There is nothing worse than getting halfway through your workout and hitting the proverbial energy wall and end up falling out early. Falling out early can lead to bad diet choices later in the day and low levels of motivation for the next workout session. A great tool that we have at our disposal is a pre-workout meal or snack.
Good pre-workout food will combine the right amount of ingredients to satisfy your hunger, increase energy levels, and support the health or fitness goals of your workout. One food that can easily check off these boxes is fresh healthy smoothies.
With the limitless options of ingredients, smoothies are excellent as a pre-workout food and in fact, might just be the perfect option for a pre-workout food or meal. A good pre-workout smoothie will have a combination of healthy carbs, healthy fat, and a good amount of protein to help repair and rebuild muscle after the workout. Again with so many options in ingredients, you can dial in the best combination to achieve your perfect taste and macronutrient targets.
What Ingredients to Add for a Pre-work Out Smoothie
To create the perfect pre-workout smoothie for yourself, consider the foundational components of a pre-workout food: energy, repair and rebuild, and taste. When it comes to taste I think it’s essential to like or even really enjoy what you’re consuming. In the past, I did a lot of strength training with weights and used many protein powders to bulk up and build muscle mass. Most of these chalk concoctions tasted horrible leaving a wicked taste in my mouth that would bother me throughout the workout and even occasionally give me headaches. It’s just not worth it in my opinion to not like what you eat unless it is going to increase your deadlift by 10,000 pounds.
The Role of Carbs, Protein, and Fats in a Pre-workout Smoothie
When putting together a pre-workout smoothie try to think about what type of work out you will be doing and what type of energy you will be needing and expending. Once you’ve identified your work plan you can start to piece your ingredients together to fit the right carb, fat, and protein needs you will have during the workout. Carbs are often the best and easiest to access form of energy. There are fast-acting carbs like simple sugars found in fruit that will give a quick burst of available energy to slower digested carbs like oats that can release energy over a longer time frame for workouts like a long run. If you have a very long workout with sustained cardio fats can come into play and provide a secondary energy source once carb energy has been depleted. The other factor is protein. Protein can be used as energy, but more thought of as a muscle-building block. So depending on the type of workout and your goals of the work out choose the right mix of carbs, protein, and fats to get you through your workout and help repair and rebuild after.
Smoothie Ingredients for Pre-workout Energy
To choose your ingredients for pre-workout out energy, start with considering how strenuous and long your planned workout is going to be. For a 30 minute aerobic type work out you’ll most likely need quick readily available carbs. For longer more strenuous workouts you’ll want to consider having some reserves that the body can tap into once glucose banks are depleted. Below are some options that can be considered for your smoothie recipes to assist with pre-workout energy.
Coconut Water for Pre-workout – One of the most important factors before working out is to ensure that you are properly hydrated especially if you are working out very strenuously or in a hot environment. Properly hydrating before and during a long sweat session can keep you in the game. Coconut water gives you a double advantage in supplying both energy and hydration. Coconut water contains small levels of simple sugars that can give you a boost in energy to power through workouts. Coconut water also has high levels of potassium that assist in hydration and is said to help prevent muscle cramping. One factor to consider with Coconut water is that it doesn’t contain much sodium or other electrolytes which is lost during strenuous sweating and may need replenishing for very strenuous works outs lasting longer periods. Coconut water can be a good substitute for water when water just isn’t cutting it from a taste perspective.
Bananas for Pre-workout- About 90% of banana is made up of carbs. Bananas are easily digested and its energy is derived from its conversion to glucose. Glucose is one of the easiest forms of energy for the body to use and when available can be tapped to power through a workout. Bananas may be one of the best options for pre-workout due to their versatility, availability, and low cost. Bananas can be incorporated into most smoothie recipes and will assist energy levels during a workout. Bananas are also very rich in potassium which can help prevent muscle cramping.
The Complete Guide to Using Bananas in Smoothies
Oats for Pre-workout – Oats make for a great pre-workout energy booster. Oats work especially well for workouts that are longer in duration. Oats are full of fiber and are slower digesting meaning that you get energy over a longer period versus something like a banana that gets quickly converted to glucose. Oats can feel a little heavier in the stomach so it’s usually best to consume your oats at least an hour before your workout. Oats are easily added to smoothie recipes and give smoothies a nice nutty flavor. If you have a quality high-speed blender, blending oats is a breeze and incorporates nice and smoothie into most smoothie recipes. If you have a less quality blender you can soak your oats for 10-20 minutes in water to soften or blend dry beforehand to get a smoother texture.
Mixed Fruit and Mixed Berries- Mixed fruit and mixed berries are other options for quick easily available energy for the body. Fruit and berries when consumed in a smoothie format provide quick energy to the body when it needs it in the form of glucose. A handful of either or both in your smoothies will assist in energy during a workout.
Chia Seeds- Chia seeds have been used as a food source and stamina for thousands of years. I first heard about chia seeds as a human energy source from the book Born to Run which has details about an ultra-marathon running tribe that regularly consumes soaked chia seeds before and during their runs as an energy source. If it works for ancient Aztec and Incan warriors, it sure works for Smoothie Warrior. Chia seeds are high in omega-3 fats which can help provide longer sustainable energy for longer workouts. Pound for pound there is also a good amount of protein in Chia seeds that can help rebuild muscles post-workout.
Are Chia Seeds Good for Smoothies?
