The TRUTH About Fasted Cardio

You ever have one of those horrible travel days?

The other day I was coming home from Syracuse NY where I gave a talk.

My flight was delayed, we then boarded the plane.  Deboarded the plane.  Waited 3 more hours, then got back on and took off.  The first problem?

With the delay, I missed my connection.  So they rerouted me to Lexington (a little over 1 hour away) and I wasn’t going to get in until around 11:30 PM.

The second problem?

I had to rent a car to get home and was told the car rental return at the Louisville airport closes at 1 AM.  Uh oh.

So maybe I had a bit of a heavy foot on the way back to Louisville.

The third problem?

I got pulled over.  Arrrggggg.

BUT, all in all, I didn’t get a ticket, made it back with 7 minutes to spare, and was home that night.

It happens.

So what does this all have to do with fasted cardio?

Well I ended up meeting a crew of people who were also in the airport.  And as we were all talking, they asked what I did, and told them about Mohr Results and what we do.

The questions started … and one of them happened to be a very common question we get.

Should you exercise on an empty stomach to burn more fat?

We’ve always said no — there’s NO added benefit — it didn’t make sense logically.

Well some researchers decided it was an interesting question too.  Let’s take a look at what they found.

The study is in the February International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism for other nerds like us who want specifics. (Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2011 Feb;21(1):48-54).

Quick Summary:

Workout 1: 8 men did 36 min of moderate cardio at 65% heart rate BEFORE eating
Workout 2: 8 men did 36 min of moderate cardio at 65% heart rate AFTER eating

Results?

The group that ate BEFORE the moderate cardio session continued to burn significantly MORE calories up to 24 hours after the exercise bout.

The authors concluded that "when moderate endurance exercise is done to lose body fat, fasting before exercise does not enhance lipid utilization (fat use); rather, physical activity after a light meal is advisable."

Mohr Results Bottom Line: Eat something before your workouts.  It could be as small as a piece of fruit or a small smoothie, soon before a workout, but the fuel in your body will help you work harder, focus more on the workout itself, and therefore get better fat burning results in the end.

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