Pre-workout meals cover everything an athlete eats 1-4 hours before a workout or competition. The main purpose of this meal (as part of an athlete’s daily diet) is to ensure optimal muscle and liver glycogen levels, as well as blood glucose levels; it’s all meant to optimize performance during training or competition. Proteins, fats and fiber in general should be part of this meal as it really is a normal meal in an athlete’s daily regimen. In general, pre-workout meals should not be skipped if optimal performance is the goal.

However, there are a few exceptions.

The main exception is the athlete, who must weigh the minimum before competition, meaning there must be a minimum of food in their gastrointestinal tract. Assuming there is sufficient time between the weigh-in and the competition, the athlete in this situation should eat something immediately after the weigh-in in order to ensure optimal blood glucose and hydration for the competition.
In addition, endurance athletes sometimes perform low-intensity training on an empty stomach in an attempt to improve their body’s use of fat for fuel and further increase endurance adaptation. Similarly, bodybuilders, for example, often do low-intensity aerobic training (usually in the morning) without food in an attempt to shed fat. Whether fasting cardio increases fat loss is a controversial topic and beyond the scope of this book. However, very low intensity (aerobic) training generally does not require as much pre-nutrition attention as higher intensity training such as strength training or high intensity training.
The bottom line on eliminations, which is relevant to athletes who train in the morning, will be discussed later in this book. Sometimes it’s just not realistic to eat before a workout without resorting to getting up early, thereby reducing sleep and recovery. Depending on how much time the athlete has between waking up and the first training, food intake becomes or does not become relevant. A small solid or liquid meal may not be possible if there is an hour or a little more than an hour left before the start of the training. If the time is less than an hour, then only quickly digestible food pre-workout (discussed in the next section) may be viable.

In terms of pre-workout meals, most of the research to date has focused on endurance athletes, looking at the effects of carbohydrates and/or dietary fats on performance gains, with little to no attention to protein intake. Very little has been considered about the effect of pre-workout food on strength training.
A mixed meal containing carbs, protein, fiber and some fat is usually ideal, the amount of food increases the farther away from training the food is consumed. An athlete who eats 4 hours before a workout or competition should consume more food than someone who eats 1-2 hours before training. This is then to avoid indigestion and provide sufficient time for digestion. In addition, the closer the food is to training, the more quickly digested food should be.
It should be noted that athletes vary in how well they can work with food in their stomachs, some seem to do well on a full stomach and others don’t; a lot depends on how close to the training was the food and liquid, the proximity to the training of nutrition affects performance, increase in performance, energy levels of the body, etc.
As mentioned above, athletes who are forced to train in the morning (who do not have several hours to eat before training) may not have a real opportunity to eat before training at all. From an hour or more before training, before a workout meal can be consumed, athletes may want to focus on liquid nutrition to avoid indigestion. Even a small amount of carbs and protein (i.e. a glass of skimmed milk or a carb-protein drink) can raise blood glucose levels and provide amino acids to improve performance and recovery from training. In the case of an early morning workout where there is no possibility of even a small pre-workout meal, the athlete must ensure adequate food intake during and after the workout.
Consumption of approximately 1.1-4.5g/kg (0.5-2g/lb) carbohydrates 1-4 hours prior to exercise has been recommended to optimize muscle and liver glycogen levels. As mentioned above, The main factor in determining how much food can or should be eaten is the amount of time before a workout. Thus, a meal 3-4 hours before a workout may contain 3.0-4.5 g / kg (1.5-2 g / lb) of carbohydrates, a meal 1 hour before a workout may contain 1.1-2.2 g/kg (0.5-1g/lb) carbohydrates.
It is important to note that these guidelines were originally defined for endurance athletes who typically do very long (several hours) workouts; strength/power athletes or endurance athletes doing short workouts are unlikely to require that many pre-workout carbs. Using lower recommendation ranges may be more appropriate in a given situation.
An additional issue to consider when deciding on optimal amounts of pre-workout nutrients is the training period. If the volume or intensity of training goes up, then the pre-workout meal should be larger; if training intensity or volume is reduced, pre-workout meals may be reduced in size. Again, a possible exception is long-term low-intensity cardio (i.e. 1-2 hours of easy cycling), but even there, blood glucose and liver glycogen can become limiting and ensuring optimal stores through pre-workout nutrition can help. avoid failure and loss of performance.

Along with carbohydrates, protein should also be consumed, although there are several recommendations. In fact, only one study is known to have addressed this topic at all, and it looks more at the influence of BCAAs than the protein itself. This study compares the effects of BCAAs (approximately 10 grams of BCAAs along with 12 grams of milk protein, 30 grams of carbohydrates and the same amount of fat) and the same non-BCAA drink with more milk protein. Drinks were given 90 minutes before the hour run. BCAA intake prevented testosterone and GH from dropping once started.
For the most part, normal food should be considered first for pre-workout meals. Thus, it should contain the same amount of protein as in any other meal consumed during the day. How much protein will it end up of course, depends on the total daily amount of protein required by the athlete. The greater the daily dose of protein, the greater the amount of protein that will be consumed with that meal.
On average, a pre-workout meal can contain between 20-40 grams of protein, although many smaller or larger athletes may find that this meal will contain more or less protein than this. It should be noted that, on average, endurance athletes will typically consume less total protein and relatively more carbohydrates compared to strength/power athletes.
This primarily reflects the overall difference in the daily diet for different athletes due to the different physiological needs of their sport. In addition, some fat, depending on the daily calorie requirement, will also be consumed here, along with fiber sources such as fruits or vegetables.
As mentioned above, чем ближе эта еда к тренировке, тем более легко перевариваться она должна. Consumption of fats and slow-digesting high-fiber elements will decrease the rate of digestion, so they should be reduced to avoid indigestion. Food consumed 3-4 hours before a workout should not create real problems in this regard, but food consumed an hour before a workout can cause problems due to the presence of food in the stomach during intense workouts.