How Pre- and Post-Exercise Nutrition Impacts Performance and Recovery

Eating before exercise is meant to fuel your body with energy and help you perform at your best. This pre-workout meal or snack gives your body the nutrients it needs to maintain energy throughout your workout session and avoid a drop in energy. Overall, you should be quite high in carbs for energy and with just a little protein to aid in the muscle maintenance.

Here’s a fuller breakdown of your options:

Why Carbs Are Important:

Carbohydrates are the basic source of energy for your body during exercise, particularly for activities that require endurance or bursts of strength (such as running, cycling, or weightlifting). They break down into glucose, which serves as fuel for your muscles.

Picking complex carbs (like whole grains, fruits, and vegetables) will give a slower, more gradual energy release, whereas simple carbs (like fruit) provide a quick energy hit.

Why Protein is Important:

Helps with muscles: Protein is vital for muscle maintenance and repair. Having a little bite beforehand impedes muscle breakdown and aids muscle remodeling during recovery.

Protein isn’t the most important source of energy for the body during a workout, but it helps sustain and build muscle.

Hydration:

Water is crucial

Post-Workout (30-60 Minutes After Exercising)

The right food after exercising helps restore your energy, repair damaged muscles, and get nutrients back in your body. When you're physically active, your body burns energy that's stored in your muscles (glycogen) and you have tiny tears in muscle fibers. The first 30-60 minutes after your workout is when the best food options can aid in restoring glycogen levels, repairing muscle tissues and begin recovery.

Here’s a detailed breakdown:

And here’s why you need carbs after you work out:

When you work out, your muscles use the energy stored in your body in the form of glycogen, and that gets used up after a while—especially if you’re exercising || Not Available exercise every day. Carbohydrates help to refill these stores.

This process happens more when you consume high-quality carbs immediately after your workout, which helps replenish the glycogen stores for your next exercise session.

Some examples of good post-workout carbs are fruits