===============DUAL PERSPECTIVE===============

-- The Focus on Total Body Fat Burning --

The common belief in the sports organizations and institutes across the world is that a cardiovascular exercise should not be done on an empty stomach or in a fasted state (having fasted overnight from last evening’s meal, therefore having fasted over a period of 8 to 12 hours). This common belief however is in accordance to the academics’ claims – and one that is highly controversial and widely debated, even amongst the fitness gurus and personal trainers, worldwide.

The belief puts forth the claims that doing a cardio aerobics exercise in a fasted state will burn muscle as opposed to fat burn. As a result muscles will catabolise because there aren’t enough carbs in the stomach to fuel the exerciser for the duration of the exercise.

I look at the above claims from a dual perspective, and by that I mean there are two things to consider if one is to take those claims into consideration. First and foremost, the average person consumes way too much food in order for their muscles to catabolise (the process of muscle burn). It is extremely hard to burn your muscles as energy when doing a low intensity cardio exercise in a fasted state – of course, there is a way to achieve muscle burn though, and that’s by not eating properly during the day and then doing cardios in a fasted state. Yes, that’s basically starving oneself and thus suffering from the consequences of malnutrition. Now, in this day and age it’d be utterly stupid for someone to do such a thing, wouldn’t it?

One other thing I should highlight too is that on average the average person has way too much fat on their body for the process of muscle burn to take on its ill effect. What the body does is it burns the most abundant energy in your body first to fuel the exercise. Most people will have readily available energy in their body before any fat is burned, so our body will first burn that, and afterwards or so it’ll then begin tapping into your fat stores to burn that as fuel. Now, if you have plenty of food in your stomach it will burn all of that as a source of fuel before having the chance of tapping into the fat stores and using fat as fuel. The fat burning process will work faster to burn the fat stores in a fasted state. Rather than burning off the food you just ate as energy, it’ll go to burning what’s more abundant in your body; in this case it’s the more abundant fat stores.

Preventing muscle burn or catabolism when doing a cardio exercise in a fasted state requires that you not only eat -- but that you eat highly nutritious foods accordingly and frequently through out the day. Henceforth it is essentially important to get into the consistent routine of eating highly nutritious foods 5 to 6 times every 2 to 3 hours in small serves. Integrate this eating routine with your daily workout routine consisting of cardio and weight lifting workouts for maximum beneficial gains.

Eating frequently as stated, will also determine your chances of loosing fat, so eat more often! It’ll bump up your metabolism and help shed those unwanted pounds. So if you are serious about fat loss, then I seriously urge you to eat most of your carbs in the mornings, and reduce the carbohydrate intake as the day progresses. By your last two meals, you should have low calorie food such as vegetables with lean protein and plenty of water. Food groups high in carbs like rice (how do you think sumo wrestlers get so fat? Rice has tonnes of carbs and they eat throughout the day well into night), pasta, potatoes and fruits should all be avoided in the evenings. Broad beans, snap beans or green snake beans, asparagus and spinach are all extremely low in calories, so stock up on those for the last two evening meals. If you’re heading out for the evening and plan to wear a nice dress then you should avoid broccoli and cabbages, they tend to get your belly bloated with gas, which will make your tummy larger than normal and could even make it seem like you’re a few months pregnant.

Stop eating once you become inactive in the evenings, and around 7 or 8 o’clock in the evenings. True you can eat up until anytime you want so long as you don’t exceed your allocated calories for that particular day, but what that brings about is that you won’t be loosing fat, nor will you be gaining weight. But if you’re serious about fat loss your best bet would be to stop eating once you’re inactive.

