7 Early Morning Pre Workout Meal Recipes
Early Morning Pre Workout Meal Ideas To Fuel Your Workouts
On today’s episode, I’m sharing 7 quick ideas for your early morning pre workout meal.
Yep, there is nothing quite like getting up at 4:30am to go for a workout at the gym.
Think I’m crazy?
Don’t knock it until you try it.
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Yes, you will feel tired and cranky for the first 5 minutes after waking up, but just fight the urge to go back to sleep.
Once you’re up, you’re good to go.
It’s the Live Lean mindset that makes the choices to rise above the temporary sleepiness and take action on your goals.
So the question is, if you’re one of these early morning workout warriors, what do you eat to properly fuel your body before your workout?
As you know, while you’re sleeping, your body is going through a fast.
If your goal is fat loss, following an intermittent fasting approach, and training fasted, may work better for your goals.
However, if your goal is muscle building, I’d recommend you get something in your stomach before your morning workout to reduce the breakdown of muscle.
But don’t just grab the quickest thing possible.
You need to fuel your body with the proper nutrients to get the most out of your workouts.
Avoid this pre-workout meal trap
Do not fall into the trap of eating a breakfast comprised entirely of carbohydrates, and yes this includes fruit.
By simply grabbing a quick banana or apple, a big glass of orange juice, a carbohydrate rich sports drink, or just plain toast will quickly increase your blood sugar levels.
This quick rise in blood sugar will most likely cause a quick drop in energy during your workout that can leave you feeling tired and weak.
These are the opposite feelings you should be having in the gym, especially at 4:30am.
Follow this pre-workout meal plan
Focus on fueling your body with slow digesting energy.
An example would be consuming what I call as PFF meal, consisting of protein, fiber, and fat.
Having these nutrients in your pre-workout meal will allow for a slow rise in blood sugar, thus reducing the crash you fill after consuming a strictly carbohydrate meal or snack.
Protein
Protein will provide your body with the necessary amino acids to grow and repair your muscles to help you increase your strength in the gym and burn more body fat.
Research shows taking protein before and after your workout, helps create a proper muscle protein balance in the body.
The protein doesn’t just have to come from protein powders.
Good sources of protein include:
Fiber
Although fiber doesn’t provide the body with energy, it does help you fell full.
Mentally this full feeling can help you in the gym since you may feel like you have more energy to get through the workout.
Fiber in the morning also helps promote a healthy digestive system and keeps you regular so you don’t feel bloated or constipated throughout the day.
Increase your fiber intake in the morning by eating foods high in fiber suck as flax seeds, vegetables, and nuts and seeds.
Healthy fats
A small amount of healthy fat from flax oil, flax seeds, nut butters, egg yolks, avocado, and healthy oils like coconut oil, olive oil, and avocado oil can all be beneficial to your pre-workout breakfast.
These healthy fats can provide you with a slow release of energy to help get your through that grueling morning workout.
Caffeine
Caffeine can play a positive role in giving the body a necessary jolt of energy to complete your workout at a high intensity thus allowing you to build more muscle and burn more fat.
This can be found in coffee, a pre-workout supplement, or a cup of green tea, although green tea has a much smaller amount of caffeine than coffee.
Caffeine works for some people, however, others may feel caffeine gives them too much energy which can lead to a poor workout.
Test it for yourself, and find out what works best for you.
Everyone is different
Experiment with the foods mentioned above.
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What may work well for some people, may not work for you at all.
Track your progress and stick with what works for you.
The best pre-workout meal
So you’ve probably heard me say the best pre-workout meal in my experience has been the meat and nuts breakfast that I learned from Charles Poliquin.
If you’re truly committed, this is the best pre-workout meal as it’ll not only improve your energy, but also your focus and mental drive.
Early Morning Pre Workout Meal Ideas
I’ve also shared 5 other cooking videos showing you excellent ideas for quick pre-workout meals to fuel your early morning workouts.
These include:
Last recipe that I want to show you now is protein pudding.
Check out how quick and simple this pre-workout meal is.
Protein Flaxseed Pudding
| Prep Time | 2 minutes |
| Cook Time | over night |
| Servings |
serving
|
- 1 serving Protein Powder
- 2 tbsp ground flax seed
- 2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
Ingredients
|
|
- The night before, mix protein powder with flax seeds and water (or almond milk) in a small container.
- Let it soak in your refrigerator over night.
- In the morning, the flax seeds will thicken up making it into a pudding consistency.
Nutrition Info (per serving):
Calories: 304
Protein: 38g
Carbohydrates: 11g
Fat: 12g
Bottom line
If you feel like you have no time to eat before your early morning workout, all these recipes literally take minutes to prepare in the morning.
This is especially true when you have pre-cooked meat and eggs ready to go, or you simply make your breakfast the night before.
Also, it’s best if you allow your body 45 minutes to properly digest the food.
So depending on how long your drive is to the gym, this may mean getting up just a little bit earlier.
However, do the best you can.
Also, just like it’ll take time to adapt to the early morning wake up times, it’ll take time for your body to adapt to feeling hungry in the morning.
Start slow, by eating smaller quantities, then build up to eating a full meal.
Join our team for more muscle building and fat loss recipes
If your goal is to lose weight or build muscle, there is a healthy and sustainable way to do it, and that’s what we show our group coaching clients over at TeamLiveLean.com.
Each week, we provide a new meal plan and delicious cooking recipe videos showing how to sustainably fuel your body with the necessary nutrients it needs to thrive, 365 days a year.
You’ll also get workouts and accountability from other people just like you.
If you’re not yet a member, it’s time.
Thanks for watching, and keep Living Lean.
Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.
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