There are people who only have time to train first thing in the morning or who like the tranquility of noticing the empty street. Even the gyms are almost private when the sun is still starting to rise. It is those brave people who manage to get out of bed and put on their sports clothes who wonder if they should have breakfast before or after training.
On the one hand, you will have heard that doing sports on an empty stomach favors fat burning, although it also harms you because you weaken the muscle. Is this true? Is it bad to train without breakfast?
What does science think?
There are studies that confirm that after 12 hours of fasting, low-intensity training causes greater lipid oxidation. Interestingly, when the athletes increased the intensity, the training did not use more fat for energy, regardless of whether they had breakfast or not.
It was also confirmed that performing HIIT does not produce many differences in an empty stomach or having eaten food before. Lipid oxidation was similar in both cases. So don't insist on skipping breakfast to "lose fat."
Other recent research showed that fasting in people with a hypercaloric diet it helps to maintain weight. In addition, it improves insulin sensitivity and better glucose tolerance.
Does it affect performance?
Of course, fasting affects your performance. Depending on the type of training you do, the result will be better or worse. When we demand the maximum from our muscles, many times the fat does not provide enough energy and also pulls glycogen.
Glycogen (sugar that is in our cells) is much faster to provide energy compared to fat, so if you are looking for improve your time or lift more weight, doing it on an empty stomach will not be the best option. It is not that it is bad, but that you will not have the same energy.
If you train moderately, fasting may work in your favor. Attention runners and cyclists! As we said before, fasting, glycogen levels are low and you tend to burn more fat. If we habituate our body to this process, we will get more bottom of resistance and we will become more efficient. Fasting means not taking anything, if you ingest an energy gel before going out to train, fasting will be of no use because you are providing glycogen to your body.
So, fasting yes or no?
Moving away from the myths that training on an empty stomach is terrible because it can give you blackouts, everything will depend on your sporting goals:
- If you're looking to burn a little more fat by running moderately, try fasting.
- If you want your body to get used to consuming more fat to gain bottom, fast from time to time. This way you will leave other days to improve your marks.
- If you do high-intensity or strength training with weights, it's best to train with breakfast. If you insist on fasting while training with weights, take BCAAs to avoid losing muscle.