Honey and Salt Pre-Workout: Does It Actually Work?

According to many social media health and fitness “gurus,” honey and salt pre-workout is a boon for athletic performance. 

They claim that the salt and honey pre-workout mix provides an instant and sustained energy boost, enhances hydration, and improves electrolyte balance, which helps prevent brain fog, fatigue, and muscle cramps.

Not everyone is sold on the benefits, though. Skeptics say taking honey and salt as pre-workout delivers on none of its promises and is only popular because of its “natural” appeal.

Who’s right?

Where did the honey and salt pre-workout trend begin?

What are its purported benefits?

And does science agree?

Get evidence-based answers to these questions and more in this article.

Key Takeaways

• The honey and salt pre-workout trend began on TikTok, where users promoted licking honey and salt off the back of the hand as a “natural” pre-workout alternative.
• Supporters say it provides quick energy, replenishes electrolytes, boosts hydration, and offers antioxidant benefits.
• These claims are overstated. Honey is just a fast-digesting carbohydrate (no better than any other carb source), and salt only supports hydration during long, sweaty workouts, especially in hot or humid conditions.
• Honey and salt are harmless but unlikely to noticeably enhance performance, and too much salt may cause bloating or stomach discomfort.
• If you want a pre-workout that reliably increases energy, focus, and athletic performance, use a well-formulated pre-workout like Pulse.

The Origin of Honey and Salt Pre-Workout

Like most recent health and fitness fads, the honey and salt pre-workout trend started on social media. 

A TikTok user shared a video of herself licking honey and salt off the back of her hand, claiming it was her new natural pre-workout routine.

The video caught the attention of other fitness enthusiasts, who began making and sharing their own videos of the honey and salt pre-workout mix.

How Do You Make Salt and Honey Pre-Workout?

There’s no standard recipe for honey and salt pre-workout, but most people use one of two methods:

1. Mix 1–2 teaspoons of honey with a pinch of salt in warm water and drink.
2. Pour 1–2 teaspoons of honey on to the back of your hand, sprinkle with salt, and lick off. 

Both options are perfectly viable, though mixing it with water is usually less messy (though also infinitely less TikTokable).

You’ll sometimes see recommendations to use Himalayan pink salt instead of table salt because it “contains more minerals.” While pink salt does contain trace minerals, the amounts are too small to make a meaningful difference—regular table salt works just the same.

The Purported Benefits of Honey and Salt Pre-Workout

The purported benefits of the honey and salt pre-workout supplement include:

• Quick Energy: Honey is a simple carbohydrate that your body quickly breaks down into glucose (blood sugar), which provides fast, easily accessible energy before your workout. 
• Electrolyte Replenishment: The salt provides sodium and the honey contains small amounts of minerals like potassium. Advocates of honey and salt pre-workout claim this combo optimizes electrolyte balance and replenishes electrolytes lost through sweat during long weightlifting workouts and endurance exercise.
• Hydration: Because sodium helps the body retain water, many claim taking honey and salt before a workout supports better hydration and helps maintain fluid balance during exercise.

• Antioxidant Boost: Honey is a natural source of antioxidants, offering protection against exercise-induced oxidative damage that leads to inflammation and muscle soreness.

Is Honey and Salt a Good Pre-Workout?

It’s hard to ignore the enthusiastic claims of honey pre-workout users.

But is honey and salt a good pre-workout supplement? 

Here’s what science says. 

Is Honey a Good Pre-Workout?

Honey is a natural source of carbs, so it provides your body with immediate energy and, in doing so, helps preserve glycogen (stored carbs), allowing you to train for longer. 

These benefits aren’t unique to honey, though. All carbs do this, which is probably why the few studies investigating honey as a pre-workout show it isn’t better at providing energy than other carb sources.

That said, many honey pre-workout tubthumpers would say this is missing the real advantage. For them, honey’s edge is that it only contains natural sugars, which keep your blood sugar levels more stable than processed sugars.

Maintaining stable blood glucose levels prevents energy crashes and helps keep you focussed, which may improve athletic performance when doing tasks requiring a lot of skill (like squatting heavy weights, for example).   

However, the limited research available suggests honey is no better than other carbs at keeping blood sugar stable.

Another perk of eating carbs before you train is that it tends to make you feel like you can push harder in your workout. Again, few studies have looked at honey’s effect in this regard, but those that have suggested honey has a similar effect to other carbs on “perceived exertion.” 

As for antioxidant protection, a single dose of honey for pre-workout has little effect on inflammation, so it won’t ease post-workout muscle soreness. Regular use might help, but since some inflammation is essential for muscle growth, reducing it too much might slow your progress.

Is Salt a Good Pre-Workout?

Salt is made up of sodium and chloride—electrolytes your body uses to maintain fluid balance, transmit nerve signals, and enable muscle contractions. 

Because you lose some sodium when you sweat, many people believe taking salt before a workout can prevent fatigue, cramps, or dips in performance.

However, research shows these effects are highly dependent on the type of workout.

Most people don’t lose enough sodium in typical gym sessions (especially those under ~45 minutes in cool or indoor environments) for supplementation to meaningfully impact performance. In these situations, simply salting your food and drinking water is generally sufficient.

Salt also doesn’t directly improve performance, prevent muscle cramps, or boost strength. Cramps, for example, are more closely linked to fatigue and training intensity than electrolyte levels.

