What to eat before early morning workout

[laser]

Hey guys,

I normally lift around 6 am, which gives me enough time to do my thing and make it into the office by 8 am. Normally, I wake up at 5:50 am, roll over, and head to the gym, pausing to eat an apple on the way for a quick burst of energy. However, I've been finding that I feel weak and hungry part way through the workout.

Any suggestions for things I can eat before working out? I'm looking for something that I can eat and go to the gym right away without waiting to digest it. Preferably something with minimal to zero prep time as well.

As someone that works 13-15 hours per day, I'm lucky if I get 6 hours of sleep a night, so every bit of sleep counts.

[Ian Kovtunovich]

I occasionally rock the morning workout, and also start off with an apple. I also throw down two slices of toast with peanut butter and a ton of honey, figuring that the honey and the apple will be enough simple carbs to get me rolling, and I'll keep tapping the bread as the workout goes on. I've also found a quart of a sugary beverage (e.g. Gatorade, or iced tea or even water with lemon and a bunch of sugar, to help keep the bar moving). I dunno if my food-science is any good, or if my timing is realistic on the toast. I feel like shit working out in the morning, although both times I've done it, I've finished my working sets, so...

[amazhad]

I do 6am workouts, and find a smoothie is a quick way to get some calories in. My smoothie is 12 fl.oz. whole milk, one banana, 2 frozen strawberries, and one scoop of whey protein (non-flavored). Throw it into a blender (or smoothie maker) for a few seconds and you are good to go with a 430-ish calorie breakfast that is quick to make, and easy to digest.

The banana and strawberries cover up any taste from the whey protein nicely, and start the day off with 12g of fat (7g saturated), 50g carbs, and 38g of protein. I always have enough energy for my workouts as long as I also get enough sleep. Prep work and clean up is very minimal, more so if the container used to blend in also doubles as a cup like mine does.

[DV]

JP posted this on his forum about nutrition pre-monring-workout:

http://startingstrength.com/resource...ad.php?t=18117

it's fairly similar to what I do, works well enough.

[IronSteve]

You get up at 5.50 and train at 6?
maybe that's your problem... you're not even awake.

Get up an hour before you work out, down some sort of liquid breakfast(milk based) then go work out.
Eat a full solid meal straight after the gym

cheers

[IlPrincipeBrutto]

If you really have so little time between waking up and hitting the gym, my suggestion would be to add a spoon of olive oil to a cup of milk.

IPB

[Jalapen0]

I'm in the same situation. I get up at 5:50. Put 1 cup OJ, 1 banana, and a scoop of vanilla whey into a blender. Take a no-doze and off to the gym. After working out, I eat a big breakfast. I'm a morning person though, I don't see how I could work out in the afternoon, I'm out of energy by then.

[Age_of_Aquarius]

Cup of black coffee, cup of milk and two bananas. That's how I do it.

[jerji]

Cup of black coffee, cup of milk and two bananas. That's how I do it.

If I had coffee beforehand, I'd be pissing throughout the whole workout.

Anyway, I also roll out of bed into the gym and usually have about 2 cups of milk, 1 banana, 1 cup of water and either a some instant oatmeal or a few eggs cracked over the pan. Both of those cook fast enough that I can be out of the door in <30 mins.