The outcome of any workout session or exercise often depends on several factors. One important factor is which food you eat before workout. This kind of food you take before is called pre-workout or pre-exercise food. And you can make your own pre-workout food or buy ready food from any supplement store.

A workout or exercise is done for health, fitness and sometimes to build muscle mass. If you don’t eat well, and don’t have enough nutrition in your body, then you wont get the desired results.

Is it okay to eat before workout ?

Some people still believe the myth that workout has to be done on an empty stomach, which is quite the contrary to the reality. If you workout on a empty stomach then you will most likely face these three issues :

You will get tired soon

You will stay tired through the day after workout

In order to extract energy from your muscles during workout, the amount of anaerobic catabolism would be more, thus resulting in tired and sore muscles.

When these things happen, you will probably not feel happy, satisfied and energetic, as you should normally feel after an exercise session. Rather you feel tired, groggy, low and develop body aches. Also the result of the exercising slows down and you have to wait double to see the results. Therefore, you should never exercise on an empty stomach, and eat some food, which will give you enough energy during workout.

What kind of food should I take before ?

The choice of food to take before can be tricky. The food should not be one of the kind which digests quickly and releases a lot of energy at once. Rather the food should be one, which fills the tummy moderately and yet does not make you feel heavy or sleepy, and through the course of the next two hours, should release energy little by little consistently.

This means the food should be with lots of carbohydrates and lots of fiber. This is quiet contrary to the requirement of food after exercise. Normally after an exercise you should take high protein content food, and before exercise a high moderate carbohydrate and fiber content food is the ideal.

Balancing nutrition and hydration during workout

Remember, that while you workout, your body will constantly lose water through sweating and digesting your pre-workout food. Therefore you must replenish the body with much required hydration by sipping little amounts of water in between exercising.

Some foods that are good before workout.

Oats

They are full of fibers and they will gradually release carbohydrates into your bloodstream. It will keep your energy levels consistent during workout. There is B-vitamin in oats which converts carbohydrates into energy.

Fruit and yogurt

Fruit is also high in carbohydrates. And yogurt can be high in protein. The carbs from fruit break down quickly and the protein is used later to prevent muscle damage so don’t skip foods because they are high in carbs.

Bananas

They are filled with digestible carbohydrates and are packed with potassium, potassium helps maintain the nerve and muscle function.

Wholegrain bread, Sweet potato and Brown rice

It’s a great source of complex carbohydrates that should be consumed around 2-3 hours before workout. If you combine these foods with good protein you will have a good source of slow releasing energy to fuel you thoughout the workout.

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