easy to digest and thus act as the best source of energy.
#5. Whole Grain Bread
One slice of bread is enough to supply you with enough carbs for your workout.
You can also add boiled eggs or low-fat turkey for making it a rich pack of proteins.
#6. Fruit and Yogurt
Sounds super tasty!
Fruits offer you enough carbohydrates and when teamed up with Greek yogurt, serve as a rich source of proteins too.
Here, we consider Greek yogurt because it has more proteins than regular yogurt.
Thus, do try this amazing pre-workout snack for the right combination of carbohydrates and proteins.
#7. Nuts
Nuts are famous for their high-fat content.
But do you know that these nuts are also a rich source of proteins and calories when you are following a workout for muscle gain?
You can get yourself a dosage of nuts by turning to a trail mix!
Next, we dig in to find out some honest food suggestions for your pre-workout meals that focus on yielding different workout goals.
Pre-Workout Meals For Specific Workout Goals
#1. BodyBuilding
When putting in efforts to gain some lean muscles, we suggest you take a small meal before your workout.
It will not be heavy on your stomach and will boost your muscle growth
However, your small meal must have an equal proportion of carbs and proteins
Some of the best pre-workout meal bodybuilding ideas are:
- Egg whites
- Fruits which can be oranges and apples
- Oatmeal
- Whole wheat pasta
- Chicken
Next, we focus on weight loss pre-workout meals
#2. Weight Loss
Weight loss exercises are the most challenging ones, as here you need a pre-workout meal that can give your energy levels a boost and help you in completing all the tasks
But at the same time, you will obviously not want to gain some major calories.
You can prefer eating a light pre-workout meal half an hour before your routine can be effective.
You can try combining complex carbohydrates with lean proteins to fuel your body.
Try going ahead with your pre-workout meal for weight loss from the following ideas:
- Banana with almond butter
- Multigrain crackers with hummus
- Apple with peanut butter or nuts
- Half cup of rice or pasta
- Any fruit
- Half cup oatmeal raisins
Next, we talk about the pre-workout foods that can act as a rich source of energy.
#3 Boosting Energy
The workout needs high levels of energy
Thus, providing your body with complex carbohydrates is a must for getting an adequate amount of energy levels
Some of the great ideas for boosting your energy are:
- Fruit smoothies
- Bananas
- Oats
- Chicken with rice and vegetable
- Greek yogurt
With that being said let us bring to your notice another important aspect of pre-workout meals which is timing.
The timing of your pre-workout meals is quite important for pre-exercise nutrition.
Let us see what timing you should follow for your pre-workout foods.
Proper Timing for Pre-Workout Meals
Timing plays a key role in your pre-workout nutrition
For your results to be effective, try to have a completely balanced meal with your nutrients right around two to three hours before you exercise.
Moreover, the portion of your food depends on your timing.
The sooner you eat the smaller the portion size should be!
For example, if you wish to 45 to 60 minutes before your an exercise routine, try eating pre-workout foods which are easy to digest and have a rich source of proteins and carbs
Now, many of you must be wondering, what to eat 30 minutes before a workout?
Well, let us guide you with that too.
#1. What to eat 2-3 hours before a workout?
You can have:
- Egg omelet with a whole bread slice
- Lean protein and vegetables
#2. What to eat 2 hours before a workout?
You can indulge in:
- Protein smoothies
- A cup of oatmeal with bananas or apples
#3. What to eat an hour before a workout?
Try going for:
- Greek yogurt with fruit
- Nutrition bar
Since now you have an idea about the different pre-workout foods you can eat, let us move ahead with our next section.
There are many different ways with which you can amplify your workout results.
One of them was the best pre-workout foods, another one is pre-workout supplements.
Best Supplements for Pre-Workout to Boost Stamina
Pre-workout supplements are one of the best ways to double up your workout results within less time. However, choosing such supplements is a tough task.
Thus, here we have a short review of our favorite pre-workout supplement, 4gauge
Without wasting much time let us begin with our 4 Gauge Pre Workout Review. 4 Gauge is an extremely famous pre-workout supplement with amazing ingredients and numerous positive reviews.
Let us have a brief overlook of this product.
4 Gauge – Best Supplement To Keep You Fueled
It is a pre-workout supplement that uses a unique blend of ingredients that enhance your athletic performance. Moreover, it falls under the best vegan pre-workout supplements.
It has been produced by a leading company, Roar Ambition
The company claims it to be the supplement that will push your efforts harder, and boost your confidence to gain super results.
4 Gauge Benefits – How Effective Is This Pre Workout?
Termed as the best pre-workout supplement, 4 Gauge offers many benefits:
- Enhances your muscle pumps
- Boosts endurance and energy levels
- Enhances your mental focus
- Improves blood circulation throughout the body
Side Effects of 4 Gauge
Most of the pre-workout supplements have side effects on one’s body. However, 4 Gauge does not offer any such side effects
When should you take 4 Gauge?
According to the official manufacturer, you must take 4 Gauge 30 minutes before you enter the gym.
The 4 Gauge pre-workout supplement delivers its best effort to stand on it makes. This was all about the supplement.
So, are you ready to try the 4 Gauge pre-workout supplement?
Conclusion
Pre-workout meals have a significant role in your daily routine. The correct proportion of nutrients entering your body has direct effects on your energy and stamina.
Different exercises need different levels of energy. Thus it is important to know which pre-workout the meal you should go for while following different exercises.
In the above sections, we have focused on these important points and also given examples of some amazing pre-workout foods in which one can try for good results.
We have also focused on a very important factor which is time management during pre-workout.
With this, we come to the end of our blog hoping that our blog was useful to you.
