A million times YES!!! Eating a proper meal and ensuring you are properly hydrated before your workout will give you more energy, prevent muscle catabolism, and increase muscle anabolism. Sure, a pre-workout supplement is great to help you maximize your efforts in the gym and give you mental energy, but it does NOT provide fuel for your muscles.
Your body's preferred energy source is carbohydrates, which it turns into glycogen and stores in various tissue throughout your body. This glycogen is the best possible energy source your body can use. In other words, you feel and perform the best when your body is using glycogen as energy instead of another source. If you train intensely (as you should be if you want results), your body will completely deplete these glycogen levels during your workout. Therefore, you HAVE to ensure these levels are full BEFORE you start your intense workout. If you don't, your body will be dragging in the gym, even if you take a pre-workout supplement that gives you mental energy.
Even worse, if your glycogen levels are low when you start your workout, your body will look for other sources of fuel. Usually, your body first looks to break down muscle tissue for energy. It will break down your muscle tissue in order to use the amino acids elsewhere. This is called muscle catabolism, and you definitely don't want this. It makes it even harder to stay in shape, gain muscle, burn fat, and perform when working out.
Beyond, preventing muscle catabolism, you need to promote muscle anabolism. When you workout, the main purpose is to improve your performance by strengthening your body. Not only do you have to stop muscle breakdown, but you have to encourage muscle growth. This is what’s known as protein synthesis. If you are exercising correctly and consuming the right amount of protein, your body will take that protein and turn it into muscle mass. Protein synthesis is what makes you stronger, more muscular, and better able to handle your next workout.
Considering these three benefits, it's obvious why eating before your workout is so important. Whether you’re looking to lose weight, build muscle, or just improve your performance, what you put into your body is so crucially important.
What you eat is also very important! I highly recommend you eat what I eat.
If you've seen my nutrition guide, you know that I eat 1 hour before my lift, and my meal consists of a lean protein (very low in fat), a complex carb, and vegetables.
When I'm cutting, my pre-workout meal looks like this:
-4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast (you can use any other lean protein)
-4 oz brown rice (you can use any other complex carb)
-4 oz asparagus (you can use any other green vegetable)
When I'm bulking, I just double the amount of complex carbs:
-4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast (you can use any other lean protein)
-8 oz brown rice (you can use any other complex carb)
-4 oz asparagus (you can use any other green vegetable)
There are times when I can't eat a "whole meal" an hour before my lift. (When I say "whole meal" I mean a meal consisting of whole foods instead of a supplement.) You might find yourself in a similar situation, but that's NO excuse to workout on an empty stomach. If you can't eat a "whole meal" an hour before your workout, you need a low temperature processed, sustained assimilation protein powder. The low temperature process ensures that I don't get bloated and sluggish during my workout. I use 2 scoops as a pre-workout meal replacement. If you want what I use, Click Here.
Now, if you've eaten the proper meal an hour before your workout, and you want a pre-workout supplement to help ensure you have incredible mental focus AND muscle endurance, try half a scoop of THIS 20 minutes before your workout. If you can handle half a scoop, and you want more, then increase it to 3/4 scoop your next workout, then a full scoop the workout after that.
Personally, I also use an Inter-workout supplement, because of the intensity and volume of of my lifts. If you've eaten the proper pre-workout meal and you still need muscle energy during your lift (like I do), try drinking THIS during your workout instead of just water.
Finally, after your workout, make sure you follow my post workout nutrition advise. To read that article, Click Here.
If you do decide to use what I use, PLEASE use my links above. By using my links, you'll get free shipping and be assigned to my Team, where I can give you all the fitness, nutrition, and supplement advice you want. Additionally, if you're not completely satisfied, you'll be refunded 110% of your money.
Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section below or email me at: rjportalesfitness@gmail.com