Those of you who wake up and walk into your home gym

[d2mini]

I wake up at 5am, chug my 5 calorie caffeine pre-workout drink I made the night before, use the restroom and then walk into the gym. I do a 3 min cardio warmup and then start my first warmup sets.
Time from alarm going off to me being in the gym is about 15 minutes.
When I was cutting I worked out fasted and felt great. I have always worked out first thing in the morning so I'm used to it.
But now that I'm trying to lean bulk I need to know what would be the best thing to consume when I don't have a lot of time for my body to process it before I begin lifting.
Suggestions?

And I cant get up earlier. I'm already running on only 6-6.5 hours of sleep. Getting up at 5am means I started heading to bed around 10, read for a short while and close my eyes around 10:30.

[gbullock32]

You could always just keep training fasted and eat after...

[d2mini]

You could always just keep training fasted and eat after...

I could, yes. But most studies show that performance is maximized by providing the body with some nutrition/energy pre-workout.
Maybe it's minor, but I'd like get as much out of this as possible. I'm putting in the work, might as well attempt to maximize results, right?

After I workout, I have to shower, dress, feed the kids and then walk them to school. Then I can cook for myself. So it's about 1.5 hours post workout before my first real meal of the day.

[gbullock32]

I could, yes. But most studies show that performance is maximized by providing the body with some nutrition/energy pre-workout.
Maybe it's minor, but I'd like get as much out of this as possible. I'm putting in the work, might as well attempt to maximize results, right?

After I workout, I have to shower, dress, feed the kids and then walk them to school. Then I can cook for myself. So it's about 1.5 hours post workout before my first real meal of the day.

If eating before exercise interferes with performance than it is not optimal (for you). You could also just have a shake before or after and that would easily be enough.

[Ghawk21]

I could, yes. But most studies show that performance is maximized by providing the body with some nutrition/energy pre-workout.
Maybe it's minor, but I'd like get as much out of this as possible. I'm putting in the work, might as well attempt to maximize results, right?

After I workout, I have to shower, dress, feed the kids and then walk them to school. Then I can cook for myself. So it's about 1.5 hours post workout before my first real meal of the day.

Maybe but its also very individual. Personally if i were to eat much of anything immediately before working out it wouldn't sit well in my stomach and I wouldn't have a good workout at all. You could try doing something quick and easy like a shake and see if it helps. If I were you though I would continue training fasted and just have a bigger breakfast when you can.

[d2mini]

If eating before exercise interferes with performance than it is not optimal (for you). You could also just have a shake before or after and that would easily be enough.

Why would it interfere?

Shake would work. Would whey be best/quickest to absorb or would another protein be better? I know casein is better used before bed because it's slower.

[gbullock32]

Why would it interfere?

Shake would work. Would whey be best/quickest to absorb or would another protein be better? I know casein is better used before bed because it's slower.

As Ghawk said, if I eat before exercise I feel like crap and cannot perform my best, so it's less optimal.

Whey is fine, try it and see how it goes for you; yogurt, fruit, cheese, and other smaller meals might also be preferable. And you do not need to worry about how fast it absorbs, until you're competing in the Olympia that will never really matter.

[bigjohncurler]

I train fasted most days as my work schedule (12 hour shift worker) makes it hard to always get a decent meal in before i train. Some days I’ll have a banana and a shake beforehand. That seems to work well for me. And I never noticed much of a difference between whey/casein. I just use whatever I happen to have for a powder at the moment

[Plateauplower]

I train fasted whether in a deficit or surplus. If you are fine training fasted what you eat before will likely not make a difference. If you want to increase your performance, caffeine will do that. I’ve also found that waking up 90 minutes before I train makes a big difference (stumbled onto that and stuck with it, probably CNS related). I wake up at 3:30am and drink coffee and chill with the dog for awhile then hit the gym at 5. I have a very well equipped garage gym, but usually train at a commercial gym, just allows me to get more done in less time.

[ErikTheElectric]

You don't necessarily have to change anything just because you're "lean bulking". I'd just keep things the same.

[ironwill2008]

I wake up at 5am, chug my 5 calorie caffeine pre-workout drink I made the night before, use the restroom and then walk into the gym. I do a 3 min cardio warmup and then start my first warmup sets.
Time from alarm going off to me being in the gym is about 15 minutes.
When I was cutting I worked out fasted and felt great. I have always worked out first thing in the morning so I'm used to it.
But now that I'm trying to lean bulk I need to know what would be the best thing to consume when I don't have a lot of time for my body to process it before I begin lifting.
Suggestions?

And I cant get up earlier. I'm already running on only 6-6.5 hours of sleep. Getting up at 5am means I started heading to bed around 10, read for a short while and close my eyes around 10:30.

Unless you've found by your own experience that you train better (have more energy/can mentally focus better) after having eaten something, there's no specific requirement to eat before you train; it's a matter of preference based on what you've found to work better for you. If you train fasted, that just makes it a bit more important to eat something as soon as it's practical to do so after you train.

As always, the bottom line for any sort of meal timing is that it's more important to have taken in all your day's requirement of calories/macros/micros by the end of your day than exactly when during the day you have eaten your meals.

[packer43064]

I've eaten before workouts and have worked out at 4 am before without eating (home gym).

I really haven't noticed a difference. Definitely need some caffeine to 4 am though compared to a 1 pm workout. Whatever works for you is going to be more important than whatever science says.

Ie if you feel like utter crap because you ate some greek yogurt and nuts before a workout especially at 5 am then that isn't going to work for you.

[d2mini]

Feel fine with or without. Obviously I wouldn't eat if I felt like chit.

Was just wondering if anything would be quicker than the other to get absorbed and provide energy considering to the lack of time between alarm and starting my workout. Banana, protein shake, etc. Not a full continental breakfast.

Guess I'll just have to experiment.

[packer43064]

I would just eat some carbs. Quick, easy, will absorb readily within 30 minutes. When I workout in the morning (4/5 am) I usually eat a banana or even some more simple carbs (sucrose) like some Motts fruit snacks.