How many times have you wondered if you need to eat before you workout? Probably more than once. If you’re working out on an empty stomach, especially first thing in the morning, I want to gently push back on that.
Carbs are your body’s preferred fuel source for the kind of work you’re doing in a strength training session (and also just life itself). Not the enemy, not something to avoid, the actual fuel. When you train fasted, you’re asking your body to perform without giving it anything to perform with.
This matters most in the morning, since you’ve gone all night without eating and you’re walking straight into a workout on empty. But it’s worth paying attention to any time you train, not just early sessions. If it’s been a few hours since your last meal, whether that’s morning, midday, or evening, your body is going to feel it.
You need to eat before you workout. You don’t need a huge meal. You don’t need a perfectly balanced plate. You just need a little something. A banana. A piece of toast. Half a granola bar. Some juice. A handful of Ritz (#RitzSponsorMe). Anything that gives your body a small amount of accessible energy before you start lifting heavy things.
Without it, you might notice you feel more tired than you should, weaker than usual, or like everything is just a little harder than it needs to be. That’s not a willpower problem. That’s a fuel problem.
A small carb snack 20 to 30 minutes before training, whenever that training happens to be, can make a real difference in how your session actually feels.
Feed yourself before you ask your body to work hard. It deserves that much.
