Working out is so rewarding and we are incredibly lucky that we have the ability to move our bodies! When we exercise we are increasing our strength, mobility, functionality, daily movement, and quality of life!
With exercise, it needs to be seen as something we do in order to help us with all the above and not a punishing task to “lose weight” or “burn off the weekend binge”.
When we move our bodies, however, they actually require energy to do so, now this might not suit everyone, but it most certainly will help a lot of you. Not everyone likes to eat something first thing in the morning, or much during the day, but here are the reasons why having fuel before training is important.
- When you exercise first thing in the morning and your last meal and drink of water was dinner the night before, you will not have as much energy as if you did a workout later on in the day after having a decent breakfast for example. This is because your body actually burns calories in its sleep, your body uses this energy to do its normal functions such as breathe (lungs), pump blood (heart), and detoxify (liver/kidneys) to name a few. When you have something in the morning such as a nice big glass of water and perhaps even half a banana, you are giving your body the energy it will need to get through the workout you are doing first thing in the morning. We would recommend you doing this 20 minutes before you start your exercise session.
2. If you go all day without giving your body much fuel at all and then you go and do an exercise session later on in the day, your body will find it extremely hard to give it, it’s all. You may think you’ll be fine, but then you start to feel fatigued early on in the session, low energy, faint like, and even dizzy. You are not doing your body a service by not eating all day then exercising “to try to burn more fat” at all, you are actually putting your health at risk! Your body needs fuel, and it can’t run and function properly on empty. It’s like trying to run a car without any gas, you’ll find yourself coasting through your exercise session just like the car on the road before it completely runs out and needs to come to a complete stop. Give your body the energy it needs and then exercise with more energy to give!
3. Without enough fuel, in the tank, you can actually put yourself at risk of wanting to give up altogether, which is not going to benefit your health and body at all. If you have little to no energy, you are not going to want to put in the effort to exercise, are you? You are more likely to just want to go home and go to sleep, or continue to sleep in in the morning. Start fuelling your body so you wake up with energy, feel amazing, and have more energy to get through your day and your workout!
4. You also need to ensure you are hydrating yourself enough too, little to no water will also not help you get through an exercise session, drinking during your training session, should ideally not be the first sip of water you take in the morning/day or afternoon. When you wake up in the morning, try and have at least 1 large glass of water, to hydrate your body again, remember when you sleep your body will go 7-9 hours without any water, so hydrate and fuel when you wake up, you will seriously notice such a difference!
Pre Workout Meal Ideas:
- Banana
- Apple
- 50g of Greek yogurt with 1/4 cup of blueberries
- 10 almonds
- 1 teaspoon of nut butter
- rice cracker with 1/2 teaspoon spread of nut butter or 15 g of avocado
- 1 boiled egg
- 1 piece of wholegrain toast with nut butter, cottage cheese, avocado or hummus
Start fuelling your body the right way, look after it, stop starving, punishing and letting your body go, it needs to be looked after as it’s the only one you have and that is coming from a place of love!
PWR FIT TEAM