Why Athletes are Encouraged to Eat before they Exercise in the Morning

Skipping breakfast is a common practice among athletes who exercise early in the morning. If you climb out of bed and eat nothing before you start exercising you will most likely be running on fumes. During the night, you can deplete your liver glycogen, the source of carbohydrate that maintains normal blood sugar levels. When you start a workout with low blood sugar, you fatigue earlier than you would have if you had eaten something, you could also feel weak, faint, sluggish and lightheaded. Low blood sugar could also affect your mental ability causing a slower reaction time, which is not something you would want while spotting your teammate bench pressing.

If you eat before you workout you will have the endurance to lengthen your workout, you will perform better by having a delay in the burning feeling in your muscles, and your effort will be less rigorous than those who have fasted before exercising.

How much you should eat varies from person to person just pay attention to how you feel during your workouts and adjust accordingly. The pre-exercise meal should be predominantly carbohydrate because it empties quickly from the stomach and becomes readily available to be used by the muscles. If you will be exercising for less than an hour, snack on foods that are easily digestible and settle comfortably. For example, if you exercise right away in the morning you could try eating a granola bar or a small bagel, toast, dry cereal, yogurt, piece of fruit or even drinking a sports drink will help. Limit high-fat sources of protein (hamburgers, fried chicken, cheese omelets) because they take longer to empty from the stomach. Allow adequate time for digestion. The general rule is to allow 3-4 hours for a large meal to digest, 2-3 hours for a smaller meal, 1-2 hours for a blended or liquid meal, and less than an hour for a small snack, according to your own tolerance.

If you are an athlete who has been trying to exercise in the morning without eating, I encourage you to try and at least eat a small snack with some carbohydrates to see if it can help your performance. Your team and coach will thank you.