Fasted Cardio…
We’re sure you’ve heard of it, you may have even tried it already.
In fact:
It’s been known to compare to Marmite, you either love it or hate it.
But whether you love it, or hate it…
…in order to reach your fitness goals and aspirations it is something you really must incorporate into your fitness schedule.
So in today’s article here at Protein Hunter, we are going to break down what we believe to be the most efficient way of burning that body fat with some actionable tips you can introduce to your workouts right away.
But before we go in to that, let’s get the basics out the way…
So what exactly is Fasted Cardio?
Here’s the story:
Many people think fasted cardio is just simply training on an empty stomach…
… and often people usually think that this is a stomach that just feels empty or hungry.
Well, we’re sorry but those people are wrong!
Fasted cardio is cardio done while in a fasted state…
There’s a difference here guys.
When you eat food, it gets broken down into various molecules that your cells can use, these are then released into your blood.
Still following?
Insulin is also released as well, and insulin’s job is to move these molecules into the cells.
Depending on how much food you eat in any one meal, your insulin levels can remain elevated for up to several hours or more.
When your body is digesting and absorbing what you’ve eaten, your body is in a fed state.
Make sense?
Once it has finished processing and absorbing the vital nutrients, insulin levels drop to baseline level and your body enters a fasted state.
This can happen during the day however its most optimum time in our opinion is first thing in a morning after you have been asleep for numerous hours.
When your body has raised insulin levels (hence after a meal) or ‘fed’ state, it will use less fat as energy and in this instance the whole point of burning fat is not at its optimum….
Hence, hit the fasted cardio when in a fasted state for optimum fat burning results!
I’ve Heard Fasted Cardio Will lose My Hard Earned Gains?
There is some reality in this statement if you don’t listen to what we have to say below…
You will have read all over the internet that if your not wanting to compete or not a top level athlete fasted cardio should be left well alone.
We don’t agree with that…
Keep reading to find out why.
Most websites telling you to leave this alone are saying if you are interested in just muscle building only then don’t worry about it.
This sounds kinda half hearted doesn’t it?
We are all interested in muscle building aren’t we, but we all want to be lean and muscular too, right?
So:
Here at Protein Hunter we are all about being the best YOU can be, so why take the easier “oh i just want to build a little muscle” attitude.
Let us explain what we mean with an example:
Rob Riches, one of the biggest fitness personalities out there…
… he swears by doing his cardio first thing in a morning, and he remains lean and maintains great muscle mass year round.
Numerous top level body builders and athletes do morning fasted cardio.
Why do you think they look so good?
If you are only interested in getting as big as you possibly can then maybe this is not for you.
However we are sure that we all want to look lean as well as having impressive gains, right?
So:
The answer to this question basically is…
If you are deeply concerned about losing those hard earned muscle gains while doing fasted cardio, a quick way to sort that worry out is to take 5-10 grams of branched chain amino acids beforehand or a scoop of whey protein powder.
We would recommend having a shake or BCAA’s anyway before fasted cardio to protect the lean muscle so the cardio does not start eating away at the muscle instead of the fat.
Also some caffeine is a great idea, this coupled with a fat burning supplement add to the fat loss process during Fasted Cardio.
However despite all this talk about how great fasted cardio is….
It only becomes great when you accompany this with a good clean diet throughout the day.
There is no point in burning 500 calories on the fasted cardio, then overeating what you normally do by 500 calories that day…
Also include the Whey Protein shake and BCAA’s in your daily diet schedule.
Why Fasted Cardio over General Cardio?
Most people will tell you fasted cardio is better because it is more effective in burning fat than performing cardio in the evening or during a ‘fed’ state.
Bottom line is…
While these people are correct, it also has other additional benefits which separate it from the rest.
Fasted cardio has great potential at burning those stubborn areas of fat.
We all know what we mean by that don’t we guys, bottom of our backs and abs, right?
And you ladies, thighs and and them damn hips!
For various reasons these areas appear to be the most stubborn, annoying and last places we tend to lose fat.
One of those reasons being these parts of the body tend to to be more resistant in giving up their fat stores.
But you know what else?
In our opinion, doing fasted cardio in a morning also makes your evening weights session more intense.
When cardio is incorporated into a weight routine either before or after, we feel you are not getting the full potential due to fatigue from the weight sessions if cardio is done before.
In saying that we understand that fasted cardio is not for everybody and also not everybody can fit this into their daily routines.
So:
If you’re going to stick to ‘regular’ cardio…
We would recommend doing cardio after your weight sessions.
This is more advisable than before as you want your energy for those heavy ass weights.
That being said:
All in all, for optimum results in getting lean, fit and getting the body you have always dreamed about, we believe fasted cardio is the way forward.
Thanks for reading guys.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
We will be popping in and out of them to respond to any questions you may have.
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