The TRUTH About Empty Stomach Cardio

After completing my Personal Training course we were taught the empty stomach cardio was highly effective as long as you were only doing low intensity training. eg between 60% and 70% of your maximum heart rate.

Hahaha, I didn’t realize people were STILL doing that! Dang! That research is ANCIENT! I don’t really read fitness mags, but do they really still teach this?!? I always eat before I workout in the morning. Or whenever. If nor I end up whining on the floor. Hahaha. Not a pretty sight!

Oh well. Hope you reach many enough to spread the word. I know I do!

Have a great day everyone!

Joel

Wondering if you are able to provide the referneces for the research you refer to?

Thanks mate

Every morning I start my day with having some Choco-cereals and a glass of orange juice. I then wait for about an hour or so then start of with a little streching eg: leg streches etc.. take abou 4 minutes on it and then start to warm up and all. Now the difference is when I dont eat before starting of my warm up I dont start to sweat neither do I have any stamina since I just get of the bed and off to exercise would be kind of dum. Further more after warming up through aerobics and all when I get to start my Push-ups which I do 80 each day spreading equally to 25-25-30, I can do them better with having a moderate Breakfast but when I didnt eat my breakfast I just cant seem to keep up and lose track in the second set. But with out breakfast I do feel a bit lighter when doing my workout, but that doesnt convince me from not having a good breakfast. I recommend breakfast for all, especially for those of you out their who are teenagers like I am 17.

Hi,
just started your program & am on week one on Low Carbo which means that my food intake follow your stated guidelines. But I still continue with my daily habit(6 years morning ritual) of taking Reliv Protein+fruits(grapes/strawberry/blue berry,sunkist/grapefruit etc one type per day)+1 spoon Bragg Apple Cider Vineger + UDO oil on empty stomach when I woke up in the morning before I head to the gym for workout. Usually, took an hr & did group cycling on Mon & Thur, Yoga on Tue & Wed, weight & 20mins interval cardio on Fri & Sat. Sun, hill slope sprinting 20mins & body weight exercise. My weight stable at 50kg at 5Feet. Hoping to hit 48kg. Then I report for work at 9am. My concern now is will my morning protein juice intake affect my progress since I am at Low Carbo week or Low GI etc. 2ndly, I dun feel lacking energy when I did my 1 hr workout, of course with protein shake intake.

I’m familiar with the empty stomach cardio workout, though I myself strive to have a proper meal before any training. What I would like to know is why some supplements such as USN’s Leutec require one to take six pills on an empty stomach before a workout, and three thereafter. They’re supposed to help one’s body into an extreme anabolic state.
Could the way they are taken pose a risk to one’s health?

I’ve tried a couple of times cardio with empty stomach first thing in the morning and I had nausea feelings, low blood pressure and performance issues. So, I gave up. I usually don’t have the time for cardio in the morning, but in the weekends I exercise after 1 hour after breakfast (cereals+yogurt). My usual is to do cardio at lunch time before lunch. Surprisingly, I don’t have any of the issues mentioned above even in days I miss my 10 am snack.

I heard about empty stomach Cardio, understood the theory behind and in fact tried once. I found I didn’t have energy in early morning to fuel those workout.
Instead I took 3 scoops of endurance drink mixed with 2 scoops of Betagen before and during workout, and some protein drink after for recovery and this way suits me best.

I play 1+ hours of intensive tennis at morning and feel much better with empty stomach. I think if its pure cardio like running or tennis, its always better with empty stomach. OFcourse for my evening weight training I follow the general pre and post workout meals.

To me working out first thing in the morning BEFORE breakfast spells disaster for muscles. This may not be the case with slow and steady cardio, but I don’t do slow and steady any more, interval is much more fun and much more effective so if I did interval first thing in the morning…hah good one :) not to mention weight training on an empty stomach. I just have a feeling that you would lose muscle by training first thing in the morning and where da heck would you come up with the energy as Joel says. Maybe it would be a good idea to eat some lean protein oatmeal and like a bowl of mixed salad in the morning and then go hit the gym if you want to go early in the morning.

It’s pretty funny… I just came back from my morning cardio session (on an empty stomach) which I actually don’t do that often but today I wanted to have my cardio done before going to work. Usually I do it in the evenings. Anywho, It felt really crappy and instead of feeling more energetic which I usually do I almost feel sick, even after having my breakfast. From now on no more empty stomach cardio!

