Early morning Swin, Should you eat before hand, what to eat?

drunkmonkey

I'm going to take back up swimming in the morning before work,

I aim to get up around 6.30 and be in the Pool by 7ish, Should I eat before hand (if so, what?)

Is there any good food to eat afterwards that's wouldn't undo all the good work?

hunnymonster

I generally would not eat before a morning session. If I don't feel properly fuelled then I might have some sports drink.

When you talk about undoing the good work, what do you mean?

Clseeper

It all depends on your aims and what level you are at and what you like/will eat.

For the serious swimmer, looking for optimum training and muscle growth:
- You’ll want quickly accessible glycogen [energy]. Pick quickly digested foods, high in carbs with low fat & fibre content. Ideally some cereal for the carbs and fruit for some glucose.
- During training, take water for the first half to replace fluid loss through dehydration and then a glucose or sports drink for the second half to keep hydration levels up but also to top up the energy stores.
- Post training focuses. Eat within ~1/2 hr of finishing. Protein for muscle repair, carbs for energy and fibre for a more slow release of energy.

If you are using swimming as a fat loss program, it may make sense to eat a lot less before the training session as this will force your body to metabolise the other energy store in the body a lot quicker, fat being one of these. I am not aware of any studies done in this area so this would just be my hunch? I haven’t searched though.
- Nothing or maybe some fruit before training.
- Hydration as above as this is really important to optimise your workout session.
- Something similar to above. Maybe less protein but defiantly the fibre and carbs.

Some good examples of carbs, pasta, bread, cereals etc. All depends on what you like and what is convenient. Bananas are a great source of fibre and salts for re-hydration. Basically just look at what you’re eating at the moment and pay a bit more attention to the percentage breakdowns.

By undoing the ‘good work’ I resume you mean putting on any weight you have lost by eating too much after training? Remember it’s a simple equation, energy in versus energy used. If there is any remainder in this then you get energy store = fat. So as long as you are working hard enough in your session you should be fine eating after.

One of my pet hates with any of my clients or people looking to loss weight or diet is they think about just starving themselves will do the trick. While it will in the short term, it’s very unhealthy. Just be a bit more conscious of what you are eating and the fat content of it. You can do some rough calorie counts and see get some rough ball park figures for the calories burnt during the session.

My post’s a bit long winded and may be a confusing as I just typed as it came to my head. Hope it makes some sense. Get back if you have any questions or are looking for clarification.

agrajag

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I'm going to take back up swimming in the morning before work,

I aim to get up around 6.30 and be in the Pool by 7ish, Should I eat before hand (if so, what?)

Is there any good food to eat afterwards that's wouldn't undo all the good work?

I can't do a morning swim without eating something first - I get unbelievable hunger pains (you'd think I hadn't eaten for a week), and it totally distracts me from my session.

I'd usually grab a yoghurt, or maybe some fruit. If I don't eat, and then swim hard, I'm usually buggered for the day in work afterwards, concentration levels go through the floor...

which can be a good or a bad thing