Pre Workout Nutrition For Cardio Routines

It’s a bitter winter evening, and you’re pounding the streets with the wind howling round your face, rain stinging your bare legs and the cold biting into you every step you take. You try to plough on through, yet your rumbling stomach and groggy head say otherwise and you call it a night, heading home to watch TV.

Why Pre Workout Nutrition and Hydration Matters

We’ve all been there – running the roads, cycling up hills or even just plodding away on the bike or the elliptical at the gym – your legs are lead weights, your heart and lungs are burning and you feel like your workout is never going to end. These issues can be solved with one simple measure though – pre workout nutrition.

Whether you’re doing cardio for fat loss purposes, to maintain general fitness or because you’re preparing for a specific event, what you eat before your workout is vital. The food you eat prior to training will be the catalyst for a fantastic performance and a new personal best, or the reason why you quit early and give up.

The type of cardio you’re doing doesn’t matter too much as the rules generally stay the same. Pre-cardio nutrition doesn’t need to be massively complicated either. While sports nutrition companies would have you believe that you need all the latest fancy supplements, electrolyte drinks, perfect levels of hydration and certain nutrients, the truth is that unless you’re a professional athlete with access to multi-million dollar laboratories and an army of sports scientists, you’re never going to find that holy grail of a scientifically optimal pre-training protocol.

What you can do, however, is stick to a series of basic guidelines and work within these to find what suits you best.

Before going through these though, a little note on hydration.

Hydration

Hydration is often overlooked as people tend to favor researching food and supplements’ effect on performance, but for any athletes, and cardiovascular trainers particularly, hydration is vital.

During cardio you’re going to sweat, hopefully a lot too, if you’re training hard, which means that you’ll lose water. You’ve probably experienced mild dehydration in the summer or if you’ve been on holiday in a hot country. It makes you feel light-headed, dizzy and not quite all there. Now imagine that feeling multiplied ten-fold while you’re trying to work at a high intensity and concentrate on a race or tough training session.

You need a steady fluid intake throughout the day, but should also drink a little extra in the couple of hours leading up to your session. Don’t overdo it, as too much can cause digestive discomfort, stomach cramps and stitches, but aim to drink at least half a liter in the hour or two before you start.

There’s no need to choose pre-made electrolyte or sports performance drinks unless you’re competing in an event lasting over 90 minutes as your body has enough stored vitamins, minerals and electrolytes without needing to take on more. Just plain water is all you need, although if you are partial to cramping or the weather is particularly hot and humid, adding half an electrolyte tablet or just a pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon to the water will ensure adequate hydration and electrolyte levels to reduce muscle spasms and cramps.

What to Eat before Your Cardio

Without meaning to stereotype, cardiovascular athletes are often the worst when it comes to pre-workout nutrition. Many will sit in the office all day then go for a run or bike straight from work without having eaten since lunchtime, while others will jump out of bed and immediately head out of the door for their morning session without so much as a cup of coffee or glass of water.

Those using cardio as a way of burning fat often buy into the myth that training on an empty stomach burns more fat, which is one of those misnomers that seems to constantly circulate. The only thing training without eating does is make you feel awful and negatively impact the quality of your session.

Even high level endurance athletes often train on nothing more than a banana or piece of toast and many still heed the 1980s recommendation of carb-loading days before an event. Carbs are important, but this misinformation can seriously hinder your performance.

Carbs

Talking of carbs, what exactly do they do?

Well they’re your body’s main source of energy for one thing. Meaning that they’re pretty important before a bout of cardio. Carbohydrates are a very individual matter. Some people do really well eating lots of carbs – they have huge amounts of energy, don’t gain excess fat and perform at a high level, whereas others merely have to look at a piece of bread and they gain 15 pounds and fall asleep on the couch.

If, however, carbs put you to sleep and make your stomach look like you’re giving birth to triplets, then be strategic with your carbs. Stick to easily digestibly sources like berries, pineapple, mango or apples or have a small portion of cereals. These guidelines also apply if you’re using cardio to burn fat as you want a small energy boost, but don’t need chronically high blood sugar levels.

Don’t believe the hype about needing to carb-load for days before a session or event. Carbs digest relatively quickly, so you only need to take them in large quantities three to four hours before you kick off.

Protein

Protein may be more commonly associated with bodybuilders and strength athletes, but cardio peeps need it too. Your muscles break down as you work them and protein is required to build them back up again. Take in 20 to 30 grams of protein from meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, beans or a supplement around two to three hours beforehand.

Supplements

We’ve already touched on sports drinks and how they may be beneficial but certainly aren’t needed by the majority of people or for regular training sessions, but there are two supplements that can be useful.

Just as with carbs, people have different reactions to caffeine. If you’re a coffee-fiend who has a special section in your wallet for your Starbucks card and can never be found without a piping hot cup of Joe in your hand, it’s likely caffeine won’t have much effect on you. Similarly, if you never touch caffeine then even a small amount can make you utterly wired. So play around and see how much you need.

Again it’s better known in the weightlifting community, but studies have also shown that creatine buffers lactic acid which delays fatigue and helps you train for longer. Take three to five grams half an hour pre-workout.