Pre-WOD meal

What do you guys generally eat before your WOD? I have been eating a PBJ and a hard boiled egg about an hour before, but I would like to make that more "clean" and paleo if possible...

Replies

  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    I'm following Eat to Perform instead of strict paleo, so I usually load my carbs before and after my workouts, and I eat them in addition to my protein. A normal pre-workout meal for me would be oatmeal with a little honey and a protein drink and following I would have a protein drink or bar and a spotty banana. I do follow 40 C/30P/30F as my macros but I specifically eat less carbs on rest on light activity days (still eat veggies & fruit, just cut back the starches). This is a much higher carb approach than strict paleo but the carbs that I use are primarily spotty banana, sweet potato, and oatmeal (also sparingly chocolate for fun and the occasional quinoa) because that's what I tolerate. I am definitely seeing performance gains in my workouts since I started carb cycling around workouts. I don't do flour but what you eat is about what I would eat if I did...I try to be *around* 50 g carbs pre WOD meal, with protein as well.

    P.S. I do a weird time: afternoon most of the time. For people who do early a.m. in Eat to Peform, they would carb load the night before a hard workout, exercise fasted, and focus on meat, veggies, and fats the rest of the day.
  • jordymils
    jordymils Posts: 230 Member
    For me, it depends on which time slot it is. I train 8-10 times a week with 5-6 sessions at 9am and the others somewhere between 4-6pm. For my morning sessions, I eat more carbs the night before (as Kelly said) and then just have some greek yoghurt with coconut oil and hemp seeds 45 mins or so before the session. I don't do well training fasted, so focus on the fat/protein intake before a morning WOD.
    Before my afternoon/evening sessions I usually just have a banana about an hour before, knowing that I would have had a decent amount of protein with some fats and veggies for lunch.
    I've just purchased the Eat to Perform guidelines so still trying to get my head around all of their recommendations, but that's what seems to work for me. I can't train on a full or empty stomach, so having some with some fuel without leaving me feeling full has been best for me thus far...
  • AutumnLee23
    AutumnLee23 Posts: 6 Member
    Awesome thanks! I am trying to do more carb cycling as well but have not been strict about it but I try not to do bread on non CF days and I usually do sweet potato and chocolate milk after my WOD. I need to get back into bananas…lately they have been soooo green here (yuck)
  • ascrit
    ascrit Posts: 770 Member
    For what its worth, I saw a dietician on Monday and she recommended having a 1 to 4 ratio of protein grams to carbohydrate grams both before and after working out.
  • jordymils
    jordymils Posts: 230 Member
    The protein:carb ratio depends a lot on each person and what your goals are. For those looking to build muscle above anything else, a higher ratio is better (like you said, 1:4) whereas those looking to lose body fat while still building strength are generally recommended to go a bit lower, around 1:2.
    I'm still trying to work out if those carbs should be simple or complex because there is SO much conflicting info out there, so at the moment I stick to the 1:2 protein to carb ratio, with carbs being roughly 50/50 simple and complex in the form of fruit juice and a muesli bar, along with my protein shake.
    The main thing is just to find what works best for you, which might be totally different to what works for each of us :)
  • bostonwolf
    bostonwolf Posts: 3,038 Member
    I find it better if I eat at least 90 minutes before, and something light at that. usually an apple or banana or both. Then I do a Progenex Recovery shake right afterwords and eat a normal meal.

    I know from experience that if eat too close to a heavy workout Pukey the Clown is coming to visit
  • Inkratlet
    Inkratlet Posts: 613 Member
    I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. I'm not an Olympic athlete.

    If I do a morning WOD I do it on an empty stomach. Not getting up before 6am just to eat. Plenty of time for that after.
  • ascrit
    ascrit Posts: 770 Member
    I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. I'm not an Olympic athlete.

    If I do a morning WOD I do it on an empty stomach. Not getting up before 6am just to eat. Plenty of time for that after.

    More power to you Inky. :flowerforyou: It's great that you know what works best for you.

    I am NOT a morning person by nature and the idea of getting up early to work out gives me the chills. Plus I am usually SUPER hungry when I get up so I must eat. :happy:
  • Inkratlet
    Inkratlet Posts: 613 Member
    I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. I'm not an Olympic athlete.

    If I do a morning WOD I do it on an empty stomach. Not getting up before 6am just to eat. Plenty of time for that after.

    More power to you Inky. :flowerforyou: It's great that you know what works best for you.

    I am NOT a morning person by nature and the idea of getting up early to work out gives me the chills. Plus I am usually SUPER hungry when I get up so I must eat. :happy:

    I didn't think I was a morning person either and there is NO WAY I'd get up to run. It can be hard to get up for the 7am WOD but I feel amazing all day after I've done it so that is motivating me :happy:
  • bostonwolf
    bostonwolf Posts: 3,038 Member
    I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. I'm not an Olympic athlete.

    If I do a morning WOD I do it on an empty stomach. Not getting up before 6am just to eat. Plenty of time for that after.

