Food before exercise

Since I coach athletes, I see two kinds of people:

- Those who "Train to Eat" (Group A)
- Those who "Eat to Train" (Group B)

The Group A always complains how tired they get durnig the workout. They even salivate while descriding the meal/food they're going to have right after. Their performance is small. They injure themsleves pretty often too. lack of energy, lack of concentration, wrong move, injury!

The Group B, they never complain, they actually enjoy food better than the Group A and their performance are always on top. Injuries ... Very rarelly!

This shows that there is a link between eating before a workout and performance.

Preexercise fuel has 4 main functions:

1) It helps prevent hypoglycemia
2) It helps settle your stomach. You're not hungry
3) It fuels your muscles with the carbohydrates you just ate (in the bloodstream) and with the carbohydrates you have in stock
4) It gives you a peace of mind knowing your body is well fueled

Before the morning workout:

A lot of athletes skip breakfast. They like to sleep in until the last minute. The day is already long enough.
You will probably perform better if you eat something before you exercise. During the night you can deplete your liver glycogen, the source of carbohydrates that maintain your blood sugar levels. When you start a workout with a low blood sugar level, you will be tired earlier and you won't be able to push as much as you wanted/should.

How much you should eat differs from person to person. It goes with the level of tolerance of your digestive system.
You have to test yourself.

I have seen, noticed, the best results when my athletes eat around 1g of carbohydrates/kg of bodyweight. It depends on many factors like: age, sex, hormones, training level, ...
In average, this amount of carbohydrates 1 hour before a workout is the right choice.

You can break you breakfast in 2 parts. Have the banana and the whole grains bagel before and finish with the yogurt and another fruit right after.

I like breakfast so much that I'd rather wake up very early to have my full meal than breaking it in 2 parts. But that's me.

Before the afternoon workout

You have to pay attention as when you had your lunch. If your workout is closer to lunch than it is to souper, you should eat a small thing like a banana. Something that won't bother your stomach.
If it's in the end of the afternoon, have a small meal with the same amount of carbs as in the morning, 1g/kg of BW.

A lot of my athletes think that its only after the workout that you have to eat the proper food to perform. I say no! Pre-exercise food is very important.

Imagine you're a race car and the race is your workout ... Wouldn't you put the right amount of fuel in your car before the race? Of course, YES!! So do the same with your body!

I wrote this because a few of my athlete come to train on an empty stomach. No energy! It is dangerous.

Athletes: Eat before, never train on an empty stomach

Coaches: Always ask your athletes if they ate before and when was their last meal.

Cheers guys,

Mike