Throughout my days as a Personal Trainer I’d be often asked the question ‘Does exercise first thing in the morning burn more body fat?’.

This is an interesting question that not only effects those just interested in fitness but more so us, as multi-sport athletes, as most of us try to sneak a morning session in before our daily chores, but perhaps don’t understand the possible negative effects.

Fair enough, if fat loss is your main goal, exercising on an empty stomach, such as first thing in the morning, may encourage your body to burn slightly more fat for fuel. Research suggests that insulin levels are at their lowest and glycogen levels are at their highest after an overnight fast. This increases the amount of fat that leaves your fat cells and travels to your muscles, where the fat is burned. On the downside, you may fatigue sooner or drop your exercise intensity and therefore end up burning fewer calories, and less body fat.

This is where it gets interesting. More often than not as multi-sport athletes performance is our main goal. Exercising in a fasted state will almost certainly reduce your endurance. The same goes if muscular endurance type strength work is an important element in your training because after an overnight fast, when muscle glycogen and blood glucose levels are low, your muscles will burn more protein for fuel. So you could end up losing hard earned muscle.

The solution to this problem for us multi-sport athletes is simple. Try to consume a light meal before training. If you can’t fit a meal in due to timescales, at least take on board a cereal type bar and a sports drink of some description. Remember my post on race day breakfast?

For me, I have to eat something before exercise in the morning regardless of the type of training session. Even if time is tight I try to have a piece of fruit before dashing out for a run. I accept that an individual’s needs and gastrointestinal abilities are different but if you can, try to eat as you’ll most definitely feel the benefit.

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