Can Eating Honey Before a Workout Really Boost Your Exercise Performance?

There are countless energy gels, drinks, and chews all designed to amp us up before exercise. But has the perfect pre-workout been hiding out in your pantry all along? 

We’re talking about honey. It’s sweet and primed to ready your muscles for exercise—and it pairs well with other fueling snacks to boot. Below, learn what makes honey pre-workout a great snack before exercise, the benefits it provides, and when and how to eat it before your next sweat session. 

Is Honey a Good Pre-Workout Snack?

Short answer: Yes! “Honey can be a great natural food pre-workout snack because it is high in simple sugar, which means it can digest quickly and give you a quick energy boost,” says Jena Brown, RD, a board-certified specialist in sports dietetics and owner of Victorem Performance Nutrition in Brenham, Texas.

Of course, even though honey is a worthy option for pre-exercise fueling, it doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for everyone—or in every situation. (More on this later.)

What About Honey and Salt Pre-Workout?

The combination of salt and honey pre-workout recently received a lot of love on TikTok—and, honestly, this makes sense, Brown says. The duo boosts energy and electrolytes to fuel your muscles and enhance hydration, making it a solid snack to eat before exercising. But it’s far from your only pre-workout snack option. 

Sodium (a key electrolyte in salt) is typically added to sports drinks because it regulates the fluid volume of cells, among its other functions as an electrolyte, such as nerve and muscle function. So while it’s logical that you may want to add a sprinkle of salt to your honey, it’s not usually necessary—especially if you’re getting sodium from another source, like food or a sports drink.

That said, if you’re interested in trying this viral pre-workout treat, Brown says you can eat the salty-sweet snack alone (simply by topping a spoonful of honey with a few shakes of salt) or mixing two tablespoons of honey with ¼ teaspoon of salt and spreading the mixture on a salted rice cake. Eat the snack 30 minutes before a workout to give your body ample time for digestion.

Benefits of Eating Honey Pre-Workout

Aside from the yum-factor, there are real benefits to this pre-workout spoonful of sugar:

1. Honey Is a Simple Carbohydrate

A pre-workout snack should typically offer a source of simple carbohydrates, which are carbs that get digested fast and raise your blood sugar quickly, providing easy-access energy to muscles. Eating honey is a great vehicle for this, as it’s made up of more than 80 percent carbohydrate. 

“Honey is high in two natural simple carbohydrate sugars, glucose and fructose,” Brown explains. “These are monosaccharides that are the body’s preferred source of energy, especially during exercise.” Because honey contains both glucose and fructose, which rely on different routes in the body to be absorbed by muscles, you may be able to send your muscles more carbs for energy than you would when eating other foods. This may potentially prolong endurance training, Brown says.

But outside of exercise, honey is not a great food to eat alone due to this swift rise in blood sugar. If you happen to be eating honey at other, non-exercise times, she advises eating it alongside foods with complex carbohydrates (which is where the majority of your carb intake should typically come from), protein, and fat to slow digestion and your body’s blood sugar response. 

2. Honey Is a Whole Food

Honey is a food, rather than a supplement like gels or chews—and “studies show that a ‘food-first’ approach is becoming more popular as a less expensive and health-promoting strategy to improve exercise performance,” Brown says, citing a 2023 narrative review published in the journal Nutrients.

3. Honey Is Budget-Friendly, Transportable, and Delicious

As Brown mentioned above, researchers note that a “food-first” approach is often more cost-effective compared to supplements. However, there are certain downsides with relying on certain high-carb foods over things like gels, bars, powders, or drinks, according to the 2023 Nutrients review:

Honey, on the other hand, naturally solves for these roadblocks. You can easily bring honey packets or sticks along with you if you’re knocking out a long endurance workout and need to eat during a run, ride, or game, or if you won’t be able to whip up a more involved snack before working out (like if you’re going straight from the office to the gym). It’s also palatable (and honestly delicious) when eaten solo, and you don’t need to eat a ton of honey for a pre-exercise boost.

