Preworkout meal

I train at 6:00 AM. Can anyone recommend a good preworkout meal - preferably protein and fat. Steak and eggs sits in my gut like a rock.

Protein shake with flaxseed oil or some fish oil caps. Or just get rid of the steak and stick with eggs in a omelet or plain.

Why the hell would you eat steak and eggs before a workout? Thats assinine. Pre- workout meals should ALWAYS consist of a cabohydrate/ protein mixture. Also, if you’re working out soon after the meal, make it a liquid meal, something like Surge or it’s equivalent. No matter what these high fat dopes tell you, carbs are the THE fuel of the muscles, and without them, the body just will not have the proper fire power. Don’t ruin Miller time! Lets make it great!

Protein and carbs would be the way to go, both first in the morning, and pre-workout. A protein shake and oatmeal make up my breakfast. Sometimes a medium bannana, too.

Berardi usually recommends P+F before training (not right before of course) and also P+F for breakfast if you’re dieting. The two meals after training should be P+C, the first one being Surge.

Poliquin wrote an article a while back for t-mag called “Preparing for the Ultimate Workout”. He recommended a lean top of round steak (I believe) and some poached eggs along with some other supplements. Out of all the pre-workout meals I’ve tried This one works the best for me. I also break up my Surge for during and after workouts.

When dieting, how long after your postworkout Surge does Berardi recommend eating? I remember an old article where he said continue eating every 3 hours. I am trying to gain a little strength though, and I feel like I should eat something 60 mins later. What do you guys do? P&C, P&F? How long after training/cardio?

If you’re trying to loose fat, do not consume any carbs before training.
I recommend a plan like this one:
5:00= 20 grams of a liquid protein (blended protein such as advanced protein from Biotest)
5:30= 10 grams of a liquid protein (whey isolate because of fast absorption) + 5 grams glutamine ether peptide or L
5:55= half scoop surge + 10 grams creatine
6-7:00= train + sip a half scoop of surge thou workout
7:05=half scoop surge + 10 grams creatine
7:30=10 grams of a liquid protein (whey isolate because of fast absorption) + 5 grams glutamine ether peptide or L
8:00=20 grams of a liquid protein (whey isolates because of fast absorption)
8:30=10 grams of a liquid protein (blended protein such as advanced protein from Biotest)
9:00= 30+ grams of a solid protein meal (perfect time for your steak and eggs meal)
I could go on and on about protein planing, but I wont! I’ll end it here.
This plan has produced tremendous size and strength gains for my clients and myself.
Give it a try. Good luck.

I’ll probably stick with the eggs, maybe add a tablespoon each of flax and olive oil. Can’t do the carbs preworkout, it just doesn’t work for me. I respond better to the protein/fat combo.

There’s no such thing as “ALWAYS” in terms of training and diet. I remember quite clearly that consuming carbs before training (not including the five minutes before and during) actually impairs performance. plus, as others have mentioned, it’s a terrible idea if fat loss is the goal.

Eric, lets see now… Why would carbs impare performance? That statement just happens to contradict a plethora of studies concerning pre- workout macronutrient consumption. Second, why would taking in carbs be bad for fat loss?? What is THE main factor in losing fat? Consuming less calories than your burning daily. You could eat pork rinds for every meal, but as long as you don’t go over the calorie limit, you’ll lose fat. You could eat only pasta at every meal as long as you don’t go over calorie limit, and you would lose fat. This obviosly is not the best way, but it is possible.

And NO, carb phobics, insulin does NOT make you fat. It partitions the macronutrients you consume. If you eat a meal containing high glycemic carbs and fat, insulin will shuttle those calories to your fat cells. If you take in less calories than you’re burning for the day, it dosen’t matter because the calories from the fat you consumed will be burned anyway.

Carbs and insulin have their place. They shuttle nutrients and protein into the muscle.

