Fasted Cardio- Running on empty

Have you ever wondered what fasted cardio is or if it is right for you?
 
I know cardio is not everyone’s favourite but it is very important to your fitness regime.
Dan and I both implement cardio into our workouts at the gym and I have recently incorporated fasted cardio for the summer as I am working on hitting some major goals!  
 
Fasted cardio in short, is conducting cardio on a fasted system, meaning you have not eaten and are running on empty, which is why FC is usually done in the morning after having the night to fast. The fuel your body uses to burn energy is dependent on a host of factors, the first being whether or not you’ve just eaten.  Your body likes to burn the fuel that you’ve eaten first. So if you don’t have any fuel because you didn’t eat (meaning you’re in a fasted state), then your body turns to what it has stored away and works to burn that. By doing so, the hopes are that you'll turn directly to your body fat stores for energy rather than utilizing the current glucose in the system as you would be doing had you have had something to eat prior to doing the session.
 
Does FC really burn more fat? Yes, studies have shown that doing cardio in a fasted state can burn up to 20% more fat then when compared to sweating it out after eating.
 
A couple things to keep in mind:

1. What are your goals? If you goal is to build lean muscle mass then FC may not be for you but if your goal is to lose body fat then FC is the way to go.
2. FC is meant to be slow and steady so your body sticks to burning stored fat and doesn’t flip over to burning carbohydrates. If you've been fasting, your body will likely burn body fat, because the rate of energy production (a.k.a. how hard you were working) was really low and fat was easily accessible. When you go at a high intensity, your body can’t use fat fast enough and flips to using carbs for energy.
3. Fat lose is heavily dependent on your diet, which I have made very clear in my last blog “Food, Food, Food”.  It’s simple math, calories in calories out. To lose weight you need to burn more calories in your day then you have consumed. With all workout routines, you will have very little success if your diet is not in check.
4. Remember that your body only burns fat during the actual workout when you do FC whereas numerous studies have shown that high-intensity interval training and weight training strokes your metabolism and keeps burning fat long after your routine is done. This is why Ashmeade Fitness believes whole heatedly in weight training.  
5. Your liver provides glucose for your body, and you don’t really start tapping into that until you deplete the glycogen stores in your muscles. Depending on how fed you were the day before and how trained you are, you have about an hour-and-a-half to two hours before you even dip into your liver glucose. In other words, Maximum one hour of FC is recommended
6. With regards to the fat that is burned during FC, more than any other form of fat burning exercise, when done in a fasted state like this, you will have a greater ability to target the stubborn fat stores on your body, which include the hips and thighs for women as well as the abs and lower back for men. These areas of the body tend to be more resistant to giving up their fat stores and are why these are generally the very last places that you'll lose body fat.
   
   

Examples of Great FC:

1. Long distance run 30-40 minutes
2. Fast pace walk 40-60 minutes
3. Bike ride 60 minutes
4. Low intensity elliptical 40-60 minutes
5. Low intensity stairmill 40-60 minutes

 
If fasted cardio is something you would be interested in and would like to implement, I would recommend adding it in twice to your week, best days would be your off days from the gym.
 
This can be implemented into your workout regime but should not take the place of your hour-long daily workouts (Ashmeade Fitness along recommends working out for 1 hour, 5 days a week which is 4% of your day).
 
 
Please leave any questions or comments below, I would love to hear from you!
 
Tiffany Ashmeade