Where sodium can be useful is in longer (45+ minute), high-intensity, and sweat-heavy sessions, especially in hot or humid conditions. 

In these cases, taking in some sodium can help you retain more of the water you drink, supporting better hydration—and that can indirectly help maintain endurance, elevate mood, and make the workout feel easier.

So, salt isn’t inherently a “performance booster,” but it can play a supportive role in hydration during long, sweaty workouts. For shorter or less sweaty sessions, it likely isn’t necessary.

To learn more about how electrolytes affect athletic performance, check out this article:

Do You Need Electrolyte Supplements? What Science Says

Honey and Salt Pre-Workout’s Side Effects

Honey and salt are generally fine to take before training, but there are a couple of potential side effects if you overdo it. Eating a large amount of honey at once can cause a sharp rise in blood sugar, which may leave you feeling buzzed and then sluggish as your levels adjust. 

And if you take too much salt before training, it can pull water into your digestive tract and cause bloating or stomach discomfort. This is especially true if you also drink water throughout your workout, and the workout is short or not particularly sweaty.

How Long Does Honey and Salt Pre-Workout Take to Kick In?

Honey and salt don’t “kick in” like traditional pre-workout supplements do. That is, there’s no noticeable surge in energy or focus like you might feel after taking caffeine and L-theanine, and you won’t experience the tingling sensation that beta-alanine can cause.

If they’re going to have an effect, it’ll typically be within 10–20 minutes.

Honey is a simple carbohydrate, so your body breaks it down into glucose fairly quickly. This can provide a small bump in energy, especially if you haven’t eaten in a while. Salt, on the other hand, doesn’t create any immediate feeling at all. 

Should You Take Salt and Honey as a Pre-Workout?

For most people, taking honey and salt pre-workout likely won’t offer any unique performance benefits.

Honey is simply a fast-acting carbohydrate. It can provide quick energy, but so can any source of carbs, and honey isn’t better than others at keeping your energy steady, reducing fatigue, or supporting recovery.

Salt can support hydration during long, sweaty workouts, especially in hot or humid conditions, because sodium helps your body retain more of the water you drink. 

But during shorter or less sweaty training sessions—like most gym workouts—you generally don’t lose enough sodium to make pre-workout salt necessary, and taking too much may cause bloating or stomach discomfort.

So, while there’s nothing inherently harmful about having honey and salt before you train, it’s unlikely to meaningfully improve your performance unless your workouts are long, intense, and sweat-heavy.

If you’re looking for a natural pre-workout alternative that does reliably enhance workout performance, caffeine is the most well-supported option. 

And if you’d prefer a natural pre-workout supplement containing ingredients like caffeine to boost energy, focus, and strength without jitters or a crash, try Pulse.

FAQ #1: What is the honey and salt pre-workout trend?

The honey and salt pre-workout trend started on social media, where people began taking a spoonful of honey with a pinch of salt before training to boost energy and hydration.

The idea is that the honey provides quick energy because it’s a fast-digesting carb, and the salt supports hydration by helping the body retain the water you drink.

While honey can give a small bump in energy, it isn’t more effective than any other carb source. And salt only meaningfully supports hydration during longer (45+ minute), sweatier workouts—not most typical gym sessions.

FAQ #2: Is salt and honey a good pre-workout?

Not really—salt and honey don’t provide the performance benefits people often attribute to them. Honey is simply a fast-acting carbohydrate, and salt only plays a helpful role in longer, sweatier workouts where hydration becomes a challenge.

For most typical gym sessions, neither is likely to improve energy, endurance, or recovery.

FAQ #3: Is using salt as pre-workout safe?

Salt as pre-workout is safe for most, but that’s no reason to take it. Salt confers few performance benefits if your workouts are relatively short (45 minutes or less) and in regular gym conditions. High salt intake is also a risk factor for long-term health problems like high blood pressure. 

FAQ #4: Does honey and sea salt give you a pump?

Not in any special or direct way. A “pump” is the temporary swelling of a muscle during training, caused by increased blood flow and the buildup of metabolic byproducts in the muscle. 

It’s mainly driven by how you train (higher reps, shorter rest periods, more total work), not by any specific food or pre-workout ingredient.

That said, carbohydrates and sodium can support better pumps, but only because:

• Carbs (like those in honey) help keep muscle glycogen levels higher, and glycogen is stored with water inside muscle cells. Fuller glycogen stores generally make muscles look and feel “fuller,” and can help you perform more reps.
• Sodium (like salt) helps your body retain the water you drink, which can help maintain fluid levels during longer, sweatier sessions.

So while honey and sea salt can support the conditions for a pump, so can any carb source paired with normal dietary salt and hydration. 

FAQ #5: How long does salt and honey pre-workout last?

Unlike traditional pre-workout supplements, honey and salt don’t contain compounds with defined half-lives, so there isn’t a clear “duration” for their effects.

If they have an effect at all, it’s likely brief. The small bump in energy from the honey typically lasts 30–60 minutes, especially if you haven’t eaten recently. Salt doesn’t create any noticeable “feeling,” and it doesn’t have a defined duration.

If your session is under about 45 minutes or not particularly sweaty, salt likely won’t make a difference, and the honey’s effect will be modest and short-lived.

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