Fasted Cardio

[dutchpharma]

So for those who are really trying to get that body fat down, its been a long running concept to hit cardio in the AM on an empty tank. Obviously the idea here is that the body will burn thru more stored fat versus hitting cardio on a full stomach. Seems logical the body in example 1 would burn more stored fat as energy versus in example 2 in which the body would burn off the immediate calories and far provided by the food in stomach. So tell me brothers, how do you feel about cardio on empty? Is it harder to hang for a prolonged session? Do you run the risk of catabolism and loosing gains or muscle?

 

[Hevi-head]

It's just the way I've always done my cardio. I like to get it out of the way first thing because I never want to do it before or after training. I don't really get carried away with it but A brisk 20 minute walk with the dog every morning works pretty well for me

 

[liftsiron]

I get the same results from cardio on an empty stomach or cardio after drinking a muscle monster and a piece of toast. So I choose the later.

 

[01dragonslayer]

I prefer fasted for both cardio and strength training first thing in the AM. If I eat prior to a cardio session I feel like vomiting.

 

[sv1000]

Here is a study i found
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-014-0054-7

and the cliff notes
Pre- vs. Post-study body composition measures

MEASURE	FASTED-PRE	FASTED-POST	ES	FED-PRE	FED-POST	ES
Weight (kg)	62.4 ± 7.8	60.8 ± 7.8*	0.21	62.0 ± 5.5	61.0 ± 5.7*	0.18
BMI	23.4 ± 2.9	22.8 ± 3.0*	0.20	23.3 ± 2.5	22.9 ± 2.5*	0.16
Body Fat%	26.3 ± 7.9	25.0 ± 7.7	0.17	24.8 ± 8.4	24.1 ± 8.5	0.08
Waist (cm)	77.5 ± 6.4	75.9 ± 6.9	0.24	77.7 ± 9.4	75.7 ± 8.6	0.22
Fat Mass (kg)	16.5 ± 5.5	15.4 ± 5.5*	0.20	15.7 ± 6.3	15.0 ± 6.1*	0.11
Fat Free Mass (kg)	45.9 ± 6.7	45.4 ± 6.1	0.08	46.3 ± 3.8	46.1 ± 4.3	0.05

An asterisk* indicates a significant effect from baseline values.