I always get asked whether to do cardio fasted… so i am here to answer the question for you!

Cardio. its one of those things that does need to be done sometimes, as much as i opt for the weights first! But is it better to do it fasted (without eating) or to eat first? Many people perform fasted cardio in the morning becasue of the idea that they will burn more fat when doing so. his has been the norm in the fitness world for such a long time and is something i too used to do in te past without even questioning the benefits. so is it true? is fasted cardio better than performing cardio in a fed state.?

While studies show you do in fact burn a higher percentage of Fat during fasted cardio, there are also studies that indicate that you do not necessarily burn more fat in a 24 hour period when you perform fasted cardio. let me elaborate on this so you get the complete picture. if you perform a cardio session without eating yes you will probably burn more total fat in that session compared to a fed state of cardio. However, when you look at fat burning in a 24 hour period, you will most likely burn the same amount of body fat in that time regardless of how much your burned in the session which was fasted.  

So the verdict in a nutshell… Within a 24 hour period you would have burnt the same amount of fat whether you performed your cardio fasted or not. so if it makes no or little dofference when to burning of body fat when performing cardio in a fasted VS fed state,  I would 100% eat first! If i eat first i have more energy so i can perform better and work harder in any cardio session.

However i do understand that sometimes we all want to sleep as much as possible, well at least i know i do. so i like to roll out of bed and just GO. this means no time to eat a meal and let my food digest before cardio. In this case, I at least drink a serving of BCAA’s before i do my workout or have a small amoufnt of carbohydrates, to ensure i protect my muscle and giving it some form of fuel source and recovery. 

When i do cardio i opt for high intensity quick sessions rather than long steady state sessions and i try to do what i love like hill prints or a thai boxing class where i can go hard and sweat it out 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

There are times where i do cardio fasted if its early in the morning but only because i can not eat that early. In that case i make sure i am drinking BCAAS during my workout to reduce and muscle breakdown! But i am definitely not a morning person so i try not to do that very often 😜

But nina what if we do cardio and weights in the same day?

If i am doing cardio in the morning and weights that evening i make sure majority of my carbohydrates are either around my weight session or simply spread out a little more evenly between morning and evening if i am doing high intensity cardio. I think it’s important to place fuel (carbs) where they are needed most but at the end of the day keep it simple because what matters most is hitting your overall macros and caloric intake for the day.