Eating for Energy: Foods That Boost Your Workouts, Recommended by San Diego’s Best Trainers

Do you eat to get full? That’s the problem. Food isn’t just about satiety or sustenance, especially if you’re working toward certain fitness goals. Like fuel that drives your car, nutrients power your body and can elevate your workout to new heights. From speeding up muscle growth and recovery to nourishing your mind and body, the right selection of foods is just as important as your exercises.  Overall, our food choices can impact our stamina, performance, and general well-being. If you’re hungry for knowledge, we’ve served up top tips regarding foods that elevate your workout. You should know that these tips are recommended by an experienced personal trainer in San Diego.

Water and energy drinks 

Let’s quench your thirst for knowledge with the first critical yet criminally overlooked nutrient, which is water. When you’re hitting the treadmill or engaged in any strenuous physical activity such as exercise, your body will lose a lot of it.

How does drinking water affect your workout? Well, sufficient levels of hydration lead to 

• Greater longevity – fatigue sets in quicker when you’re dehydrated 
• Better focus – hydration has been linked to higher brain function, while dehydration invites brain fog, which elevates your risk of injury
• Better core temperature regulation 

When you don’t drink enough water, your downtime also increases as you’ll experience more soreness, cramping, and decelerated muscle regeneration. You should keep sipping water through your workout, about a cup (8 ounces) every 20 minutes, in addition to drinking twice as much water 2 hours leading up to your session. Overall, aim to hit your doctor’s general rule of thumb (16 cups for men and 12 cups for women)

After 1 hour of exercising, you should replenish lost electrolytes by taking an energy drink, according to a San Diego personal trainer who works with athletes daily. 

Sweet potatoes 

Are you gearing up to lift some weights? To avoid being a couch potato, you should fuel your pre-workout with this nutrient-dense root vegetable that will make you strong.

One great food option to add to your menu is sweet potatoes. They are a rich source of complex carbs, which tend to provide more energy compared to simple carbs.  That’s because they contain longer chains, and thus require more digestion time, which means a longer period providing valuable energy. In other words, think of it like the fire from a log (complex carbs) that burns longer compared to the flame of a match (simple carbs).

What’s more, sweet potatoes also contain a bucketload of antioxidants, which can clear brain fog and increase your focus. Ask any personal trainer. They’ll tell you as much.

Spinach

When Popeye is in trouble, he chugs a tom of spinach and gets instant god-like strength. Don’t expect spinach to be as fast-acting in real life or as powerful. However, Popeye does have the right idea. 

Spinach contains an abundance of iron, which you may know plays an important role in the optimal working of red blood cells. These are charged with delivering oxygen and thereby energy to your muscles. 

If Spinach is not your style, the personal fitness trainer we talked to recommends the following substitutes: 

• Eggs (However you please)
• Dried beef
• Pork
• Veal

Pineapple

Eating a pineapple is like taking a nap on a hammock during a stressful day. It cradles you in rest and induces relaxation. The fruit has been shown to raise melatonin levels by 240%, helping to calm pre-workout jitters and anxiety. So besides topping up your batteries, pineapples can also help you get in the right frame of mind, which is down to its Vitamin B6 constituent. 

Moreover, a pineapple a day might just keep the doctor away. Pineapple also doubles up as a great post-workout snack. The fruit exhibits anti-inflammatory properties, which means it takes the edge off muscle soreness and pain while speeding up recovery. 

Not a big fan of this tropical fruit? A gym in San Diego has you covered! They say to try papaya instead, which can have a similar effect when it comes to repairing damaged muscles. 

Greek Yogurt & Honey

Another important addition to our collection of best foods to eat when working out is Greek yogurt. Many of the best gyms in San Diego swear by it, especially when it comes to strength training workouts. 

After or before, it doesn’t really matter when to eat Greek yogurt as long as you do. The experts recommend yogurt with honey to get that extra kick of energy. Honey provides plenty of carbs and can be a quick energy source to get your body ready ahead of a grueling workout.  

Other benefits of this godly combination include: 

• Greater gains in terms of muscle thickness and strength
• Better bone health 
• Higher metabolism and satiety (which is particularly good if fat loss is your primary goal)

You may also choose to top up your yogurt with other healthy workout-friendly options such as granola. 

Bananas 

Bananas make for a very appealing workout food. Not only are they a rich source of potassium but they also contain lots of carbs as well, two important ingredients with a positive effect on muscle growth and performance. 

The best part about bananas is that they are easy to digest. Therefore, your body can make light work of the fruit to quickly give you that injection of energy you need to max out your workout. What’s more, they elevate testosterone levels, and thereby your muscle mass as well, by heightening the levels of bromelain enzyme. So, if you’re looking to “hack” bulking up, go bananas! 

Make your workouts a piece of cake!

When you don’t fuel your body correctly, your workouts can do you more harm than good. You’ll max out before your full potential, while muscle recovery and soreness will take a lot longer to shake off. Much in the same way you cannot drive a car without the right fuel, you can’t exercise optimally without the right foods. That said, nutritional needs vary from one person to another. It’s best to get in touch with San Diego fitness gurus who have a knack for nutritional counseling such as IronOrrFitness to learn how to electrify your workouts with proper nutrition.