In the belief that they do not have enough strength and energy otherwise, many people eat even shortly before a physical activity.

However, this is a fallacy, because it is precisely the intake of food directly before a workout or sporting activity that inhibits performance.

Instead, nothing should be eaten for at least three hours before a physical workout so as not to unnecessarily burden the body with additional digestive work.

In order to either digest food or perform physically, the human body has to initiate opposing metabolic processes.

When you eat food, this is a signal to the body that the metabolism is now being switched to the processes required for energy intake. To this end, the hormone insulin in particular is secreted, which ensures in the body that absorbed energy can be stored. In addition, the entire gastrointestinal tract is supplied with more blood in order to be able to cope with the digestive work.

Overall, the digestive work activates the so-called parasympathetic nervous system, which, among other things, controls recovery and regeneration processes in the body. This is also the reason why there is often an initial feeling of tiredness after eating.

However, exactly the opposite happens during physical activity. Here, the blood supply to the working muscles is increased in order to be able to cope with the physical activity. Due to the redistribution of blood volume, the gastrointestinal tract is now also supplied with less blood and digestion slows down overall. Physical activity is also the signal to release more stored energy for energy supply. For this purpose, the hormones adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are released in the body. Physical activity activates in particular the so-called sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for activity and alertness in the body. However, the sympathetic nervous system is an antagonist of the parasympathetic nervous system and thus prevents effective digestive work.

Thus, if food is eaten shortly before exercise, both tasks cannot be optimally accomplished. The physical activity inhibits optimal digestion. Typical digestive problems then occur, such as heartburn, belching, nausea and, in some cases, vomiting.

On the other hand, only a significantly low physical performance can be retrieved, since a large part of the blood volume is tied up in the gastrointestinal tract by the initiated digestive process. This blood volume is therefore not available for oxygen transport to the working muscles. The result is often heavy and tired muscles; especially in endurance sports, it is then almost impossible to achieve the usual training level. As a result, such a training session is largely ineffective, since usually no training-effective stimulus can be achieved.

You would therefore deprive yourself of valuable training success by not eating at the right time. Before a physical training session, you should therefore not eat anything for at least three hours beforehand in order to allow sufficient time for the necessary digestion of a meal.

Nevertheless, it also depends on what you have eaten in the hours before. A light breakfast has usually already reached the intestine within 2-3 hours in the digestive chain. A large lunch, however, has often not left the stomach even after several hours, so that a large part of the blood volume is then still in the stomach area and is not available to the working muscles.

If you complete your training in the morning or in the forenoon, it is advisable to always design the training in the form of a so-called fasting training in order to also train the metabolic flexibility.

A fasting workout, as the name suggests, takes place in a sober state. So it means that you are welcome to drink water before the workout, but there is no food intake.