    I am not a morning person either, but the few morning WODs I've done have been on an empty stomach. No issues with energy at all.

    I'd rather hear my stomach growling during a WOD than feel full.
  • ascrit
    ascrit Posts: 770 Member
    I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. I'm not an Olympic athlete.

    If I do a morning WOD I do it on an empty stomach. Not getting up before 6am just to eat. Plenty of time for that after.

    More power to you Inky. :flowerforyou: It's great that you know what works best for you.

    I am NOT a morning person by nature and the idea of getting up early to work out gives me the chills. Plus I am usually SUPER hungry when I get up so I must eat. :happy:

    I didn't think I was a morning person either and there is NO WAY I'd get up to run. It can be hard to get up for the 7am WOD but I feel amazing all day after I've done it so that is motivating me :happy:

    One of the reasons I enjoy working out after work is that it gives me something to look forward to! :wink:
  • jordymils
    jordymils Posts: 230 Member
    I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. I'm not an Olympic athlete.

    If I do a morning WOD I do it on an empty stomach. Not getting up before 6am just to eat. Plenty of time for that after.

    More power to you Inky. :flowerforyou: It's great that you know what works best for you.

    I am NOT a morning person by nature and the idea of getting up early to work out gives me the chills. Plus I am usually SUPER hungry when I get up so I must eat. :happy:

    I didn't think I was a morning person either and there is NO WAY I'd get up to run. It can be hard to get up for the 7am WOD but I feel amazing all day after I've done it so that is motivating me :happy:

    One of the reasons I enjoy working out after work is that it gives me something to look forward to! :wink:

    You and me both!! Although I often train morning and evening, so the morning WOD gets me going and feeling great all day, and then the evening WOD gives me something to look forward to during the afternoon :)
  • Inkratlet
    Inkratlet Posts: 613 Member
    I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference. I'm not an Olympic athlete.

    If I do a morning WOD I do it on an empty stomach. Not getting up before 6am just to eat. Plenty of time for that after.

    More power to you Inky. :flowerforyou: It's great that you know what works best for you.

    I am NOT a morning person by nature and the idea of getting up early to work out gives me the chills. Plus I am usually SUPER hungry when I get up so I must eat. :happy:

    I didn't think I was a morning person either and there is NO WAY I'd get up to run. It can be hard to get up for the 7am WOD but I feel amazing all day after I've done it so that is motivating me :happy:

    One of the reasons I enjoy working out after work is that it gives me something to look forward to! :wink:

    You and me both!! Although I often train morning and evening, so the morning WOD gets me going and feeling great all day, and then the evening WOD gives me something to look forward to during the afternoon :)

    This :-)

    Although I don't usually do another WOD in the evening, I do some lifting/core exercises around 3pm. Keeps me going for the afternoon and then I look forward to food and sofa with my cats in the evening, haha!
  • vs1023
    vs1023 Posts: 417 Member
    I'm following Eat to Perform instead of strict paleo, so I usually load my carbs before and after my workouts, and I eat them in addition to my protein. A normal pre-workout meal for me would be oatmeal with a little honey and a protein drink and following I would have a protein drink or bar and a spotty banana. I do follow 40 C/30P/30F as my macros but I specifically eat less carbs on rest on light activity days (still eat veggies & fruit, just cut back the starches). This is a much higher carb approach than strict paleo but the carbs that I use are primarily spotty banana, sweet potato, and oatmeal (also sparingly chocolate for fun and the occasional quinoa) because that's what I tolerate. I am definitely seeing performance gains in my workouts since I started carb cycling around workouts. I don't do flour but what you eat is about what I would eat if I did...I try to be *around* 50 g carbs pre WOD meal, with protein as well.

    P.S. I do a weird time: afternoon most of the time. For people who do early a.m. in Eat to Peform, they would carb load the night before a hard workout, exercise fasted, and focus on meat, veggies, and fats the rest of the day.

    Same. I love that blog and have been considering joining entirely. I usually work out in the mornings so i do add in extra carbs at night.
  • jordymils
    jordymils Posts: 230 Member
    Same. I love that blog and have been considering joining entirely. I usually work out in the mornings so i do add in extra carbs at night.

    I joined Eat To Perform last week and I'm glad I did. There's obviously plenty of free info out there on the internet but after seeing all the testimonials of people following ETP and being unable to find the specific answers I wanted, I figured it was worth the investment. The moderators/staff on the forums are super helpful with any questions you have and make it very easy to get started :)
  • vs1023
    vs1023 Posts: 417 Member
    Same. I love that blog and have been considering joining entirely. I usually work out in the mornings so i do add in extra carbs at night.

    I joined Eat To Perform last week and I'm glad I did. There's obviously plenty of free info out there on the internet but after seeing all the testimonials of people following ETP and being unable to find the specific answers I wanted, I figured it was worth the investment. The moderators/staff on the forums are super helpful with any questions you have and make it very easy to get started :)

    I am glad to hear this! I keep hearing great testimonials too, even from my coach who follows ETP too. I need to just do it already for the same reasons, want specifics.