What to eat 1 hour before an intense cardio & strength fitness session?

mw89lmtbusiness8635

Hi all.
New.

Please share any thoughts on foods to eat in the morning before a workout at a fitness session.

jls1leather

I like some complex carbs, but not so much food I feel stuffed when trying to work out.
A number of ways to do that, but one of my favorites is 1/2 cup of oatmeal with about 1/2 diced apple and some cinnamon, and a cup of black coffee. Then I eat some high protein something immediately after the gym

rheddmobile

I like steel cut oats made with milk, apples, Greek yogurt, and almond butter. Then if I'm running, an orange just before. Cottage cheese when I want extra protein.

L1zardQueen

Black coffee. Not too much though, I don’t like the sloshy feel of too much liquid.

madwells1

Vanilla Protein powder, 1/2 banana, handful of berries, sugar free chocolate syrup and a couple ounces of whole milk plain greek yogurt mixed together as a smoothie.

deannalfisher

What time in the am? Are you doing this as soon as you get up? Or after being up for a while?

If it’s first thing - I would normally do a carb-y snack before bed and use that to fuel my workout

AnnPT77

People vary, so one has to experiment, I think.

I can't work out fasted - I crash and burn about 10 minutes in, if I shoot for any intensity. So, before rowing (on water) or spin class, I usually eat 3/4C kefir, 3/4C hot skim milk with vanilla (I know, weird), and peanut butter on either an Ezekiel pita or a Coco Lite Pop Cake (the latter is a tortilla-sized 20-calorie cracker-like thing, basically just a substrate to put the peanut butter on).

The pita is before rowing: I've found I need a bit more carbs before rowing vs. spin class, otherwise I'm too hungry afterward. Always amazes me that some tiny tweak like that makes a difference - maybe it's psychological.

sgt1372

Usually nothing b4 but I carb/protein load after.

dmankruoss

Everyone is different, I can't eat a lot before a workout. I tend to eat a banana about 30 min before. I have a proper meal after the workout.

fb47

Protein shake is enough for me, I don't want anything heavy in my stomach. I get my protein and carbs without feeling like a truck.

RadishEater

I like to eat 0% fage yogurt with blackberries

TavistockToad

I'd eat my normal breakfast

MikePfirrman

If I eat protein (within around an hour), I feel sick. Now, I do a lot of Anaerobic Threshold training (sustained training where your body can just barely recover) and I do think people are very different. I tend to do better on just carbs like oatmeal w/ blueberries or fruit or a banana on days where I'm doing both cardio and strength together.

Ideally, you don't want to do them together. I row, so it's part of the territory (rowing is by definition both strength and cardio at the same time) but if you have a choice, I'd separate the cardio from the strength. Unless cardio is really intense, you don't need anything before (like intervals you might carb up a bit, slow steady stuff I find it unnecessary). If I'm doing harder cardio, I'll try to separate it from my lifting and eat/fuel up before lifting. You need to have carbs before lifting and protein after. I can eat protein before and after just lifting but the protein makes me very sick to my stomach before hard rowing.

hesn92

I think it’s best to experiment and see what makes you feel the best. I like to have a little something beforehand. Not necessarily right before but if I’ve had at least a small snack in the last 2-3 hrs that’s fine. Anything really. A banana is good.