Earlier in the week, I wrote about the benefits of pre-breakfast aerobic exercise. As promised, I thought I would share the thoughts from the other side on the same. As written the other day, despite the fact that increased fat burning from morning aerobics seems logical and is backed by research, there are other scientists and exercise physiologists that vehemently deny its effectiveness. There argument that in the long run overall fat loss is not impacted.
From Venuto’s book, Exercise Physiologist Greg Landry, MS, author of “The Metabolism System for Weight Loss and Fitness,” says, “I agree that you burn a fuel mix that is a little higher in fat if you’re exercising on an empty stomach. However, I think the real question is, does that matter? I believe we have a pool of calories stored in different forms in the body (fat, glycogen, etc.), so burned calories all come from the same pool. Thus, it really doesn’t matter that the fuel mix has a little more fat in it at a given time. If its pulling from fat stores at that time, then its pulling less from glycogen stores and thus future consumed calories will be a little more likely to be stored as fat because glycogen stores are a little fuller. So it’s all a wash.”
Lyle McDonald, an expert on bodybuilding nutrition and author of “The Ketogenic Diet,” agrees. He argues that the body will compensate later in the day and is simply “too smart” for strategies like this to ever work: “All that research says is that you burn a greater proportion of fat this way, which I agree with 100%. The majority of research shows that as far as real world fat loss goes, it doesn’t really matter what you burn. Rather, 24-hour calorie balance is what matters. Because if you burn glucose during exercise, you tend to burn more fat the rest of the day. If you burn fat during exercise, you burn more glucose during the day. The end result is identical. If that weren’t the case, then athletes like sprinters who never burn fat during exercise wouldn’t be shredded. Basically, they burn so many calories that they remain in balance and don’t gain any fat. So, while morning aerobic exercise probably provides some psychological benefits to bodybuilders who are programmed to do it that way, I can’t say that I think it will result in greater real world fat loss, which is what matters.”
Now, I want to point out that you can find a study to support almost any theory you want to advocate. Why do think there are so many different religions and religious views based on their interpretations from the Bible? So as I’ve researched and as you read my thoughts keep that in mind. Do what has and is best for you based on your experience.
I’m one of those individuals who does prescribe to pre-breakfast aerobic training. But a concern of mine and I’ve experienced this in my triathlon training – especially when I’m swimming at 5:30 am in the morning it’s very difficult to have breakfast before training without getting up 3:30 am – when doing aerobic exercise in the fasted state, is losing muscle. After an overnight fast, glycogen, blood glucose and insulin are all low. As I wrote the other day, this may be the ideal environment for burning fat. Unfortunately, it may also be an optimum environment for burning muscle because carbohydrate fuel sources are low. Pre-breakfast aerobic exercise might be a double-edged sword but there are ways to avert muscle loss.
All aerobic exercise will have some effect on muscle, but as long as you don’t overdo it, you shouldn’t worry about losing muscle. It’s a fact that muscle proteins are broken down and used for energy during aerobic exercise. But you are constantly breaking down and re-building muscle tissue anyway. This process is called “protein turnover” and it’s a daily fact of life.
How do you build up more muscle than you break down if your train before morning?
• Avoid excessive aerobic exercise. Researchers suggest limiting your aerobic exercise on an empty stomach to 30-45 minutes and then it would be highly unlikely that amino acids will be burned as fuel. If you plan on training longer, then perhaps have a protein shake before your workout. They are absorbed fast to avoid the sluggishness or stomach ache. Also., having a cup of coffee or some caffeine before your workout helps to facilitate a shifting to burn more fat and less muscle glycogen.
• Give your body the proper nutritional support. Losing muscle probably has more to do with inadequate nutrition than with excessive aerobics. Provide yourself with the proper nutritional support for the rest of the day, including adequate meal frequency, protein, carbohydrates and total calories, and it’s not as likely that there will be a net loss of muscle tissue over each 24-hour period.
• Keep training with heavy weights even during a fat loss phase. Using light weights and higher reps thinking that it will help you get more “cut” is a mistake: What put the muscle on in the first place is likely to help you keep it there.
In conclusion, there are arguments for both views on pre-breakfast aerobic exercise but in my experience and in talking with others it seems that morning aerobic exercise has enough indisputable benefits to motivate most people to set their alarms early.
