Intake Before Exercise
What to Eat
Survey says: CARBOHYDRATES! In general, consuming carbohydrates before your workout seems to be beneficial to performance. Consumption of CHO prior to exercise can maximize glycogen storage (Ormsbee 2014). Gloycogen is a ubiquitous fuel source stored in our cells.
During exercise at intensities greater than approximately 60% maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), blood glucose and muscle glycogen are the primary fuels oxidized to produce the ATP required to sustain exercise, in large part because more fast-twitch motor units are recruited as exercise intensity increases, increasing the reliance on carbohydrate as the predominant fuel source {Murray 2018).
Some great pre-workout meal ideas are a peanut butter and banana sandwich or greek yogurt with blueberries. You can check out some other great pre workout meals here.
When to Eat
In general, it's best not to eat right before a workout. You will want to give your body enough time to digest food before you do work.
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It's best to have a meal 1 to 4 hours before your workout. Consumption of a moderate sized, moderately high carbohydrate meal 3 hours before exercise enhances performance of moderate to high intensity exercise lasting 30 - 45 minutes (Maffucci 2000).
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But, there is the subject of fasted workouts. Should you work out on an empty stomach. If your objective is to burn fat, it may be a good option for you.
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Studies show that a 6 hour fast before working out provides a heavier reliance on fats for fuel, but there is also a reduced time to exhaustion (Maffucci 2000).
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Should You Supplement
Multi-ingredient pre-workout supplements (MIPS) are wildly popular, these days. These supplements are intended to be taken prior to exercise and typically contain a blend of ingredients such as caffeine, creatine, beta-alanine, amino acids, and nitric oxide agents, the combination of which may elicit a synergistic effect on acute exercise performance and subsequent training adaptations compared to single ingredients alone (Harty 2018).
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But, do they work? Studies show that in short term experimentation there were increases in energy levels and positive effects on body composition.
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But, are they safe? Studies that directly examined safety parameters and adverse effects of MIPS consumption concluded that short-term supplementation is safe in otherwise healthy consumers. (Harty 2018) There has yet to be a substantial amount of long term testing.
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Before trying any supplements, it is best to discuss with a licensed health care professional.