Running before breakfast a better time for burning fat?

Raider

Raider

Raider

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I'm looking to do a mini-cut to lose a few pounds, and was wondering whether running before breakfast would be the best plan.

Seems to make sense that running on empty as it were would require more fat loss, but maybe that's not entirely true. Any opinions?
 
Yup, running on an empty stomach straight after you get out of bed is a good way to burn off some fat. You will eat into your bodyfat to get energy.
 
No I'm not saying might... I'm saying it does.

No the body most definately does not burn fat before muscle. Though this depends on many things, more than I'm willing to go into in this post anyway.
 
I wouldn't worry about when you run, just how long, at what intensity and your diet.

If you get your diet right you're winning.
 
There's a great little article on T-Nation about fasted cardio, makes me smile everytime I read it :D

I can't link directly to it or a mod will just delete it due to swearing but copy and past this into google and click the top link. No.2 is the one you want but I think the whole thing is worth a quick read :)

"If It's Not Cosgrove" <-- copy and paste that.

Please read it and then bring your arguement about fasted cardio back here...
 
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I went for a walk before breakfast last week and my foot was attacked by a pair of 10 inch long bright blue lizards.

I think we can all see what this means for pre-breakfast exercise.
 
Pre breakfast cardio gets a big thumbs up from me, been doing it 2-3 times a week for a couple of months now. I've messed about with various methods of fat loss in the past and none has been this effective :)
 
Ok over a 3 month cut exactly how much extra fat do you think you'd lose compared to if you'd had... I don't know, let say 25g of whey first before the cardio?

While we're there how much extra muscle do you think you'd lose?
 
Do it whenever. It won't make a massive difference. Personally I value sleep more so I end up doing my cardio at a different time. I'd probably lose willpower if I had to get up an hour earlier every morning and end up eating a massive pizza just to make myself feel better... Massively counter-productive!
 
Phyre said:
Do it whenever. It won't make a massive difference. Personally I value sleep more so I end up doing my cardio at a different time. I'd probably lose willpower if I had to get up an hour earlier every morning and end up eating a massive pizza just to make myself feel better... Massively counter-productive!
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'tis true. The odds of me actually getting up early are pretty slim. Think i'll stick to pre-dinner running instead :p
 
You know CW is talking a massive amount of sense.

Think about it in the morning you've woken up after a 8 hour sleep or so your not exactly in a mode to be fully aware and your body isn't full awake since it hasn't had any food in it therefore theres no activity so your more prone to injury. Also what I've learned is that when you wake up in the morning the hormone cortisol is raised which is the main catabolic hormone (catabolic is not what you want thats where you can say adios to muscle), and this hormone goes once you've eaten a nutricious breakfast. Breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism and at the end of the day you want a high speed metabolism as that is what prevents the fat gain and removes the fat.
 
SK07 said:
You know CW is talking a massive amount of sense.
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No, CW is just repeating the garbage he reads on crappy tinternet articles because the argument against pre breakfast cardio suits him ;)

The best way is a slow jogging pace or even fast walking, this will kick Lipolysis into gear without doubt.
 
Jeffstar said:
No, CW is just repeating the garbage he reads on crappy tinternet articles because the argument against pre breakfast cardio suits him ;)

The best way is a slow jogging pace or even fast walking, this will kick Lipolysis into gear without doubt.
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Your not pushing yourself though, just slow jogging or fast walking is not going to get your heart rate going releasing certain hormones key to burning fat. Doing HIIT is the option imo, I lost a lot of fat doing just 30 min fast runs 3x a week + weight training, worked effectivly but I lost some muscle as well, imo HIIT is good for this as your getting your heart rate up but your only doing it for a set amount of time such as 20 mins total and uptime of say 8 minutes or whatever.
 
I wouldn't do pre-breakfast cardio myself because first thing in the morning your body is crying out to be fed, taken out of a catabolic state. In terms of bodybuilding, my opinion is that pre-b cardio is not the route to take. You need to maintain maximum muscle mass whilst reducing fat, and this can be achieved more effectively in other ways.

But this thread has me interested, maybe people should list what they believe works best for them?
 
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