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What you eat or drink before a workout can definitely affect how you perform and feel while you exercise. Getting the right balance of macros can provide much-needed energy, while certain supplements can be stimulating, motivating, and lead to better adaptations over time.

When considering what to eat before a workout, the most important thing is to make sure that your pre-workout meal doesn’t hurt your performance. Meals that are too big, too hard to digest, or too close to your workout can impair performance by making you feel sluggish, nauseous, or uncomfortable. After taking care of that, you can work toward actually improving performance with the right nutrition.

Carbs are the most important macro for fueling tough workouts. When you exercise, you get energy mostly from carbs and fat. While you can’t really run out of fat stores in a workout, you can run low on carbs for energy. Eating a small amount of easily-digested carbs right before a workout can provide plenty of energy and help you feel better during the session.

Most of your pre-workout meal should be carb-based, but some of it can be protein. For endurance training or cardio workouts, having a little protein (mixed with carbs) can help prevent soreness and improve recovery. 

Fat should be limited right before a workout because it’s slow to digest, doesn’t provide necessary short-term energy, and can make you feel sluggish.

Most pre-workout supplements will have lots of confusing ingredients, but the most important among them is caffeine. Taking some caffeine before a workout can boost your energy levels and improve performance. In fact, caffeine is probably the most effective and well-researched supplement for improving workout performance that exists. The caffeine doesn’t have to come from a “pre-workout.” You can also just drink coffee, tea, or an energy drink before training.

If you work out at night, it could be better to skip stimulating pre-workouts that contain caffeine, since this could affect your sleep quality. 

A very commonly used supplement that doesn’t really do much for you is BCAAs. They can make your water taste good, but the protein they provide (and BCAAs are just protein) isn’t much. It would be better (and cheaper) to take regular protein powder before or after your workout, and focus on total daily protein instead of what you take during your workout.