stopped overthinking pre-workout nutrition and just did this

Right so I've been lifting seriously for about five years and I still managed to get this wrong for most of that time. I was either eating too much too close to training and feeling sick under the bar, or eating nothing and completely gassing out by my third working set. There was no middle ground for ages. What actually changed things for me was just... simplifying it. Stopped trying to nail some precise macro window and started paying attention to how I actually felt. For heavy sessions — comp lifts, anything near max — I need something in me around 60 to 90 minutes out. Not a full meal. Something light that gives me a bit of fuel without sitting in my stomach like a brick. Rice cakes with peanut butter, half a banana, something like that. On top of that I've been having matcha instead of coffee as my pre-session drink and honestly the difference in how I feel during the session is noticeable. No jitteriness, no crash halfway through, just a steadier kind of focus. I'm not saying it's magic or anything, it just works better for me than espresso did. The creatine is non-negotiable obviously. That's not even a discussion at this point. I think the bit most people miss is that pre-workout nutrition isn't the same every day — it depends on what you're actually doing. Accessory day versus a heavy deadlift day are completely different demands. I eat more before the deadlifts. Simple as. Took me embarrassingly long to figure that out tbh.