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Morning Cardio Vs. Non-morning Cardio
Article by Gregg Avedon
What’s the proper way of doing cardio training, especially for a weightlifter not wanting to shed too much weight or lose muscle? The best time to jump on that elliptical trainer, treadmill, bike, step-mill, or hitting the pavement to do an outdoor jog, is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. This makes sense because you’re doing cardio without any insulin fluctuation or spike, your glycogen stores are fairly empty from fasting over the last eight hours in the rack (or more), and ultimately this means that your body will be drawing a high percentage of its energy from fat stores. All of this is bound to set the stage for optimum fat burning potential!
Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not one of those guys who enjoy getting up first thing in the morning to put myself through a grueling cardio session without a morsel of food in my gut. For those of you who can, I give you all the credit in the world. I’m not saying that I couldn’t train first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, I’m just saying that I’d prefer not to!
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always felt better eating a decent sized meal about 45 minutes before training with weights (not cardio). This might not be in alignment with conventional thinking, but it feels right for me on a personal level. I feel like I can lift more weight and I even feel bigger in the gym! I bet if you asked ten muscleheads in the gym what they prefer, nine would feel the same way! With that said, let me get back to the subject at hand – cardio. I’ve said my piece in regards to early morning training on an empty stomach, and in contrast I also wouldn’t be against cycling on and off a workout program of morning cardio to get the most out of my training.
RESEARCH SHOWS
The main reason for doing cardiovascular training first thing in the morning is simply to target fat with the potential to burn it. The theory behind this concept revolves around glycogen stores, depleting them, and your body's ability to switch to another source of usable energy – fat stores. We store glycogen in our muscle cells and liver. This is the gas tank for our body. Within our blood stream we’ve got a certain amount of glucose (sugar) floating around for quick usable energy. That amount of blood glucose at any given time is no more than 4 grams (about a teaspoon). As it's used up, it’s continuously fed from your glycogen stores. The goal is to time your cardio training when the gas tank is close to empty!
Keep in mind that the larger our muscles, the more capacity for glycogen storage, the fuller your muscles will look (glycogen is stored with water), thus the longer it takes for your body to deplete these stores. The average time it might take to blow through your glycogen is about two hours with moderate physical exercise. It would make sense then that this number could be shaved down substantially through higher intense physical activity such as interval training cardio. Fifty-yard wind sprints or cycling in a spin class are perfect examples of ways to deplete glycogen stores in a hurry!
Blowing through your glycogen stores in two hours or less is a concept you can happily throw out the window when you consider doing morning cardio on an empty stomach. Essentially you’re heading out of the starting gate with your body primed and ready to target fat cells. While insulin is the hormone responsible for storing usable energy (primarily released when consuming carbohydrates), the diametric hormone would be glucagon. Glucagon is released when insulin is low, like when you consume a high-protein low-carb meal. In fact, protein stimulates the release of glucagon. This hormone helps liberate fat as usable energy (the opposite of insulin, which helps store fat). Along with glucagon, epinephrine is another fat liberating hormone that’s released through high intensity exercise or during a stressful situation. Unfortunately carbs also blunt the release of this hormone, thus taking us out of that fat burning zone.
DURATION
So what’s the right amount of cardio in a given session? I often see people drudging along on those elliptical trainers for more than an hour at a clip. Usually they’re watching the television and sweating their asses off as the smell from last nights dinner permeates over to where I’m trying to do my cardio workout – yuck! As a weightlifter / bodybuilder, I believe it’s important not to do too much cardio training in one session. More than 30 minutes and you can start to compromise muscle, but less than 20 minutes and you’re not giving your body an opportunity to target fat stores.
Again, let’s talk about the morning cardio session. Say you’ve woken up, stumbled into the gym without any food whatsoever, and your body is primed to target fat stores because you’ve done nothing to cause an insulin response. In fact, higher levels of glucagon should be present, thus causing this shift toward fat burning as fuel. All of this sounds great, but my concern turns to energy levels. How are your sustained energy levels going to be to maintain the level of performance you’ll need to complete a solid 20 minute cardio session? I know I’d be feeling more tired from lack of nutrition than from the actual cardio! The good news is that we adapt very quickly as human beings.
John Ivy, Ph.D. and Robert Portman, Ph.D. are the co-authors of books like Nutrient Timing, The Nutrient Timing System, and The Performance Zone. They state: “Do not cut back on nutritional supplementation. This will not help you lose fat. If anything, it will do the opposite. By fueling your exercise properly, you will be able to perform at higher levels for longer periods and burn more calories. By fueling your recovery properly, you will put calories to their best anabolic use.” So my take is that you should have some fuel in your system to maintain a certain level of intensity, thus setting up a more successful afterburn effect. Aerobic training, if done with proper intensity and duration can cause a rise in metabolism that will last for more than an hour after you finish training (afterburn). Personally, I can feel this afterburn affect for as long as 2 or 3 hours post-cardio depending on how intense I go. I believe this can be achieved in a 20 to 30 minute interval training cardio session. NOTE: Weightlifting can give you an afterburn effect of up to 48 hours due to muscle synthesis and repair!
=========================Part2=============!!!!
