Last Updated on October 24, 2025 by Mandy Tyler, M.Ed., RD, CSSD, LD

Best Pre-Workout Breakfast Ideas for Athletes

Wondering what athletes should eat before a morning workout to ensure they are fueled to train at your best? Let’s explore the best pre-workout breakfast ideas for athletes to fuel optimal performance.

What to Include in a Pre-Workout Breakfast

There are several factors that athletes should consider when determining what to eat for breakfast before their workout, including:

• Goals of the workout session
• Time before the morning workout
• Length and intensity of the workout
• Personal preferences

Pre-Workout Breakfast Planning: Goal of the Workout Session

When planning what to eat for breakfast before a workout, it’s important to consider what the athlete’s goal for the workout session is.

When athletes are aiming to get in a high-quality workout to support improvements in performance, it is important they fuel their workout with carbohydrates.

In some situations, athletes may desire to train in a fasted state or with low carbohydrate availability. Often this is done during the off-season with the intent of provoking a desired training adaptation (1).

However, for most high school and college athletes, the aim is to complete high-quality workouts to improve individual and team performance.

Therefore, in this blog, we will look at what athletes should eat before a workout to provide the energy needed to train at their best.

Pre-Workout Breakfast Planning: Timing of the Workout

In addition to the goal of the workout session, athletes need to consider how much time they have between breakfast and the start of workout.

If athletes have several hours before the workout, a high-carb breakfast is likely the best option. However, if athletes will be eating breakfast and starting the workout with the next 1-2 hours, a smaller high-carb snack or mini-meal is more appropriate.

Pro Tip: As athletes have less time prior to the start of the workout, the size of the pre-workout breakfast should decrease and the focus should be on consuming carbohydrates for energy. 

Pre-Workout Breakfast Planning: Workout Length and Intensity

When planning their pre-workout breakfast, athletes should also consider how long the morning workout will be and at what intensity.

It is important for athletes to be mindful that longer duration workouts and/or higher intensity workout sessions will have increased energy demands.

Pre-Workout Breakfast Planning: Individual Preferences

Finally, each athlete is unique with regard to food likes and dislikes, as well as the foods they tolerate best before working out. I have found that some athletes prefer solid foods, while others may prefer smoothies or liquids before working out.

Athletes can meet their energy needs in a variety of ways, thus determining the foods/beverages that work best for each individual athlete is important.

Key Nutrients for a Pre-Workout Breakfast

Athletes desiring to complete a high-quality morning workout will want to ensure carbohydrate-rich foods are at the foundation of their pre-workout meal.

Similar to gas for a car, carbohydrates provide athletes with the energy needed to train at their best.

Athletes can add carbohydrates to their meals from a variety of food groups, including: grains (bread, bagels, cereal, oatmeal), fruit, starchy vegetables, and dairy (milk, yogurt).

Adding a variety of carbohydrate-rich foods to an athlete’s pre-workout breakfast can help ensure they have the energy needed for the upcoming training session.

Protein with an Athlete’s Pre-Workout Breakfast

In addition to carbohydrates, the pre-workout breakfast should include a moderate amount of protein.

Ideas for protein-rich foods that can be added to an athlete’s breakfast include:

• Greek yogurt, high-protein milk, low-fat milk
• Cottage cheese, low-fat cheese
• Eggs, hard-boiled eggs
• Chicken or turkey sausage, turkey bacon, ham
• Nuts, nut butters
• Soy milk, soy yogurt, tofu

Pre-Workout Breakfast Ideas for Athletes

Putting this all together, let’s look at ideas for pre-workout breakfasts, mini-meals, and snacks for athletes to enjoy before a morning workout.

Pre-Workout Breakfast Ideas

When athletes have 3-4 hours before their morning workout, they can plan to eat a healthy breakfast that includes a good source of carbohydrates and a moderate amount of protein.

Some of my favorite breakfast ideas for before a morning workout include:

• Protein overnight oats with blueberries and walnuts
• Pancakes with fresh strawberries and scrambled eggs
• Bagel with nut butter, banana, high-protein milk
• Cottage cheese with pineapple, breakfast bars
• Fruit smoothie, hard-boiled eggs
• Breakfast burrito with eggs and turkey sausage, 100% fruit juice
• Toaster waffles with nut butter, banana, Greek yogurt drink
• English muffin with egg and ham, Greek yogurt parfait with berries and granola

Pre-Workout Breakfast Ideas: Mini-Meals

When athletes have less time (2-3 hours) before their morning workout, instead of eating a full meal I suggest having a balanced snack or mini-meal to fuel their session.