Ingredients for Pre-workout Repair and Rebuilding
Another factor when considering a pre-workout is having the right stuff at the ready to rebuild and repair post-workout. Having it in the pipeline as pre-workout increases the chances the body will have what it needs when it needs it. During a workout, you are fatiguing and breaking down muscle so that the body can repair and add stronger and more muscle after the fact. The foundational building block for this process is protein. Below are some options that can be considered for your smoothie recipes to repair and rebuild with protein.
Greek Yogurt- Greek yogurt is an excellent option to add to a pre-workout smoothie for protein. Typical Greek yogurt will contain about twice the amount of protein that you will find in regular yogurt. Greek yogurt works well in smoothies and gives smoothies good texture and taste when blending up. Be careful to choose good old plain Greek yogurt as flavored Greek yogurts often contain copious amounts of sugar and unnatural ingredients.
Protein Powder- To get a boost of protein, straight protein powder can be added to smoothies. There are almost endless options of varieties, flavors, and types of protein powder available on the market. A scoop or two of protein powder can often double or more the protein content of a smoothie. When choosing a protein powder make sure to read the label thoroughly to ensure you are getting only the ingredients you are looking for in a protein powder. I typically like to utilize protein powder products that have limited ingredients outside of pure protein and have more of a neutral taste so that I can flavor my smoothies with natural ingredients like fruit and vegetables. The most common protein is whey protein which comes from the liquid part of milk that separates during cheese production. More and more there are also plant-based proteins being made available in a protein powder format that can also make a good addition to smoothies.
Nuts and Butters- Nuts and nut butter like peanut and almond butter are packed with protein. Nut butter also plays a dual role by providing energy in fat a fat format. Most nuts and nutter butter have high levels of healthy fats that can provide longer sustainable energy once glucose stores are utilized during workouts. Nuts and nut butter can simply be added to most smoothie recipes to add a smooth texture and nutty flavors to smoothies. My favorite nut butter is Costco brand Kirkland Almond butter. This Almond butter has just 1 ingredient, roasted almonds, and is found at a great price within Costco.
Other Pre-workout Supplements
If you want to go deep and look into additional supplements you can look at other options to include in your pre-workout smoothies including Caffeine, BCAAs, and Beta-alanine. I typically don’t include these in my pre-workout smoothies, but they are available and can provide different attributes depending on what you are looking for.
Caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant found in various products like coffee and tea. Caffeine is widely used around the world and is a psychoactive drug that can improve alertness and feeling of energy. Caffeine can be added to smoothies in powder form, tea form, or even as coffee.
BCAA stands for branched-chained amino acid. BCAAs work with protein to create muscle. BCAA often comes in a powder format that can be added to smoothies.
Beta-alanine is thought to help with muscle endurance during exercise and is marketed to improve endurance and performance. This is another product that comes in powder format.
When to Consume a Pre-work Out Smoothie
The goal for a pre-workout smoothie is to take the hunger edge off before and after a workout and to provide you with the energy needed at the right time. To allow time for the smoothie to settle in and hit me with the needed energy during the work out I like to consume my smoothies rather quickly and somewhere between 30-60 minutes before the begging of my workout. I like to start the process of making a smoothie then move to consume it while getting ready for the gym or while I’m driving to the gym. I find by the time I get to the gym and I’m ready to start a workout it will fall between 30-60 minutes when I’ve finished the smoothie.
It’s important to give it a little time before when you finish your smoothie and when you first begin working out. I generally find that if I use healthy, fresh, and natural ingredients in my smoothies stomach issues are rarely an issue. However, every once in awhile stomach issues can be brought on by any pre-workout food right after you consume it and you don’t want that to be a barrier to working out. I find that if it does happen, waiting the 30-60 minutes usually is good enough for a stomach ache or bloating to subside.
Another strategy that you can employ is to make a smoothie, drink half as a pre-workout, and half as a post work out. This can be a very effective strategy in curbing hunger pangs after a long hard workout. I’ve derailed myself many times by working out extra hard at the gym only to hit up some less than healthy food options on the way home. A half smoothie works well as a post-workout option to prevent those unhealthy treat yourself moments after a workout.
An advanced strategy is to use smoothies as part of a habit loop to get you to develop the right habits around pre and post-workout. A habit loop consists of a cue, routine, and reward. If we say that the work out is the routine that we want to cement, we can make the pre-workout smoothie the cue. Once I’ve made my pre-workout smoothie, it is the cue that I’m now ready to move into the workout routine. I like to use smoothies as a reward in the last part of the habit loop. You can read about my regular habit loop around workout where I use smoothies as a reward rather than a cue here:
How to Make Healthy Smoothies a Daily Habit
Pre-workout Smoothie Recipes
Nutty Vanilla Oat Pre-workout Smoothie
- 1.5 cups Coconut Milk
- 1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
- 1 tablespoon Chia Seeds
- 2 tablespoons of Quick Rolled Oats
- 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt
- 1 medium Banana
- 1 tablespoon Almond Butter
Another great pre-workout Smoothie recipe is the Daily Smoothie Warrior Smoothie. You can read about the recipe here:
The Smoothie Warrior Daily Smoothie
The Smoothie Warrior Daily Smoothie
- 1 frozen banana
- 1.5 cups of chilled coconut milk
- 2 handfuls or cups of fresh spinach and kale mix
- 1 large handful of frozen mixed fruit (I like to use pineapple, strawberries, peaches, and mango)
- 1 tablespoon of almond butter
- 1 teaspoon of maca powder
- 1 teaspoon of raw chia seeds
- 1 teaspoon of goji berries
- 1 teaspoon of flax seeds