Nutrition Before Rowing
What type of food you eat and when you 
eat it will affect your perrformance, strength and endurance.
Ideally you shouuld try to eat 2 – 4 hours before training or competition. This should allow enough time for you to digest your food and feel comfortable to train. This may vary between individuals so you may need to experiment to find what works best for you.
Eating a low GI meal before exercise is thought best as it provides a slow sustained release of energy throughout training. This will improve endurance performance compared to not eating.
Eating 2.5 carbohydrate/kg of body weight about 3 hours is recommended. So for a 70kg rower that's = 175g carbohydrate.
Pre-Exercise Meals
2 - 4 Hours Before Exercise |
Chicken, Cheese or Egg Sandwich with Salad |
Jacket Potato with cheese, tuna, chicken, coleslaw or baked deans |
Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese with vegetables |
Chicken with rice and salad |
Mixed bean hot pot with potatoes |
Porridge made with milk |
Wholegrain cereal (branflakes or muesli) with milk or yoghurt |
Snacks
Eating a low GI meal 1 hour before exercise can also be beneficial to performance. GI meals produce a sustained source of carbohydrate throughout exercise and recovery.
Table 10. Pre-workout snacks
1 – 2 Hours Before Exercise |
Fresh fruit |
Yoghurt |
Milkshake |
Fruit loaf |
Fruit juice |
* A smoothie recipe can be found on our Recipe page.
Eating a low GI meal may help burn more fat during exercise. This may worth considering if you’re trying to minimise body fat. The best strategy may be to stick to low GI meals or foods that you know your body can cope with prior to exercise. This will be worth considering for competition days too.