What to Eat Before & After Strength Training

In this Video...
Coach Sheree walks you through what to eat before & after strength training. She shares when to eat before training, what types of foods matter most after, and how to keep it realistic when life is full. Ideal for women over 50 who want sustainable strength habits.

Protein Focused |  Pre & Post Workout  |  Women 50+

What to Eat Before & After Strength Training: Readable Version

Personal Preference: Fasted vs Fed Training

So some things we eat before a workout or after a workout are very individualised and there are studies out there for and against. I personally like to work out on an empty stomach or something only small in my stomach because otherwise if we have too big a meal we have the blood flowing through to our stomach and not to our extremities, to our muscles where we want them to work.

Benefits of Caffeine and Supplements

Albeit there are studies out there that are showing that things like caffeine, boosted supplements and things can give us a better workout. So if you have that in your stomach before you're working out then it can give you that bit of added oomph and extra energy to be able to do a better workout than you probably would have without it. But I prefer to work out without it because I feel like I can work out well if I'm doing stuff on my front, my tummy over the football or something.

Post-Workout Nutrition

I don't feel like I'm going to be sick if I have food in there, then that gives you a bit of a sickly feeling. So I prefer it afterwards within that hour or so after I work out, then I'm having my protein in some form. Normally food, a food meal I'll have then to replenish my protein stores, but I prefer to eat afterwards.

Eating for Longer Sessions

That's not everyone's choice. And in fact, if I was doing an extremely long session, say I was going out on a long hike somewhere, bushwalk, and I'm out in the bush for a number of hours and I'm going to go hard or even a long bike ride, then I'll make sure I've got something in my stomach before I go. But if I'm doing a strength training one for three quarts an hour an hour, then I would not have something in my stomach or I would wait a couple of hours before I had my main meal.

Listen to Your Body

I hope that helps. And remembering that with strength training, it's all about how you feel yourself, because some people do like to have something, some people's blood sugars get too low. And so just knowing what your body's going to do, playing around with it, but I personally prefer to have my meal after I work out.

Hope that helps.