What to Eat Before a Workout in Singapore: A Practical Guide to Pre-Exercise Snacks

You've booked a 7pm spin class, or you're heading out for an East Coast Park run before work, and the same question comes up: should I eat something first? If so, what, and how long before? Nearly all the advice online is written for marathoners or bodybuilders. This guide is for everyone else: people who exercise a few times a week, in Singapore's heat, and want to know what actually helps.

First question: do you even need a pre-workout snack?

Often, you don't. Sports nutrition guidelines are mostly about fuelling longer efforts. The Gatorade Sports Science Institute's review of carbohydrate research, for example, recommends pre-exercise carbohydrate "for exercise lasting > 60 min" (GSSI, 2022). If you had a normal lunch and your evening gym session is 45 minutes of moderate effort, you probably have enough fuel on board already.

A snack is more useful in these situations:

  • Your last meal was more than about four hours ago, say lunch at noon and a workout at 6.30pm.
  • You're exercising first thing in the morning after an overnight fast.
  • The session is long or hard: over an hour, interval training, a football match, or a long ride.
  • You tend to feel light-headed, shaky or flat partway through a workout.

Why morning workouts are different

Overnight, your body draws on the carbohydrate stored in your liver to keep your blood sugar steady. The GSSI review notes that liver glycogen drops after an overnight fast, while muscle glycogen stays stable. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) says the pre-event meal "is particularly important before a morning event", because 12 hours or more may have passed since you last ate (ACSM Current Comment: Pre-Event Meals).

That doesn't mean a big breakfast at 5.30am. ACSM suggests something light, like toast, cereal with low-fat milk, fruit or yoghurt, plus a proper carbohydrate-based dinner the night before if the morning session is a big one.

Timing: how long before exercise should you eat?

This is where most people go wrong. Time needed depends on how much you eat and what's in it:

  • A small meal (roughly 400–500 kcal): ACSM suggests eating it about 2–3 hours before exercise.
  • A larger meal with a lot of protein or fat: may need 5–6 hours, according to the same ACSM guidance. That's worth remembering before a heavy hawker lunch and an afternoon game of futsal.
  • For longer or harder sessions: the general guideline is 1–4 g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight in the 1–4 hours before exercise (GSSI). For a 60 kg person, that's a wide range of 60–240 g, so start at the low end and adjust.

The closer you get to the start, the smaller and simpler the snack should be.

What makes a good pre-workout snack

The ACSM guidance is consistent: mostly carbohydrate, easy to digest, and not too heavy on fat, protein or fibre, because all three slow digestion. ACSM also flags high-fibre, gas-forming foods (bran, beans, onions, cabbage) and fizzy drinks as common causes of stomach discomfort during exercise.

So the rules for everyday eating get partly flipped. The high-fibre, high-protein snack that keeps you full at your desk is a good choice two or three hours before a workout. It's a poor one 20 minutes before.

For a light snack before an afternoon session, ACSM's own list includes fruit, juice, low-fat crackers, pretzels and rice cakes. Local options that fit:

  • A banana or a couple of slices of papaya
  • A slice or two of bread with a thin spread of kaya or jam
  • A small portion of plain crackers or rice crackers
  • A small tub of low-fat yoghurt

Things to go easy on right before exercise: curry puffs and other fried snacks (lots of fat), a large plate of chicken rice, and very spicy food if spice upsets your stomach.

There's no single right answer. ACSM puts it plainly: "No one food or group of foods works for everybody." Try new foods on a training day, not on race day.

In Singapore, fluid matters as much as food

In hot, humid weather, how much you drink can matter more than what you eat. Sport Singapore's safety guidance recommends about 500 ml of water 30 minutes before exercise, 250–500 ml every half-hour during exercise, and around 1,000 ml afterwards. It also recommends isotonic or sports drinks for activities lasting more than an hour. Light-coloured urine is a simple sign you're drinking enough (Sport Singapore).

Sport Singapore also suggests avoiding strong coffee and alcohol before exercise. If you rely on a kopi before your workout, ACSM says caffeine should be "considered on an individual basis": it helps some people and makes others nauseous or jittery.

The joint ACSM, American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada position stand makes the same point: start exercise well hydrated, then drink enough during and after to replace what you lose in sweat (ACSM position stand, 2009).

A quick cheat sheet

  • Short, easy session, ate within the last 3–4 hours: water is probably enough.
  • Evening session, lunch was long ago: a light, carb-based snack 1–2 hours before.
  • Early-morning run or class: something small and easy, like a banana or toast, plus water.
  • Over an hour, or very hard: plan a proper carb-based meal 2–4 hours before, and consider an isotonic drink during.

A caveat: these are general guidelines for healthy adults. If you have diabetes, take medication that affects blood sugar, or are training for a specific event, a doctor or accredited dietitian can tailor the advice to you.

Where HexaCrunch fits

Our baked brown-rice crackers are made with cricket protein, so they have more protein and fibre than a plain rice cracker. By the logic above, that makes them a better snack a couple of hours before a workout, or after it, than a last-minute bite in the changing room. If you want to find the flavour that suits your routine, the Try-All 3-Pack is an easy place to start.

Sources

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