Many of our clients at BTX work long hours so will often not have time to train after work.
If training early morning it’s important to make sure you are still performing well to maintain muscle while dieting or building muscle when in a strength phase.
You will not burn more fat while training on an empty stomach. You lose weight by being in a calorie deficit.
Is it a problem to train on an empty stomach?
In an ideal world you would eat an hour or an hour and a half before you train.
Eating a source of protein such as eggs, salmon, steak or a protein shake
will help protect muscle tissue when training. It will also help stabilize blood sugar keeping you full for longer.
Eat between 25-50g of protein this will be the amount needed to turn on protein synthesis. (Muscle building). 25g of high quality protein source will contain the required 2-3g of
A source of carbohydrates is optimal too. Carbohydrates are your primary energy source.
Your storage molecule for glucose is glycogen and that is depleted during the night for essential processes such as growth and repair.
Therefore it’s important you have a high quality carbohydrate source such as oatmeal, bagel or even white rice to replenish glycogen stores.
YES white rice and refined carbohydrates are fine. Click on our article which explains why. LINK TO ARTICLE ON WEBSITE
A source of fat isn’t vital as you’ll need food sources that are fast digesting and simple carbs will be better suited at this time of day.
What if you don’t have time to eat? Swipe left to see what you can do.
If you can’t wake up earlier an excellent choice is to have a during workout shake this will make sure you still have plenty of energy and preserve muscle tissue while training. It should contain as follows;
25-50g of Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin Powder (HBCD). This is a rapidly absorbed carbohydrate source.
It causes no bloating like other carb powders as it has a fast gastric emptying time.
10-20g of Essential amino acids (EAAS) powder. This still provides 2-3g of leucine to turn on protein synthesis without any solid food. This will help build muscle and stop you losing muscle while dieting.
Mix these the EAAs and HBCD powder in water and start sipping 15 minutes before you train. Drink the rest throughout your workout.
Conclusion
It’s best to try and eat solid food before you train early morning
If you can’t have a during workout shake is also a good option
Training fasted will not make you burn more fat
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