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Short, actionable briefs built from peer-reviewed human research. Each entry gives one clear claim, a concrete action, and links to primary sources from PubMed, Cochrane, or major journals, so your actions about money, work, body, focus, and people stay grounded in evidence, not opinion.

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Pre-Training nutrition

Body & Training

Claim
Eating a carb-focused meal with some lean protein 1–3 hours before training is a simple way to boost how much work you can do and support muscle gain in workouts lasting ~45 minutes or longer.

Why it matters
• Carbohydrate taken before or during lifting lets lifters complete more total sets and reps in longer or fasted sessions.
• Sports-nutrition guidelines recommend ~1–4 g carbohydrate per kg bodyweight and 20–40 g protein around training to support performance and muscle growth.
• High-fat, high-fibre meals close to exercise slow digestion and are linked with more gut discomfort, so pre-exercise meals are usually kept relatively low in fat and fibre.

Action

  1. For any session ≥45 minutes, eat an easy-to-digest meal 1–3 hours before: about 1 g carbohydrate per kg bodyweight + 20–40 g lean protein, with only light added fat and low fibre.

  2. If you train soon after waking and can’t get a full meal, have a small carb-heavy snack with some protein 30–45 minutes before instead, still keeping fat and fibre low.

  3. Use this pattern for your next 6–10 workouts, watch energy, reps, and stomach comfort, then adjust the carb amount slightly up or down while keeping the same carbs + protein, low-fat, low-fibre structure.

Source
Pre-workout carbs & lifting volume – King et al., 2022, Sports Medicine (systematic review/meta-analysis). PubMed
Athlete nutrition guidelines (carb + protein ranges) – Thomas et al., 2016, Med Sci Sports Exerc (ACSM joint position stand); Jäger et al., 2017, J Int Soc Sports Nutr (ISSN protein stand). PubMed · PubMed
Pre-exercise gut comfort & low-fat/low-fibre meals – Mancin et al., 2025, Nutrients; de Oliveira et al., 2014, Sports Med; Hughes et al., 2021, Adv Nutr. PMC · PubMed · PubMed