Will, I’m gonna have to call “Bullshit” on the Idea that you think eating pork rinds or pasta for every meal will lose bodyfat as long as you stay under your total calories. The first thing that is gonna go down the poop shoot is your strength and then your LBM. Then after that you may lose some fat. I don’t think any of us that have posted on this subject are “carb phobics”. We just would rather consume P+F during our preworkout meal and save the carb consumption for during and after exercise. I don’t want to put words in Berardi’s mouth, but I believe this is what his research has been shown to be the most effective.

Take a look at Rule #1 in John Berardi’s Appetite for Construction in Issue 180. It explains why P&F meals are better before training. As for your pork rinds theory, sure you’ll lose weight if you take in less calories than you expend. And, as you wrote, dropping weight without considering macronutrient ratios is “obviosly” not the best way. First of all, it’s spelled “obviously.” Secondly, the original question was posted by a dedicated trainer who is looking for the best form of pre-workout nutrition, not what “could” work. There’s no reason to even consider the high sugar diet because people at this forum are serious trainers who are looking for the ideal way to maximize muscle mass or lose bodyfat while maintaining as much muscle as possible. I understand that you were just using the pork rinds concept as an example to make your point, and your point is clearly made. However, in response to your original assertion that P&C meals are best before training, I have to disagree wholeheartedly, and I know that Berardi agrees with me.

Will, there’s an Appetite for Contruction column a few issues back that talks about this “a calorie is a calorie” stuff. Really quite eye opening. Check it out.

Also, consuming fewer calories than you expend is not the most important factor in FAT loss. Rather, it is the most important factor in WEIGHT loss! If one cuts out protein completely, and only eats fats and carbs, muscle wasting will be just as rapid, if not more rapid, than fat loss. Furthermore, in regards to fat loss, if one eats carbs right before exercise, the body will burn those carbs before tapping into bodyfat stores. Many people reason that if this is the case, and little fat is burned during the workout itself, then more fat will be burned in the hours following exercise when glycogen stores are low. However, common practice is to ingest a protein and carb drink immediately after exercise, which immediately slows fat metabolism. If one doesn’t take in anything after exercise, he/she risks falling into a catabolic state. In other words, by eating P&F meals in the hours before training, one taps into bodyfat stores sooner (because glycogen stores are already low). Furthermore, this increases the chances that significant fat burning will take place before the post-workout meal halts catabolism and fat metabolism. I’m surprised Kelly Baggett hasn’t chimed in on this; where are you, buddy?

Preworkout = Cup of coffee and some ECA

Hey Eric I hear you bud!

I think the subject of “a calorie is a calorie” has been addressed and dealt with enough already and is really not worth arguing about. Berardi did a good job of addressing this topic in his article several weeks ago. As for carbs preworkout many people have to be really careful about consuming and for others it really doesn’t seem to matter. I know personally I get a great workout off of a steak and eggs type of breakfast. Some people are so sensitive to blood sugar and insulin variations that even a mis-timed pre-workout cup of coffee can screw up a workout by creating hypoglycemia.

As an excellent compromise of principles i normally use (later in the day) a serving of muscle milk 30-60min before i work out. One servings got 12 carbs, 32g protein, and around 20g fat. Mixed protein, Virtually all “good” fats, a lot of them MCTs… throw in 5 fish oil caps too if you want.

AMEN.

To get back to the original question, Chris, how early to you get up…how much time before you train do/can you eat? That plays a role as well. You probably can’t go wrong with a flax/protein shake, but I personally like to chew, so some hard-boiled egg whites, flax and mixed veggies with fat-free cheese would do the trick (about 250 calories).

As far as the debate on pre-workout carbs, research has shown that eating carbs (especially high glycemic)in the 30 to 90 minutes before training can cause a large increase in insulin and lead to the hypoglycemic effect that Kelly pointed to. This is not true for all people though. As far as the paradigm with the pre-training/during training rapidly digesting protein/simple carb drink not causing the same effect, there are some major hormonal changes/shifts going on in the body to use these nutrients efficiently. If you'd rather not dip into the research, then JB lays it out on a silver platter rather nicely in his articles.