Fasted cardio is a controversial topic, keep on reading and you’ll understand it.

 

What is Fasted Cardio About?

Fasted cardio is to do moderated cardiovascular exercise, nothing intense. Additionally, right after you wake up, you have a period of time of one hour after you open your eyes to do it. Then, you’ll have to eat right after that.

As you come from sleeping and you haven’t eaten, as consequence, your insulin and glucose levels in the blood are low. So, this is beneficial because when insulin levels are high your body doesn’t burn fat. As a result, the immediate gasoline available is the one that comes from fat because you didn’t eat carbohydrates nor proteins.

For instance, you use your corporal fat to do the activity. If you were a car, that corporal fat is the “gasoline” that will allow you to move. Now you get it?

3 Things You Didn’t Know about Insulin Hormone and its Effects on the Organism

 

You will not Lose Muscular Mass

Losing muscular mass isn’t something that happens that quick and simple. Consequently, if you keep cardio at a moderated intensity, for example, outdoor walking with moderated speed, or walking on 5% inclined treadmill, you won’t lose muscle mass. Furthermore, you shouldn’t do more than 45 min of exercise, and you must breakfast once you finish.

 

Fasted Cardio Will Not Only Help You on Weight Loss

Fasted cardio conditions and metabolically trains your body to burn more fat in the day-by-day activities. As a result, your body becomes more efficient on using corporal fat as gasoline for the energy it needs. Also, you become more efficient when burning more calories.

A study published by Metabolism magazine, measure energy expenditure (calories burnt) of 12 resistance athletes. For the study, the athletes did a 60 minutes exercise of the static bicycle at their 50% of maximum oxigen volume.

As consequence, researchers found that energy spent by the group which did it before eating was higher. Also, the calories percentage that came from fat, was higher. To sum up, the group in fasting burnt more fat in a period of 24 hours, 720 against 608 (the group that ate before cardio).

Fasted cardio also helps you to lose that last little fat that’s left. For example, there are problematic corporal areas in men and women; as a result, men tend to stock fat in the abdominal area; on the contrary, women tend to stock fat principally in legs and hips. Finally, this occurs thanks to a physiological mechanism.

 

Understand Fat Burning Process

The body uses chemical substances called catecholamine to break fat cells. As a result, when fat breaks into fatty acids, the body use them as gasoline for needed energy.

Principally, catecholamine travel throughout the bloodstream and they steak to fat cell receptors, which then release inside-cell stocked energy (fatty acids) to be burnt. So, remember that corporal fat is an energy reserve.

In addition, fat cells have two types of receptors: alpha and beta receptors. Consequently, beta receptors speed up fat movement, while alpha receptors block it.

As a result, while more alpha receptors a fat cell have, more resistant it will be to be moved by catecholamine. On the other hand, while more beta receptors a fat cell have, more receptive it will be to be moved by those catecholamines that move fat.

For this reason, the areas that last longer to respond are those with more alpha receptors. Therefore, men have more alpha receptors in the abdominal area, while women have more alpha receptors on hips and legs.

Besides, another problem with the mentioned areas is that they have lesser blood flow. So, you need a good blood flow to move those fatty acids to be burnt as an energy source. Subsequently, the lesser your blood flow, the lesser the amount of catecholamine that will get to the fat cells.

To sum up, these two conditions: receptors distribution and low blood flow, make these areas to be last in fat loss.

 

How Does Fasted Cardio Help?

Because blood flow in those problematic areas will rise up at fasting state. Subsequently, that means catecholamine can reach that tough fat easier. As a result, this will lead to a higher mobilization and oxidation of it.

If you want to boost your weight loss with fasted cardio, you can drink caffeine before you do it. For that, you can consume 200-250 mg. of caffeine through pills or a good cup of black coffee without sugar before you do the exercise.

Therefore, your catecholamine levels will rise up and stimulate fat burning enzymes; which allows fatty acids to be available and mobilize in a higher level for its oxidation. Moreover, caffeine boosts your energy as well.

 

Recommendations

• Evaluate your metabolism,. If your metabolism is slow, fasted cardio could be harmful. As a result, under these conditions, you might not get the results you expect.
• You must do the activity right after you wake up. Besides, this will keep you energized.
• You shouldn’t be more than an hour at fasting. For this reason, your cardio shouldn’t be longer than 45 min.
• Remember consuming your breakfast right after you finish the exercise.
• You must practice a moderated activity.
• Consider these recommendations and if you don’t feel safe practicing it, consult your doctor.

 

Bottom line

• Practicing fasted cardio is a personal decision. For instance, there are people who go great with it and see good results in a short period of time. Moreover, you must be patient and let your body respond to it.
• You don’t have to do it if you don’t like it. So, you can do your cardiovascular exercise after your dumbbell training if you prefer to.
• You must understand this reading is about cardiovascular exercise, not dumbbells nor intensive exercises. On the contrary, for those type of activities in which you train in anaerobic phases, you do need to eat something before.
• Another thing to have in consideration, this is not about not eating breakfast. On the contrary, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Otherwise, you’re just going to eat it one hour after you wake up. Besides, if you see it in retrospective, there’s a lot of people who do anything after waking up, they distract themselves and eat breakfast after an hour they’ve woken up.
• Fasted cardio also could be a good tool for the moms. If you’re a mom, you can wake up an hour before your kids and husband, and do your cardio. As a result, your day will simplify.

Find more tips in our website