How long should I workout in the morning before eating?

The Colonel

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So I'm trying to lose about ten pounds and my base offers a spinning class at six in the morning. I'm thinking I may start waking up early on my off days to go do the spinning class (it lasts an hour) but there is no way I'm going to wake up even earlier just to eat breakfast before I go. Plus, I've always read that you burn more fat if you do cardio first thing in the morning before eating breakfast.

So, could I go do an hour of spinning, then some heavy bag work (maybe 15-20 min) come home and do 30min of yoga, then eat breakfast? or should I have something in my stomach if I plan on doing that much?
 
That seems like a lot. I get my roadwork done in the mornings before eating, but that consists of a 2-3 mile run, and thats it. I think I would be pretty much dead trying to do what you list above without any fuel.
 
Thats almost 2 hours of working out without any nutrients in your system. I am not too sure how thats going to affect you. I would be dead beat. Me personally, I wouldnt do it. When I was cutting, I would run in the AM on an empty stomach. About an hour later I would eat breakfast...then about another hour after that do some lifting or conditioning. I never thought of working out the way you do so lets see what others say.
 
If you're doing that much, eat first.

Fasted cardio is never quality work - it's purpose is strictly calorie loss, so never expect your gas to improve from it. I've gone through phases of doing hundreds of burpees, barbell/BW complexes and hard running pre-breakfast and have come to conclusion that it's just not worth it when you could do the same work later in the day to a much higher quality and thereby derive a big conditioning benefit.

What I do now is no more than 30 minutes of easy aerobic work - cycling, jump rope, LSD run, etc. and it's working wonders. Keep it slow and steady, and never do anything that will leave you gimped for the rest of the day.
 
If you're doing that much, eat first.

Fasted cardio is never quality work - it's purpose is strictly calorie loss, so never expect your gas to improve from it. I've gone through phases of doing hundreds of burpees, barbell/BW complexes and hard running pre-breakfast and have come to conclusion that it's just not worth it when you could do the same work later in the day to a much higher quality and thereby derive a big conditioning benefit.

What I do now is no more than 30 minutes of easy aerobic work - cycling, jump rope, LSD run, etc. and it's working wonders. Keep it slow and steady, and never do anything that will leave you gimped for the rest of the day.

I have to ask


Working wonders for what. Weight loss, conditioning, looking sexy....what?
I assume that is fastd work you're talking about
 
I have to ask


Working wonders for what. Weight loss, conditioning, looking sexy....what?
I assume that is fastd work you're talking about

The former and latter, though not so much the... middler.
 
I'll just stick to the spinning then. I'm not really doing it for any kind of conditioning, mostly fat loss. I work out later in the evenings typically (running, lifting, or BJJ) but like I said, I'm trying to do something in the morning to get rid of this fat.
 
I work two a days and used to work out on an empty stomach at 5:00 in the am. No good, you are burning fat but the risk outweighs the benefits. What I mean is that, if you work out too hard, you may miss you next workout that night/day.

My advice is to have a protein shake, protein bar before working out first thing in the morning. If this is not possible, at leat bring a bottle of gatorade
 
Does it have to be a protein shake?

Wouldn't a small granola bar and glass of milk be much better? To get some carbs in?
 
I have a discussion on here that is rather lengthy, i'll see if i can dig it up. Some basics from it

- Low intenisty work is best suited for this time period as the body will use fuels utilized from liposis (sp?). High itensity training should be limtied to act as a primer to get the body started in the morning but can have a detremental affect on performance because of the stress on the body and the lack of suitable fuels.
- Although it's hard to determine when possible muslce loss can occur during this state the addition of BCAA's can help to minimize it while adding very minimal calories to the body to maintain the desired affects.
- As it's been said earlier then main purpose of training in this time period should be for increased caloric consumption from fat stores with low intensity, moderate to high intensity for short periods will help to increase the ****bolic rate throughout the day but should be very limited in duration.
 
Ive done first thing cardio workouts before on an empty stomach.. it never lasted any longer than 40 minutes.
I started taking L-carnitine for about 3 weeks to get rid of the last bit of flab and in those 3 weeks I found doing the cardio was way easier, i had a huge burst of energy about 10 minutes into my jog. I lossed a bit around my midsection that i thought was un-loseable until that point
 
Does it have to be a protein shake?

Wouldn't a small granola bar and glass of milk be much better? To get some carbs in?

Pretty much anything will do...I find that a protein shake with a little banana works for me. I think the main thing is to have 'something' in your system for your body to use as fuel.
 
i could be wrong but running in the am without food will burn fat as well as muscle

if anything why not have a banana, some whey and water as a quick shake and go do your thing

i used to run in the morning before eating,

just didnt see any good come from it
 
I have a discussion on here that is rather lengthy, i'll see if i can dig it up. Some basics from it

- Low intenisty work is best suited for this time period as the body will use fuels utilized from liposis (sp?). High itensity training should be limtied to act as a primer to get the body started in the morning but can have a detremental affect on performance because of the stress on the body and the lack of suitable fuels.
- Although it's hard to determine when possible muslce loss can occur during this state the addition of BCAA's can help to minimize it while adding very minimal calories to the body to maintain the desired affects.
- As it's been said earlier then main purpose of training in this time period should be for increased caloric consumption from fat stores with low intensity, moderate to high intensity for short periods will help to increase the ****bolic rate throughout the day but should be very limited in duration.



good call dude,

ts, just get some leucine/bcaa's before u do your spinning and u should be fine

as long as u keep it to about half and hour
 
ts, just get some leucine/bcaa's before u do your spinning and u should be fine as long as u keep it to about half and hour

What gives me leucine/bcaas? Do I have to take a supplement for that or can I just drink a small protein shake?

So basically everyone seems to be saying that I need to eat a little something if I want to work out in the morning for longer than 30min. or so?
 
Whey has a small amount of BCAAs in, but you can also buy the stuff separate (as ass-tasting powder or slightly pricier caps). It's well worth getting some in if you're doing a lot of cardio or any lengthy training sessions.
 
Put some damn nutrients and carbs into your stomach, some damn protein...
 

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