Cardio on an Empty Stomach Sucks!

By Craig Ballantyne

Many experts recommend cardio on an empty stomach in the morning for fat loss and maximum fat burning. But is that necessary? Doesn't that seem a little extreme, a little on the side of obsessive?

Personally, I think the benefits of fasted cardio in the morning are over-estimated. You can burn fat and lose weight as long as you exercise intensely on a regular basis, and eat according to plan.

You don't need to be up at 5am with hunger pains doing slow cardio to lose fat. That's just plain crazy.

In fact, I prefer interval training over slow cardio training anyways. And experience shows its quite tough to do a great intense workout on a completely empty stomach.

Let's look at it this way, using athletes as an example. Many athletes, such as basketball players, football corner backs, and hockey players are very lean. But do they do fasted cardio? Heck no. In fact, have you ever heard of a wide receiver doing "cardio" at all? No way. They sprint. They eat breakfast and then do football practice. Not the other way around.

Imagine having not eaten since 7pm the night before, and now you want to do a hardcore workout at 6am? Do you really think that is going to work in your favor?

I don't.

So let's focus on your lifestyle, not the minute details of how to train while you are starving. Stick to something you can consistently do.



That said, if you really want to workout first thing in the morning - because it suits your schedule best - and you just can't force any food down your throat, I'm not going to stop you.

Again, that is what works best for your schedule. And being consistent is what works best for your fat burning. So dump the fasted cardio if you don't like it, and start to enjoy your workouts and nutrition lifestyle instead.

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked home gym fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women with weight loss and fat burning in less than 45 minutes three times per week. Bodyweight exercise workouts help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment. Craig's bodyweight workouts for fat loss help you lose fat without any equipment at all.