Ps. Despite what I just wrote I DO think that you can perform well before breakfast, but that’s if you had a large meal late, the night before.

Have a good one!

It is just sad that we are continually subject to the changes in opinion of the “Fitness Gurus”. fortunately I test what works for me and stick to that. I always excercise on an empty stomach and eat straight after and it works for me. I am as strong as an ox and I particularly alterante my cardio between HIIT and steady state, to confuse my body enough and it works miracles for me. I have just turned fifty and I have yet to see anyone even the younger guys work head on with me. I excercise every morning and I am sticking to empty stomach. Keep up the good work, we learn so much from you guys.

Absolutely agreed with you joel. Thank you for clearing this one up!

Hi All… Thanks for all the interesting thoughts, but talking about FAT burning specifically, it makes sense that after a 7-8 hour fasting (Sleep time), then going for a one hour aerobic excercise at 75% HR will be a super fast burner session, is that fact or myth? now we have two opposite opinions and supported by research,, so what to do??

I always eat to have the energy before weight training workouts, but if I eat or drink anything within 2 hours of doing cardio, I get a massive stitch and literally can’t move, having to stop running etc to ease the pain.

So if it’s cardio, it’s first thing in the morning before breakfast!!

If i’m doing something like a half marathon or mini-triathlon, i’ll get up extra early to have a banana a few hours before, but for a smaller training session, I’m much better without food or drink in me!

I’ve done both. If it’s early and I don’t have time, I won’t eat but I do notice the difference when I have eaten. Much prefer my feelings about my performance after eating first.

The most practical recommendation to keep one’s body fit more especially the stomach part is to do a regular sit ups. This would be great in maintaining a healthy and fit mind and body.

The theory sounds about right; you will achieve more in the session if you have eaten for energy but I guess it all depends on what you class as a morning workout. I go for a 30 minute run every morning on an empty stomach but this is more as exercise for the dog and to wake my body up. I have to go within 10 minutes of the alarm going off (or I won´t go) so I don´t eat anything. My performance doesn´t suffer because it is not a high intensity session, more of a bonus to my proper routine and a way of waking myself up. I then eat oatmeal and a boiled egg when I get back. The mainstay of my training is whole body workouts, boot camp style. I live in Spain and the national custom is the siesta, a 2 hour lunch break from 14:00-16:00. I go to the gym in this break (it is empty then) and this means that I have had the whole morning to eat and prepare (light, balanced meals every 2 1/2 – 3 hours). If I ever have to do a session without having eaten then I have a crappy workout; I get laughed at at work because I bring in a coolbox with 4 meals in it to get me through the day! My workmates don´t understand how I am eating frequently to burn fat, they simply skip and then wonder why they are not getting in shape.

For those who don’t have time for the 30 min eating space what I do is taking coffee at half of my normal cup then off with my morning jogging straight away. This helps with those who gets nausea on empty cardio as caffeine kicks in to the rescue quite quickly plus giving you the stimulant to exercise to burn more fat! (The less sugar you put in coffee the more fat burning effective! bitter coffee anyone?) . However, for weight training I do need have some carb before hand.

hi joel,

thanks for the tip. i agree with you that we get better results when we eat several minutes before doing cardio.

I always do my morning workouts on an empty stomach, having only water and one cup of black, unsweetened coffee before. I feel great this way. Sometimes I tried eating before and it slows me down big time. I feel nauseous and tired no matter how “small” I eat. I think this is a personal thing. You just have to find your best way.

I do cardio on an empty stomach. I find if I have a large cup of coffee before doing my cardio, I have no problem giving 30 minutes hard and intense effort.

I never exercise without breakfast. That is one meal I simply cannot forgo….my breakfast is as early as 6:30 in the morning and I do not work out till almost 9…at times even later. If it is later than nine, I do have a wholemeal toast with some honey or a couple of digestive biscuits about an hour before my workout. I cannot exercise on an empty stomach….just doesn’t seem right….

This is an eye opener as I’ve been torturing myself by getting up at 5.30 to work out at home and just been getting through the workout. Guess I need to find a better time so that I can put in a better performance.

Hi! I am glad you are endorsing this as I never was really into morning cardio anyway. I always felt my performance was at minimum in the morning and the first thing I wanted to do when I got up from bed is to have a good breaklfast. I am into afternoon intense interval cardio where I can really feel energetic and give it all. This works fine, at least, for me and I came to a point where I accepted the fact that everybody performs better at different times. I was feeling though as I was not doing my best by skipping morning cardio. Not any more. I feel justified now. Thank you!

