What to eat before an early morning workout?

[Michigan Planner]

What works for one person might not work for another so experimentation is in order to figure out what works best for your situation.

If I am going to the gym before breakfast, I usually have half a bagel or a piece of toast with either cream cheese or peanut butter and some juice and something sweet like a piece of chocolate. If I am headed out to run first thing in the morning, I'll have half a banana and a smaller portion of juice. Either way, I usually have something more substantial within about 30 minutes of finishing my workout.

 

[-Stylist-]

milk.

 

[Plestor]

Nothing but ~750ml of water and take 2 bottles to go was always my strategy when I swam . Hit the carbs (Multigrain weet-bix or similar... minimal milk) when you get home. NB: I was swimming for mid distance (400 free,200 fly,1500 free) competition so I had different nutrition priorities. I also was doing 15-20+ hrs a week. I tend to grab a light snack (2 bananas or a bowl of cereal) these days before surfing these days, but surfing tends to go on for longer and tend to push you harder, I also generally have a reasonable time taken to get to the beach, along with the standard pre-surf stuff.

 

[deadrock143]

Yeah its depends upon you what to eat before early morning workouts. Because I usually like oatmeal, but am so sick of it. Now I blend 2 scoops of oats (about 1/2 cup) in with my shake with two cups of coffee instead of water then eat a few pieces of 12 grain bread dry. Cheerios are not bad either, if you can workout with a little milk in your system.

 

[innerstyle]

A small piece of fruit, a glass of water, and glass of juice work for me. BTW I tried going without eating before my early morning workouts but I felt noticeably less energy during my workouts, so now I always make sure to eat before it.

 

[yayorc]

I've always been told its best to eat breakfast within an hour of waking up just to jumpstart your metabolism for the day. If you can do that, and delay your cycling by 30 min or so to digest, you might feel better during your workout.

 

[PoloPlayr]

A double-espresso BEFORE 7am gym to kick-start my metabolism and then breakfast AFTER.

 

[javyn]

oatmeal and milk.

 

[Hartmann]

Originally Posted by yayorc

jumpstart your metabolism for the day.

What does this even mean

 

[greg_atlanta]

Grape Nuts or All-Bran or another dense cereal that doesn't require much milk.

 

[mensimageconsultant]

Wading in....

The topic was in the news recently. As you can see, there's no expert consensus.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...exercise_N.htm

One thing that most people probably know is that the body is dehydrated after a long period of sleep. Slight dehydration can greatly harm exercise performance, so start drinking water before the workout. Depending on natural blood pressure, salt (maybe from a light breakfast) also might be a good idea. A multivitamin before seems prudent. As for the actual composition of any light breakfast, there's not enough information to go on and the results will show what does or does not work.

 

[rjmaiorano]

Originally Posted by Hartmann

What does this even mean

Your metabolism is like a car... you have to turn the ignition and let it idle before you really let er rip for the day

 

[espanabanana]

Why not have some eggs on whole grain toast and an apple!

 

[LawrenceMD]

Originally Posted by Plestor

Nothing but ~750ml of water and take 2 bottles to go was always my strategy when I swam . Hit the carbs (Multigrain weet-bix or similar... minimal milk) when you get home.

thats stupid man. you should just drink the water you're swimming in. its efficiency defined.

 

[dragon8]

I thought a protein shake about 30-45 minutes before a workout does wonders