The mini-meal should include a food high in carbohydrates paired with a food providing a source of protein.

Mini-meal breakfast ideas for before morning practice include:

• Fruit smoothie
• Greek yogurt parfait with berries and granola
• Protein granola with banana
• Bagel with nut butter and banana slices
• Fig bars with hard-boiled eggs
• Kodiak Cakes® toaster waffles, apple slices
• Instant oatmeal with walnuts and raisins
• Breakfast bars with string cheese

Pre-Workout Breakfast Snack Ideas

When athletes have limited time (≤ 1 hour) to eat before their morning workout, I recommend they focus on fueling with energy-dense, high-carb snacks.

Choosing foods that are energy-dense can make it easy for athletes to meet their calorie needs before a morning workout. Energy-dense foods contain a high number of calories relative to their weight; examples include granola, dried fruit, breakfast bars, and bagels.

Energy-Dense, High-Carb Snack Ideas for Before a Morning Workout

Easy ideas for energy-dense, high-carb snacks that athletes can enjoy before a morning workout include:

• Banana or small piece of fruit
• Applesauce squeeze pouch, dried fruit, fruit leather
• English muffin, toast with jelly, bagel
• Instant oatmeal, cream of wheat
• Toaster waffle, low-fat muffin
• Breakfast bar, fig bar, low-fat granola bar
• Dry breakfast cereal, protein granola
• Graham crackers, animal crackers
• Pretzels, peanut butter pretzels, pita chips
• Oatmeal energy bites (recipe from Kate Campbell, RDN)

Don’t Forget to Hydrate with Your Pre-Workout Breakfast

It is important for athletes to remember to hydrate with their pre-workout breakfast.

Dehydration can negatively impact performance and increase an athlete’s risk of heat illness. Therefore, starting the workout in an optimally hydrated state is important for athletes.

Although hydration needs vary amongst athletes, there are some general guidelines that athletes can follow before a workout. 

General Pre-Workout Hydration Guidelines for Athletes

Approximately 4 hours prior to activity, it is recommended for athletes to drink 5-7 mL of fluid per kg of body weight (2). For a 160-pound athlete, this calculates to be ~12 – 17 fluid ounces. 

Thus, in general, consuming ~2 cups of fluid with breakfast before a workout can assist athletes with meeting this goal.

In the hour leading up to the workout, athletes should continue hydrating, aiming to drink another ~8 oz of fluid during this time period. 

Foods to Limit with the Pre-Workout Breakfast

Every athlete is unique in terms of what foods they feel most comfortable eating prior to working out.

However, there are some types of food that are more likely to cause GI distress when eaten too close to the start of activity. In general, this includes foods that are high in fat, fiber, and/or protein (1).

When planning what to eat for breakfast before a morning workout, athletes may want to limit foods such as:

• Heavy cream, cheese, or greasy sauces such as gravy
• High-fiber breads or cereals
• Beans and high-fiber vegetables
• Fried foods such as donuts or fried hashbrown potatoes
• High-fat or greasy breakfast meats such as pork sausage and bacon

Best Pre-Workout Breakfast Ideas for Athletes

You are now set with pre-workout breakfast ideas to help athletes fuel to train at their best.

Remember, each athlete is unique and has individual preferences. Athletes can have fun trying out different foods and beverages to find the combination that works best for fueling their morning workouts.

For additional sports nutrition tips for athletes, check out my blog with ideas for what to eat after an evening workout.

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About the Author

Mandy Tyler is a Sports Dietitian Nutritionist in the San Antonio, TX area. She is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics, a Licensed Athletic Trainer, and is a Certified Exercise Physiologist through the American College of Sports Medicine.  Mandy has experience working with athletes at the high school, collegiate, and professional levels. She believes the key to reaching one’s full potential, both in everyday life and in sports performance, relies on a healthy nutritional foundation. 

If you are looking to take your performance to the next level, make sure to check out my new Sports Nutrition Game Day Guide. This downloadable guide is written to help athletes develop an individualized plan to achieve peak performance on game day.