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Training Database Cardio Articles Cardio Timing: The Secret to Burning Fat Up To 300% Faster
When is
the best time of day to do your aerobic exercise? The answer is any
time! The most important thing is that you just do it. Continuous
cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, jogging, stairclimbing,
or cycling, sustained for at least 30 minutes, will burn body fat
no matter when you do it. However, if you want to get the maximum
benefits possible from every minute you invest in your workouts,
then you should consider getting up early and doing cardio before
you eat your first meal - even if you're not a "morning person."
Early morning aerobic exercise on an empty stomach has three major
advantages over exercising later in the day:
Early in
the morning before you eat, your levels of muscle and liver
glycogen (stored carbohydrate) are low. If you eat dinner at 7 p.m
and you eat breakfast at 7 a.m., that's 12 hours without food.
During this 12-hour overnight fast, your levels of glycogen slowly
decline to provide glucose for various bodily functions that go on
even while you sleep. As a result, you wake up in the morning with
depleted glycogen and lower blood sugar - the optimum environment
for burning fat instead of carbohydrate. How much more fat you'll
burn is uncertain, but some studies have suggested that up to 300%
more fat is burned when cardio is done in a fasted,
glycogen-depleted state.
So how
exactly does this work? It's quite simple, really. Carbohydrate
(glycogen) is your body's primary and preferred energy source. When
your primary fuel source is in short supply, this forces your body
to tap into its secondary or reserve energy source; body fat. If
you do cardio immediately after eating a meal, you'll still burn
fat, but you'll burn less of it because you'll be burning off the
carbohydrates you ate first. You always burn a combination of fat
and carbohydrate for fuel, but depending on when you exercise, you
can burn a greater proportion of fat relative to carbohydrate. If
doing cardio first thing in the morning is not an option for you,
then the second best time to do it would be immediately after
weight training. Lifting weights is anaerobic
(carbohydrate-burning) by nature, and therefore depletes muscle
glycogen. That's why a post lifting cardio session has a similar
effect as morning cardio on an empty stomach.
The second
benefit you'll get from early morning cardio sessions is what I
call the "afterburn" effect. When you do a cardio session in the
morning, you not only burn fat during the session, but you
also continue to burn fat at an accelerated rate after the
workout. Why? Because an intense session of cardiovascular exercise
can keep your metabolism elevated for hours after the session is
over. If you do cardio at night, you will still burn fat
during the session, so you definitely benefit from it.
However, nighttime cardio fails to take advantage of the
"afterburn" effect because your metabolism drops like a ton of
bricks as soon as you go to sleep. While you sleep, your metabolic
rate is slower than any other time of the day.
Burning
more fat isn't the only reason you should do your cardio early. The
third benefit of morning workouts is the "rush" and feeling of
accomplishment that stays with you all day long after an
invigorating workout. Exercise can become a pleasant and enjoyable
experience, but the more difficult or challenging it is for you,
the more important it is to get it out of the way early. When you
put off any task you consider unpleasant, it hangs over you all day
long, leaving you with a feeling of guilt, stress and
incompleteness (not to mention that you are more likely to "blow
off" an evening workout if you are tired from a long day at work or
if your pals try to persuade you to join them at the pub for happy
hour.)
You might
find it hard to wake up early in the morning and get motivated to
workout. But think back for a moment to a time in your life when
you tackled a difficult task and you finished it. Didn't you feel
great afterwards? Completing any task, especially a physically
challenging one, gives you a "buzz." When the task is exercise, the
buzz is physiological and psychological. Physiologically, exercise
releases endorphins in your body. Endorphins are opiate-like
hormones hundreds of times more powerful than the strongest
morphine. Endorphins create a natural "high" that makes you feel
positively euphoric! Endorphins reduce stress, improve your mood,
increase circulation and relieve pain. The "high" is partly
psychological too. Getting up early and successfully achieving a
small goal kick starts your day and gives you feelings of
completion, satisfaction and accomplishment. For the rest of the
day you feel happy and you feel less stress knowing that the most
difficult part of the day is behind you.
So, you
say you're not a morning person? Take heart; neither am I. I can
sleep in like you wouldn't believe! But I get up anyway because I
know the effort is worth the results. When I have a bodybuilding
goal that I am clearly focused on, such as reaching 4% or 5% body
fat for a competition, I'm on my Stairmaster for 45 minutes every
morning at the crack of dawn without fail. Sure it's a challenge at
first, but you know what? After a few short weeks, It's no longer a
chore and I'm "in the groove" - and you will be too. Just try it.
Make a commitment to yourself to do it for just 21 days. Once those
21 days have gone by, you'll already be leaner and you'll be on
your way to making morning workouts a habit that's as natural as
brushing your teeth or taking a shower. Once you start getting used
to feeling that buzz, you'll become "positively addicted" to it.
The more you do it, the more you'll want to do it. Before you know
it, early morning cardio will your new habit; you'll be leaner,
your metabolism will be faster and you'll feel fantastic all day
long!
Go to: Does Aerobics Make You Lose Muscle?
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder,
personal trainer, gym owner, freelance writer and author of "Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the
World's Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has written over
140 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN magazine, Natural
Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine, Exercise for Men
and Men’s Exercise. Tom is the Fat Loss Expert for
Global-Fitness.com and the nutrition editor for Femalemuscle.com
and his articles are regularly featured worldwide on literally
dozens of other websites.
Learn the Truth About Diets, Weight Loss Programs And
Fat Burning Supplements
To get the FACTS on exactly how, what & when to
eat and how to train to achieve maximum fat loss, without losing
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