Permanent linkBy Joli Guenther, MSSW, NASM
Though you wouldn't want to do it with every workout, skipping the pre-workout nutrition has been a common practice with runners and athletes for years in order to jumpstart our bodies' fat burning mechanisms. Recent research confirms this practice. A comparison of cyclists showed that those who worked out, rested (but didn't eat), and then worked out again burned a greater amount of fat during the second workout than those who fueled up in between. The downside? The performance of the starving cyclists suffered and the fat burned was primarily intra-muscular fat (the fat within the muscles, rather than right below the skin)…not exactly the most effective recipe for a beach ready body. If you want to give the practice a try (it MIGHT make a difference for you), once a week, use your fitness equipment in the evening, skip a post workout snack and in the morning have a 20 to 30 minute workout again before breakfast. After you workout, have a good meal with a combination of carbohydrates and protein to re-build your muscles and re-load your carbohydrate stores. This will ensure that the meal you take in after your workout goes to fueling your performance rather than being stored as fat. Be sure to practice good fueling before the rest of your weekly workouts (think a light carbohydrate snack before your workout), if you want to keep seeing the cardiovascular and strength gains in your performance.
Posted by Horizon Fitness at 07/14/2010 02:16:41 PM |
Doing a cardio without eating makes sense if your looking to burn more fat. Do you also recommend this if you are doing interval training? I have been using intervals on my cardio equipment for 2 months and it has made a big difference in my fat loss. I think I'll post an article about this on ToHealthSpot.s blog and refer to your products page.
Thanks for the good fat burning tip:)
Posted by: Top Health Spot ( Email: | Visit ) at 9/8/2010 8:59 AM
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Thanks for your feedback! I’m glad you’ve had success with your interval program. My answer would be, it depends on the intensity of your intervals. Since intervals will be one of your more challenging workouts for the week, I’d recommend that you fuel prior to this workout (even if it is just a light snack right before), since not doing so is likely to negatively impact your performance and not allow you to receive the maximum training benefit. My recommendation would be to stick with intervals a maximum of three times per week and to add in a lower intensity workout of less than one hour before, in which you skip the pre-workout nutrition. Experiment with what works for you, but frequently I will drink a small glass of juice prior to my interval workouts and I find that is enough to keep me from “bonking” during the workout, while not being so much that it slows me down or provides me with more calories than I need.
Posted by: Horizon Fitness ( Email: ) at 9/23/2010 4:58 PM
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