Nutrition for Exercise: How to Fuel Your Body to Train, Perform and Recover

What you eat plays a crucial role in how well you train, how quickly you recover, and how strong and healthy you feel along the way. Whether you're preparing for a 5K, a long-distance run, or simply staying active for health and fitness, fuelling your body with nutritious food can help you get more from every workout.

Why Nutrition Matters for Exercise

Eating well gives your body the energy it needs to train, rebuild, and get stronger over time. The food you eat before and after a session helps power your muscles, reduce fatigue, and protect you from illness and injury.

In short: good nutrition = better performance, faster recovery, and fewer setbacks.

The Basics: What Your Body Needs

Your body gets its energy from three main nutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Each has an important role to play in your exercise routine:

Carbohydrate – Your Body’s Preferred Fuel

Carbs from foods like oats, pasta, rice, potatoes, and fruit are the primary fuel for your muscles. They’re stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver, but these stores are limited — usually enough for around 90–120 minutes of hard exercise. If your stores run low, you’ll feel it — fatigue and a dip in performance are likely.

Protein – For Recovery and Adaptation

Protein isn’t a major fuel source, but it’s essential for muscle repair and recovery. It helps rebuild muscle tissue and supports strength gains. You’ll find protein in foods like lean meat, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, lentils, tofu, and nuts.

Fat – For Longer, Lower-Intensity Sessions

Fat supports brain function, hormone production, and helps your body absorb key vitamins. It also provides energy, particularly during longer, steady-state activities. The healthiest fats come from nuts, seeds, oily fish, avocados, and olive oil.

Building a Balanced Plate

For most meals:

• Fill half your plate with colourful vegetables

• Add a quarter with carbohydrate-rich foods

• Add a quarter with lean protein

• Include a small portion of healthy fats

Simple snacks like fruit, a handful of nuts, or yogurt can help keep your energy up between meals. And don’t forget to stay hydrated — water should be your go-to most of the time.

What to Eat Before a Run or Workout

Eating before exercise helps provide the energy you need and can make your workout feel easier and more enjoyable.

Timing

• 2–4 hours before: Go for a balanced meal with carbs and a little protein. E.g. porridge with banana, or a baked potato with hummus and salad.

• 1 hour before: Choose a light snack that’s mostly carbohydrate, like a banana or fruit and nut bar.

• Less than 1 hour: Keep it small and easy to digest — a sports drink or a few dates will do the trick.

If you prefer training on an empty stomach, keep it short and low-to-moderate in intensity — anything longer or harder could leave you depleted and may impact recovery.

Staying Hydrated

Dehydration can lead to fatigue, slower recovery and increased risk of injury. The simplest way to check hydration is by looking at your urine: it should be pale yellow, like straw. Anything darker means you likely need to drink more.

As a rough guide: drink 5–10 ml of fluid per kg body weight in the 4 hours before your session.

During Your Workout

If you’re training for less than an hour, water is all you’ll need. For longer sessions, especially over 90 minutes, it’s important to take in carbohydrates to keep your energy levels up.

Start fuelling around the 45-minute mark and aim for:

• 30–60g carbohydrate per hour (e.g. sports drink, banana, energy chews or bars)

Take time during training to practise fuelling so your gut can adapt, especially if you’re building up to a race.

Recovery Nutrition: Rebuild and Recharge

What you eat after a workout helps your body recover and prepare for your next session. Aim to:

✅ Rehydrate

Replace fluid losses — if you lost 1kg during your workout, drink 1.25–1.5 litres of fluid to replenish.

✅ Refuel

Replenish glycogen stores with carbohydrates. If you’re training again later that day, aim for 1–1.2g carbs per kg body weight within two hours.

✅ Repair

Support muscle recovery with 20–30g protein after exercise. Spread your protein intake evenly throughout the day.

✅ Rest

Don’t underestimate the importance of sleep. It’s when your body does its best repair work — aim for 7–9 hours most nights.

Key Takeaways

• Fuel your body with balanced meals to support your training and recovery.

• Carbohydrates are your main energy source, especially for high-intensity and long workouts.

• Protein helps repair and build muscle — aim to include it in all meals and snacks.

• Hydrate before, during and after exercise — your performance depends on it.

• Practise your fuelling and hydration strategies during training, especially if you’re preparing for an event.