Excellent post – scientifically makes absolute sense BUT even so I just cannot train that way – can still manage eating before weight training but no ways when I’m doing cardio. Have tried to eat before a cardio workout and land up having to give up half way – nausea, cramps, body feels heavy and unco-operative, feel sluggish and cannot peform optimally! Scientifically that probably doesn’t make sense but it’s what I’ve found works for me! I guess that is at the end of the day what counts – whatever works for you as an individual.

hi,
I always work-out before I go to work, because I play or train my sport/game (badminton) in the evening. This means getting up early and then I can’t eat and if I do I have to wait at least an houre before working out or it will come up again, so I work-out on a empty stomach. But I am depleted after that and I do have to eat right after the training. maybe I should get up around 04:00 eat breakfast, get 2 houres sleep and start my morning training then? what do you think?

@David – I like David’s comment – how he describes what happens during a cardio workout definately works for me – I never feel energyless doing cardio on an empty stomach in fact I feel more energised as opposed to when I’ve eaten something – once I feel “woken up” I’m good to go and feel my body coping well with the cardio session – I just seem to perform so much better on an empty stomach……

i have to say you got this one right,me and my sis go to the gym together and like your friend she thought empty was better than breakfast untill one morning she got dizzy fainted and was so embarassed when our gym instructor asked what she ate for breakfast and her reply was nothing.so she got a bollocking for being stupid and told of the dangers of exercising on empty.a lesson she learned very quickly,and glad to tell everyone since she started eating breakfast her stamina has improved and her weight loss more even.ann

Hi, i still do my weight my exercise in the morning on empty stomach ,because I get up very early and I feel good doing it that way, if I eat ,first of all it is too early for me to eat, second I get stomach upset . I do it A.M. otherwise I would never have time later, interferes with my family routine and I find this is the only way I can stay committed: it is my private time! I hope I have not being doing wrong all these years.
thanks
josephine

I tend to do cardio first thing in the morning so I find it difficult to fit breakfast in beforehand, especially as I swim and eating so close to exercise could leave me cramping up. I havent noticed not eating affecting my performance but I do have a stubborn final layer of belly fat that I cant shift so I’m now torn between carrying on as I am or trying pre-workout nutrition to help get me out of my plateau

Joel,

My issue with eating before workout is that I get up at 5:30 everyday and begin my workout which includes cardio. I workout for an hour then eat and hit the shower. I am at work by 7:30 and usually don’t get home from work until 7:00.

I do not have the extra 1/2 hour in the morning to wait for food to start digesting.

Suggestions?

Thanks

Rick

I pretty much follow these rules:

-Always eat prior to weight-training
-Always eat prior to HIIT (Although I don’t really do a lot of HIIT beacuse it increases the risk of overtraining)
-Low/medium intensity cardio is okay on empty stomach.

Advantages of empty stomach morning cardio (low/med intensity):
- I can start almost as soon as I get out of bed (thereby saving 1/2 hour)
- It’s a great way to wake up
- I won’t have to do it in the afternoon when I’m tired from work.

Disadvantages
-Intensity (as in heartrate) will probably be a bit lower compared to if I ate first.

I do cardio seven times a week, so some days I do both med-intensity empty-stomach morningcardio, and then med-intensity cardio after meal# 5 in the evening. Usually, I’m more tired in the evening, so eating first doesn’t really make any difference.

(Currently @ 148 lbs, 9% BF. Have lost 11 lbs of pure fat the last months, and gained 1-2 lbs of muscle.)

My first post here and only yesterday got your Cheat Your Way Thin package, so there is a lot to learn. Great post Joel. Some people are still saying to workout on an empty stomach for fat loss, so there’s some confusion about this out there. I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work for me, but perhaps it only works for the people that do their workouts very early in the morning. As I usually work out before lunchtime, there is no way I could workout on an empty stomach. The good news is that some trainers are changing from the don’t have anything before your workout to have some protein. However, I’ve found that I need some carbs too that I can easily digest like fruit and oatmeal.

Joel,

I have tried this and my tummy has always said “What are you doing?”. So I eat a small protein based breakfast at 4:45 and start working out by 5:15. After the workout, I cool down have some grapes, shower and I feel great when I am at work.

