What should you eat before training?

Short answer

Eat a normal meal with carbohydrates and protein 2–4 hours before training. For sessions longer than 60 minutes, guidelines give 1–4 g of carbohydrate per kg in the 1–4 hours beforehand. For a typical lifting session, a normal meal is enough.

Figures

1–4 g/kg · carbs 1–4 h before long sessions
3–5 g/kg · per day at light training load
5–7 g/kg · per day at about 1 h of training daily

Eating around an afternoon or evening session

Why carbohydrates

Carbohydrates fill glycogen stores in muscle and liver. Lifting uses glycogen but does not empty the stores in a normal session. That makes the daily total more important than the meal right before.

The daily amount

Guidelines scale by training load: 3–5 g/kg for light load, 5–7 g/kg for about an hour a day. They give no separate value for lifting; most lifters sit in the lower band.

When it matters more

The pre-training meal matters more for long sessions, two sessions a day or fasted morning training. If you train well fasted, that is fine for a short lifting session.

Sources

Thomas, Erdman, Burke · 2016 · Med Sci Sports Exerc DOI
1–4 g/kg 1–4 h before exercise over 60 min; daily ranges by training load.
Burke et al. · 2011 · J Sports Sci DOI
Daily carbohydrate ranges by training load.
Kerksick et al. · 2017 · J Int Soc Sports Nutr DOI
ISSN position on nutrient timing.

Summaries by SetCtl, not medical advice.