Should You Workout On An Empty Stomach ?
A lot of people think it’s a bad idea, but there are actually some surprising health benefits. We’re gonna break down fact versus fiction about eating and exercise. And there are two major benefits of working on an empty stomach:
1. High Insulin Sensitivity
The first one was that insulin sensitivity stays higher. So you know we always eat small meals 5 – 6 times a day, but what happens is your body get desensitized to insulin. Insulin is the hormone that spikes when you eat to help transport the food that you’re eating into the muscle as muscle sugar.
2. Increase Of Growth Hormone
The second main huge benefit is about 2000% (yeah, two thousands percent) spike in growth hormone. This happens when you fast for 24 hours, which is not recommended for the obvious reasons. But still, if you would work out on an empty stomach, there will be a significant increase in your growth hormone production.
The growth hormone is basically the Holly Grail of the fat burning hormone so it helps you burn body fat and build lean muscle tissue. And that’s what you want to raise your metabolism long term.
The Downside
One downside to this is that a lot of people can’t work out on an empty stomach. I always recommend you to eat an hour to an hour and a half before you work out because a lot of people get dizzy, nauseas, dropped blood sugar, feel lightheaded and their performance really suffer.
3 Ways To Workout On An Empty Stomach
I’m sure you’ve tried working out on an empty stomach and it can be very difficult. So I’m gonna give you 3 ways that you actually can work out on an empty stomach. We’ll take advantage of what’s known as intermittent fasting.
1. Do It First Thing In The Morning
The thing you want to do is fast all night long, so you eat your dinner at 7 p.m. and when you wake up, go work out. Exercise first thing in the morning, after you’ve already fasted for about eight hours, and then do your intermittent fasting or any kind of diet you’re on.
2. Skip Your Pre-Workout Meal
Normally you want to eat an hour to an hour and a half before workout to increase your performance and your energy, but one in a while skip that pre-workout meal. Pay close attention to how you’re feeling though. If you’re used to it, it’s going to be easy, but if you’re not used to it you’re gonna suffer a little bit.
3. Quick Low Cardio Session
It’s really hard to do endurance workout, resistance training and high intensity workout if you’re fasting. So the best thing to do is a short 30-minute workout or a low intensity workout. Basically you can do some slow jogging first thing in the morning to get the benefits of the growth hormone and the insulin sensitivity.