I never used to do any cardio on an empty stomach. I waited about an hour before exercising. Wasn’t that stupid!

@karen – Try drinking a cup of OJ before your workout. It’s good to consume fast digesting carbs especially in the morning before your workout :)

Telling you based on what I read and my experience. It doesn’t let you gain weight at all. It will help since you get up really early in the morning.

I’m shocked! I’ve read a lot about diet and excercise from some really smart people (i.e. Jon Benson and Tom Venuto) who both advocate early morning cardio on an empty stomach. I’m going to experiment on myself and see what happens. I was a firm believer running on empty.

yo joel!

Man this is a wake up call! I have always done my morning workouts on an empty stomach (these are always usually cardio ones) believing that this is the key to getting the most fat burned off!

I try to avoid recistance traning in the mornings as i feel i train with more intensety with a few meals under my belt!

It can be so confusing with so many fitness gurus telling you that empty stomach cardio is beneficial.

mike.

I actually feel better working out on an empty stomach (Although I usually have some coffee (either hot or iced). If I eat a significant amount prior to working out it actually decreases the intensity of my workout. That being said if it makes a positive metabolic difference I can certainly add some whey protein to the cofee. When I am engaged in prolonged exertion ie surfing for hours or 50+ mile bike ride I usually bring something to eat after an hour or so to prevent running out of energy, however whether or not I eat seems to make no difference. I starting doing weight training on an empty stomach first thing in the am quite a few years ago. I was embarked on ship and working out with someone who purchased the “Cybergenics” package. We got goodresuls but I suspect the main thing was the intensity (negative failure drop weight by half and negative failure) and consistency of the workouts. The literature he had said that weight training after an overnight fast (nothing since dinner evening before) increased growth hormone levels which in turn should help wth muscle growth and fat burning. I do not know if this was based on solid clinical studies so if anyone knows more please share.

I always have a scoop of whey and some amino acids and a cup of coffee before morning cardio, and then breakfast.

I always eat something before my workout, I would pass out if I didn’t. This morning I had 1 1/2 eggs on gluten free toast & a small slice of roasted red pepper. Thanks for putting this info out there!

I swim 3 times per week on an empty stomach. I just take 5g of BCAAs about 30 minutes before, but i dont’ wanna get up any earlier than 5, so eating is tight, but i’ve noticed that i get side cramps something horrible when i eat, and nothing when i have an empty stomach, so the choice was always made easy, i just workout better on an empty stomach, not sure why, so its always what i’ve done for early morning. When i heard it was better for fat burning i was a bit excited. The annoying thing is i cant find any specific scientific studies done on it. It is always just hearsay and opinions shot back and forth around fitness “guru’s”. It has always worked for me, thus i do it. Personally how can another body tell me what is good for my body? i think the most important thing is just figuring out what works for you and doing it as hard as possible. :)

I’m a cyclist and it doesn’t work for me. I have a bana before I start and will have a onother bana,fruit bar or energy bar for every hour of the ride.

Most of these posting are surprising me with the type of questions they are asking. Look, if you are getting results on an empty stomach continue on your path. If you are not try and switch it up a little. Do it until you get the type of results you want to get. I do agree that research ISN”T very credible anymore, so you have to use your own discretion. What works for some doesn’t always work for others. My 2cents.

Hey Joel,

I perform two types of cardio training: steady-state and high impact interval training. When I’m trying to cut the last of stubborn belly fat, I will do 20-30 minutes of stead-state cardio (e.g. light jogging or inclined walking) on an empty stomach because performance is not my priority. Later in the day, after a solid pre-workout meal, I either lift or do my HIIT for gains.

In theory, I agree with you because in your example, the morning cardio session sounded pretty intense. In that instance, I would never come to the gym on an empty stomach. I surround any workout focused on performance and gains with two quality meals.

Thanks for your insight and advice.

I don’t eat before any of my workouts. I get up anywhere from 4:30 – 5am to workout (depending on what’s on the agenda for the morning). I feel that if I eat, I won’t have time to wait the 30 minutes to digest whatever I eat and will end being nauseous. However, I have noticed that if I workout in the afternoon, after a full day of eating, I have more stamina. I was wondering if maybe eating something as small as a banana or having some oj before my morning workout will be of benefit. Oh and on top of everything else, I have a carnitine deficiency and Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism which already makes it difficult for my body to go to those fat stores :-( But I haven’t given up!