One More...
Shugart: Okay, a person is trying to lose fat. Should he do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach?
Alessi: Yes, if you have the luxury of time choice, then early morning, empty stomach training with caffeine and Power Drive works best. If a bodybuilder is looking to drop a weight class, then PM is better as they can afford to shed both muscle and fat. Separate cardio sessions from weights work best when sport specific energy pathways are being developed, for example, vertical jump.
Staley: Hmmm, I'm starving, half-asleep, my joints feel like they have sand in them....um, no, not a good time for cardio!
Look, seriously, when you do it is secondary to doing it in the first place, right? Also, isn't that idea predicated on the theory that if your glycogen supplies are low from an overnight fast that your body is more likely to go after stored bodyfat for fuel? Well, the only way your glycogen will be low enough to accomplish that would be if you're low or no carbing. And if you're low or no carbing, then your glycogen is always
low, and you can do your cardio later in the day when you feel at least half alive!
My good friend Alwyn Cosgrove has a great argument for why morning cardio on an empty stomach is a faulty idea: everyone always extols the value of eating every three hours to prevent catabolism; so if this is true, why would you do hard exercise after an eight hour fast? I mean, it's either one way or the other, right?
Thibaudeau: That’s hard to say. I don’t really like the term empty stomach. It would be more appropriate to say "on an empty gas tank" (as in "depleted glycogen state"). Like Charles said, the logic for morning cardio is that if you have no glycogen available to produce energy, you'll readily dip into your fat stores to fuel your body. However, one thing that many people forget is that this could also increase the rate of protein breakdown (catabolism). Furthermore, I've not seen any evidence that doing aerobic work first thing in the morning leads to a greater proportion of fat being used to produce energy.
Dr. Lowery: Truthfully, I do cardio in the morning. A thinner, ectomorphic guy looking to harden up shouldn't though. He'd be better served by time under the weights while drinking protein and carbs throughout. I tend to favor fasted treadmill work because I've seen firsthand how much more dramatic fat oxidation can be in this state during lab experiences.
The liver is mostly depleted of stored carbohydrate (glycogen reserves approximate just 90g which keeps us alive at night), there's a natural diurnal release of GH upon rising, and even cortisol is higher upon waking. This latter fact is dangerous for muscle loss but actually facilitates lipolysis (fat breakdown). Admittedly, I've been experimenting with about five grams of glutamine and even about ten grams of protein in this otherwise "fasted" pre-breakfast state. I do fear cortisol and hope to counteract any unnecessary catabolism without interfering with lipolysis.
Cardio Roundtable 2