4. Honey Supplies Bonus Health Benefits

Many of us think of honey as a regular old sweetener, but given it’s produced by bees, there are other substances in honey that up its health benefits, including proteins, amino acids, minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and polyphenols (aka compounds with antioxidant properties), according to a 2019 review of nine studies on honey and exercise published in Nutrients. 

That same research suggests that when consumed long-term, honey’s immune system-supporting properties may help limit the immune dysfunction that can occur after intense or prolonged exercise. (Exercise is a stress on the body—a good stress, to be sure, but it may open up a potential window in which the body is more vulnerable to getting sick.) While another 2018 review published in the journal Science & Sports came to similar conclusions—that honey may have a positive role in immune system responses—more research is needed on how this translates to real-world situations.

When to Eat Honey as a Pre-Workout Snack

Like any food new to your pre-workout fueling routine, honey isn’t something you should try for the first time the day of an important event. For example, if you’re running a half marathon, race day morning is not the time to see how your body handles honey before a workout.

Instead, add in honey pre-workout while training and during regular sweat sessions to see how your body responds. Individual tolerance to foods and supplements varies, Brown reminds us, so the snacks and meals your workout buddy swears by won’t necessarily be the same things that help you thrive during exercise.

Another important thing to consider: Honey is a high-FODMAP food, so if you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and are trying to decrease your FODMAP intake to manage digestive symptoms, honey before a workout may not be a good option for you. In addition, honey is not considered vegan, so it also won’t work for you if you’re avoiding all animal products.

How Much Honey Should You Eat Before a Workout?

Brown advises aiming to eat 30 grams of carbohydrates 30 minutes before exercise. There are 17 grams of carbohydrate in one tablespoon of honey, so to reach that 30-gram mark, you’d eat about two tablespoons of honey half an hour before exercising. 

Of course, remember that you don’t have to only eat honey before a workout; it can be eaten in combination with other foods, like a rice cake. Another idea, recommends Brown, is consuming one tablespoon of honey with 2.5 cups of salted watermelon.

The more time you have to spare before exercising, the more carbohydrates your body can digest before you get moving. If you have one hour before exercising, the rough guideline is to eat 1 gram of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight, Brown says—meaning a 150-pound person would aim to eat 68 grams of carbs 60 minutes before exercising. Or if that same person had 45 minutes before working out, they’d have time to digest roughly 45–50 grams of carbs. In that scenario, they could fuel up with a tablespoon of honey on toast with sliced banana or a tablespoon of honey with peanut butter on a whole-wheat English muffin, Brown says.

Just monitor how much carbohydrate you’re eating, since consuming too many of these quick carbs can cause GI problems during exercise, Brown cautions. Make adjustments based on your taste preferences as well as how your body responds, both in terms of performance during a workout and how your digestive system feels.

Another thing to keep in mind: Even though we might use sugar as a carbohydrate source, it’s important to consider how your pre-exercise fuel fits into your overall sugar intake. After all, even though we often think of honey as a “natural” sugar, it’s still considered an added sugar, according to the US Food & Drug Administration. The American Heart Association suggests limiting added sugars to no more than 6 percent of your daily calories.

If you have any questions about how to optimize your pre-workout nutrition, consider talking to a registered dietitian, particularly one that works with athletes. They can help you formulate a plan that works best for your performance and health.

The Takeaway

Honey before a workout can be a great pre-exercise snack because it’s a source of quick-digesting carbohydrates, which can provide your muscles with easily accessible energy. This sugar can also be consumed during exercise for a pick-me-up, if needed. Everyone responds to foods differently, so if you’re interested in using honey pre-workout, experiment with eating it during training sessions or practices before an important athletic event. Stick to 30 grams of honey (about two tablespoons) a half hour before a workout, or combine honey with other sources of carbs (like a banana or rice cake) if you need a more substantial snack and have more time before you start moving.

This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute individualized advice. It is not intended to replace professional medical evaluation, diagnosis, or treatment. Seek the advice of your physician for questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. If you are having a medical emergency, call your physician or 911 immediately.