Group: Specific Diets & Nutrition

Created: 2012/01/01, Members: 104, Messages: 22775

With so many diets and nutritional plans out there, you can get lost. Find out what works best for others and share your experiences!

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weight training in the morning

Lmblumhof
Lmblumhof
Posts: 1
Joined: 2007/07/01
United States
2007/07/01, 09:26 PM
I prefer to do my weight training in the morning as soon as I get up. I always do my cardio later in the day, either at lunch or after work. I get up and get going with the weights right away without eating anything. Is that ok? I want to maximize what I am doing to make sure I get the most out of it.
HELP!
bb1fit
bb1fit
Posts: 11,105
Joined: 2001/06/30
United States
2007/07/01, 09:49 PM
No, you need some fuel before weight training, and then some after. Training on an empty stomach will not do you any good but sacrifice muscle.

Unless you are extremely overweight(taken in context of course), then it really doesn't matter as your fat stores will more than supply the fuel.

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Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer

amyksmith76
amyksmith76
Posts: 601
Joined: 2005/07/26
United States
2007/07/02, 01:15 PM
I would like to add to this question if I may. I have started adding Cardio to my morning routine before work, as I was running out of time for it in the afternoon. Well, you are supposed to do Cardio on an empty stomach. You are supposed to have food before weights. So, if I'm doing weights, then cardio immediately following, do I eat or not? And, if I'm doing it for weight loss, what do I eat as I am only eating about 15-20 minutes before my workout (4:30 am)? Thanks!
fouts
fouts
Posts: 156
Joined: 2003/09/03
United States
2007/07/02, 01:48 PM
The same rule applies for cardio. When you wake up in the morning your body is in survival mode and it will store fat. You should eat within 20 minutes of waking up whether you are doing cardio or weights.
asimmer
asimmer
Posts: 8,201
Joined: 2003/01/07
United States
2007/07/03, 08:42 AM
Here is an interesting article I just read about morning cardio - It is a Q&A in oxygen magazine, August 2007

Q: I get up at 5:40am everyday and after just a few sips of an energy drink I hop on my treadmill. After a brief warm-up I'm off and running and then i do the elliptical for a total of 45 minutes of cardio. Am I going to burn off my hard-earned muscle doing cardio on an empty stomach? Or am I burning fat? - Cara, Via email

A: First, congrats on having the discipline to rise and sweat at 5:40am every day! You must be well on your way to acheiving your fitness goals. Now, is your muscle in jeopardy if you continue to do cardio on an empty tank? Hardly. Here's what we found :"A study done by Kansas State University indicates that a kilogram of fat will be oxidized sooner when exercising in the fasted condition in the morning than when doing the same exercise in the afternoon. By measuring respiratory gas exchange, caloric expenditure and carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism, the study's researchers showed that the mass of fat burned during aerobic exercise amounts to 67 percent of the total energy expenditure acheived when the same exercise is done later in the day or in the fed state."
Although some of our experts suggest having a light meal or even orange juice prior to workout, the overall consensus is that it doesn't really matter. Oxygen advisory board team member Craig Ballantyne says, "Fat loss is all about the big picture. What happens over the course of a 24-hour period determines your results, not what happens in a 45-minute session." he says that just as bodybuilders know that muscle doesn't grow during a workout, we also need to understand that most fat (or muscle) isn't lost during training but rather a result of what happens over the 24-hour period. If someone wnats to get lean, they'll acheiev most of their results by way of a strcit, healthy diet. So ong as you remember to apply some type of resistance training to your muscles and eat enough protein over the course of the day, you won't lose the muscle you work so hard for.
Dr. Stuart Phillips, a professor from the University of McMaster in Hamilton, canad adds "Morning cardio a risk for muscle loss? Complete bunk! Just how much will you lose? Certainly the longer you go without eating the more time you're in negative energy and protein balance and you will start to lose muscle, but it's not like it drops off in pounds - time for a reality check on this one. "

Last but not leats, Cara, you'll never truly know unless you try it for yourself for at least four weeks. ther's no better way of finding out than conducting your very own study on yourself!


So - that kind of flies in the face of what a lot of us have said for a long time! Interesting (and reassuring, since I get up and do cardio on empty most mornings:))

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While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us.
- Ben Franklin
asimmer
asimmer
Posts: 8,201
Joined: 2003/01/07
United States
2007/07/03, 11:24 AM
Here is another article I came acroos - M&F April 2007 - in an article about fat loss by Chris Aceto:

Do Cardio At The Right Time

cardio exerts two benefits - it burns calories and effects hormone levels in the body. Specifically, cardio helps raise levels of norepinephrine. Yet when you do cardio makes a big difference in how your body handles the hormonal changes. Cardio on an empty stomach allows norepinephrine to readily target fat cells, which triggers maximal fat-burning. On the flip-side, if you eat before doing cardio, and particularily if you eat carbs, the fat-blocking hormone insulin rises, making your body less effective at burning fat.
Do This:
To ensure that your body is in optimal fat-burning mode, do 30-60 minutes cardio first thing in the mroning before breakfast 4-6 days per week. feel free, however, to drink your morning coffe (without cream or sugar) and take 6-10g of mixed amino acids or a small amount of whey protein powder in water beforehand. The caffiene will help will help you burn more fat, as will the amino acids 9whther from a supplement or from whey protein), as research from Kanazawa University in japan has found. the aminos will also help prevent muscle breakdown during cardio.