Breakfast - it's the most important meal of the day, right? Well, yes - of course it is. But if you're thinking of doing some cardio first thing in the morning, it might well be worth putting off food until after you're done. This is called fasted training.
I found this a completely alien concept at first. Firstly, it doesn't matter what time I get up, I'm always ravenously hungry for breakfast (it's my favourite meal). I couldn't possibly imagine going for a run or going to the gym without eating anything. But I've tried it - I must admit, for the first few minutes my stomach tends to rumble quite a lot, and I always consider fleeing home for porridge - and it's actually very doable.
A sciencey bit - your body can cope with exercise much better when it doesn't have food digestion to deal with, so you may well find you perform better - anyone who's attempted to run when they're too full will know how unpleasant that is. Plus, if you're looking to reduce your body fat, fasted training means the energy being burned to fuel your workout is your body fat, rather than any food you've recently eaten. And, when you do finally get home from your fasted workout - you'll never taste a breakfast so good...
I must stress, this might not be for everybody - diabetics and those with blood sugar instabilities should probably avoid it. And, this is only for cardio workouts - running, swimming, aerobics - they're all good. But if you're going to do anything with resistance, such as weights, circuit training or perhaps even a spin class if you're one of those hardcore types - you need food.
[image: Mark Stevens]
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