Probably a little too calorie dense if on a cut, but I'm trying to add size and 1 TB nicely sweetens my morning homemade oat/protein bar. Is Honey a bad idea pre-workout? Too much sugar? I think honey is something like ~50/50 fructose/glucose but I hear it's a fairly good source of antioxidants and nutrients provided you stick with RAW unpasteurized honey.
Thoughts?
My preworkout breakfast includes
the protein/oat bar
one apple
100-125g plain yoghurt with 1 TB mashed strawberries or blueberries added
1 TB honey
about 400 - 500 cal approx 3:1 (c : p) usually 1 hour or so b4 workout (I eat around 4:30-5 am) to workout close to 6am).
Course I just noticed that 50% of my carbs are coming from the oats the other 50% is mostly sugar (apple, yoghurt, honey....hmmm might have to rethink this).
Posted by: The13ig13adWolf
honey is sugar. no good.
Posted by: P-funk
depends on your goals and what your workout it like.
Honey= fructose.
Posted by: Gordo
Well I'm trying gain weight(preferably in the form of muscle)...started out at 175 (don't know %bf starting but it was in the high 20's) then did a lot of cardio with little to no weight-training for a good year and dropped to an all time low of 138lbs, probably hit single digit %bf but bleed away too much mus-kle...way too low for a guy 5' 10" )
So now I've been slowly adding weight but keeping %bf fairly low up to about 145lb at about 10% (but that's a guess until I pick up some calipers). Would like to climb to about 155-160 slowly not in any big rush. Figured since I'm trying to fit some cals in I figured honey wouldn't hurt too badly. Sugar and me have never had too much of a problem (ie: I'd eat a lot and other than a rush I wouldn't really gain weight from it or at least it distributed well . It took many years to hit 175lb and that's when I ate badly and simply too much of it.
I'm wondering more about the sugar in the morning causing burnout part way through the workout. I find that somedays I have trouble getting my intensity up in the morning. I know honey offers some benefit to endurance athletes....just not so sure if it fits in weight-training. My workout only lasts 1 hour, or so.
I typically train 2 on/ 1 off
cardio 2x /week sometimes 3
Posted by: P-funk
I would nix the honey. As it stands your entire pre-wrkout meal is loaded with carbs (protein/oat bar, apple, yogurt). I would try and just eat more of a balanced meal with protein, carbs and fat.
Posted by: Gordo
Yeah I was kinda leaning that way.... damn, the sweet taste was nice.
More fat, well I was thinking about that but since it's my only meal coming off a night's sleep I was kinda afraid the fat is going to hold things up and I'd be working out somewhat fasted. Figuring out early am workouts is a bit of a challenge
Right now it's pre-workout meal
workout
PWO shake
off to work
PWO meal (usually a balanced meal of oats, protein, and fats) about 1~1.5 hours later.
Posted by: cheesegrater
i put honey in shakes post workout on a cut, as i was told to.......hasn't seemed to do any harm....wouldn't honey sugar be the same as fruit sugar? i mean, i put tropicana in shakes and eat fruit every chance i get and fruit is loaded with natural sugar isn't it?
Posted by: Gordo
Tropicana would be fairly loaded with sugar but a glass of fruit juice is like getting 3 or 4 servings of fruit in one go and next to zero fiber.
I think fruit (most fruits) are more water, fiber and nutrients than sugar generally.
The sugar in fruit is a little overblown.
As for honey's sugar....yeah it's fructose and glucose ( about 50:50 )
it's just calorie dense...like 1 TB is 65 cals.
Posted by: ReelBigFish
the problem w/ fructose is that it goes only to restoring liver glycogen and not towards muscle glycogen, which is what you use during your work out.
Posted by: Rocco32
I'd try to keep fructose/sugar down preworkout to keep from crashing after the insulin spike.
Posted by: P-funk
fructose wont illicit an insulin spike and will take longer to digest then other sugars. It uses a different pathway.
for a good year and dropped to an all time low of 138lbs, probably hit single digit %bf but bleed away too much mus-kle...way too low for a guy 5' 10" 
)
. It took many years to hit 175lb and that's when I ate badly and simply too much of it.