Article by Gregg Avedon
What’s the proper way of doing cardio training, especially for a weightlifter not wanting to shed too much weight or lose muscle? The best time to jump on that elliptical trainer, treadmill, bike, step-mill, or hitting the pavement to do an outdoor jog, is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. This makes sense because you’re doing cardio without any insulin fluctuation or spike, your glycogen stores are fairly empty from fasting over the last eight hours in the rack (or more), and ultimately this means that your body will be drawing a high percentage of its energy from fat stores. All of this is bound to set the stage for optimum fat burning potential!
Now I don’t know about you, but I’m not one of those guys who enjoy getting up first thing in the morning to put myself through a grueling cardio session without a morsel of food in my gut. For those of you who can, I give you all the credit in the world. I’m not saying that I couldn’t train first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, I’m just saying that I’d prefer not to!
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always felt better eating a decent sized meal about 45 minutes before training with weights (not cardio). This might not be in alignment with conventional thinking, but it feels right for me on a personal level. I feel like I can lift more weight and I even feel bigger in the gym! I bet if you asked ten muscleheads in the gym what they prefer, nine would feel the same way! With that said, let me get back to the subject at hand – cardio. I’ve said my piece in regards to early morning training on an empty stomach, and in contrast I also wouldn’t be against cycling on and off a workout program of morning cardio to get the most out of my training.
RESEARCH SHOWS
The main reason for doing cardiovascular training first thing in the morning is simply to target fat with the potential to burn it. The theory behind this concept revolves around glycogen stores, depleting them, and your body's ability to switch to another source of usable energy – fat stores. We store glycogen in our muscle cells and liver. This is the gas tank for our body. Within our blood stream we’ve got a certain amount of glucose (sugar) floating around for quick usable energy. That amount of blood glucose at any given time is no more than 4 grams (about a teaspoon). As it's used up, it’s continuously fed from your glycogen stores. The goal is to time your cardio training when the gas tank is close to empty!
Keep in mind that the larger our muscles, the more capacity for glycogen storage, the fuller your muscles will look (glycogen is stored with water), thus the longer it takes for your body to deplete these stores. The average time it might take to blow through your glycogen is about two hours with moderate physical exercise. It would make sense then that this number could be shaved down substantially through higher intense physical activity such as interval training cardio. Fifty-yard wind sprints or cycling in a spin class are perfect examples of ways to deplete glycogen stores in a hurry!
Blowing through your glycogen stores in two hours or less is a concept you can happily throw out the window when you consider doing morning cardio on an empty stomach. Essentially you’re heading out of the starting gate with your body primed and ready to target fat cells. While insulin is the hormone responsible for storing usable energy (primarily released when consuming carbohydrates), the diametric hormone would be glucagon. Glucagon is released when insulin is low, like when you consume a high-protein low-carb meal. In fact, protein stimulates the release of glucagon. This hormone helps liberate fat as usable energy (the opposite of insulin, which helps store fat). Along with glucagon, epinephrine is another fat liberating hormone that’s released through high intensity exercise or during a stressful situation. Unfortunately carbs also blunt the release of this hormone, thus taking us out of that fat burning zone.
DURATION
So what’s the right amount of cardio in a given session? I often see people drudging along on those elliptical trainers for more than an hour at a clip. Usually they’re watching the television and sweating their asses off as the smell from last nights dinner permeates over to where I’m trying to do my cardio workout – yuck! As a weightlifter / bodybuilder, I believe it’s important not to do too much cardio training in one session. More than 30 minutes and you can start to compromise muscle, but less than 20 minutes and you’re not giving your body an opportunity to target fat stores.
Again, let’s talk about the morning cardio session. Say you’ve woken up, stumbled into the gym without any food whatsoever, and your body is primed to target fat stores because you’ve done nothing to cause an insulin response. In fact, higher levels of glucagon should be present, thus causing this shift toward fat burning as fuel. All of this sounds great, but my concern turns to energy levels. How are your sustained energy levels going to be to maintain the level of performance you’ll need to complete a solid 20 minute cardio session? I know I’d be feeling more tired from lack of nutrition than from the actual cardio! The good news is that we adapt very quickly as human beings.
John Ivy, Ph.D. and Robert Portman, Ph.D. are the co-authors of books like Nutrient Timing, The Nutrient Timing System, and The Performance Zone. They state: “Do not cut back on nutritional supplementation. This will not help you lose fat. If anything, it will do the opposite. By fueling your exercise properly, you will be able to perform at higher levels for longer periods and burn more calories. By fueling your recovery properly, you will put calories to their best anabolic use.” So my take is that you should have some fuel in your system to maintain a certain level of intensity, thus setting up a more successful afterburn effect. Aerobic training, if done with proper intensity and duration can cause a rise in metabolism that will last for more than an hour after you finish training (afterburn). Personally, I can feel this afterburn affect for as long as 2 or 3 hours post-cardio depending on how intense I go. I believe this can be achieved in a 20 to 30 minute interval training cardio session. NOTE: Weightlifting can give you an afterburn effect of up to 48 hours due to muscle synthesis and repair!
=========================Part2=============!!!!