Fruits such as berries, blueberries, bananas and generally all kinds of fruits are best eaten in the mornings as they’ll spike up your brain engines for the entire day. Blueberries are especially a good source of food for your brain. Stoned fruits such as peaches and nectarines are beneficial too because they have a lower Glycemic Index than other fruits. We NEED carbohydrates to fuel our brain and to maintain bodily functions so don’t ever cut out on carbs. Knowing when to have your carbs is more vital than restricting them out of your diet completely. For instance before a weight or resistance workout eat plenty of carbs an hour or two hours prior to those particular exercises to support your body with plentiful energy. During the mornings, after your cardio sessions it’s vital to have plenty of carbs to fuel you for the remainder of the morning and well into the early afternoons. Have plenty of protein too for breakfast, it’s great for you ladies as it’ll revitalise your image and glow (research shows that the female population don’t get enough proteins in the mornings, so eat up on those). Egg whites, Skim Milk with no fat and fat free Soy Milk and peanuts or nut varieties are all loaded with protein, and are therefore good in the mornings as well.

Secondly, since I’m all about doing cardiovascular exercises on an empty stomach in a low intensity level, which greatly reduces the chances of muscle catabolism – as opposed to doing the cardio exercises in a medium to higher intensity levels. I have just this to say; the thing with all the higher intensity level cardios is that the harder you work out, the more energy you’ll burn. So if you have nothing in your stomach to fuel your intense cardio exercise you’re body will more than likely begin to use the energy stored in your muscles instead, the chances are higher for muscle catabolism taking effect with higher intensity level cardios than it is with the lower intensity level cardios. That is why I don’t really agree with the medium to high level intensity cardios. They do not work as effectively as the low intensity level cardios which specifically target total body fat burning.

One added benefit of doing a medium to high intensity cardios is that the ‘afterburn’ effect is higher, which in simple terms means that even after your cardio workout when you’re sitting in your office you’ll be burning off fat, very little though for a short time. However, when incorporating weight or resistance workouts in conjunction with a low intensity cardio workout the ‘afterburn’ effect becomes moot in that respect, as weight training helps burn fat, not directly but it helps your body burn enormous amounts of calories. So in effect they are pretty much the same, but with the low intensity cardio you have a FAR less chance of burning muscles as energy as opposed to doing a cardio on a higher intensity levels. But of course since everyone is different, what may work for some may not work so well for others, essentially knowing what to eat and what not to eat at certain intervals during the day makes all the differences in fat burning.

Furthermore, a slow long duration low intensity cardio session works best with oxygen to combat total body fat burning. The low intensity cardio exercise sessions should be performed twice a day, six times a week, one in the morning in a fasted state and the other in the evening, preferably before meal time. The cardio in a fasted state should last at least an hour, because after 30 minutes, your body will begin to access and use the stored fats in your body as energy and together with oxygen you’ll be burning fat as fuel for the remaining 30 minutes. The last half an hour is vital for total fat burn, don’t ignore it.

The best time for a cardio exercise workout is in the mornings. If you can, go to bed an hour and a half earlier and wake up an hour and a half earlier. Warm up on the treadmill for five minutes or so then stretch for five minutes, don’t forget to stretch after the exercise too.  If you can’t make that time due to late night shifts or other related issues then the best time for a cardio would be whenever you have the time to exercise, since one form of exercise is better than no exercise at all. Do keep this in mind though; nearing our bed time our metabolic rate drops dramatically.

However, it is far more beneficial to do a cardio workout exercise in the mornings as it’ll revitalise you and energize you for the rest of the day. It’ll also help control your appetite and your body’s circadian rhythm, which will adjust to your morning routines, making it easier for you to wake up at the same time each and every morning. Lastly it’ll bump up your metabolic rate considerably for hours. Not to mention you’ll get the cardio exercise out of the way first thing in the morning, so it won’t be left out and you won’t be dreading it after work whilst you still have a ton of other house duties to attend to, especially when you’re exhausted and all.

So what cardio exercises should you do? Well that depends on your health and physical condition. If you have trouble walking or light jogging then an exercise cycle is best suited for your fat burning needs, as it’s better for your knees and all. If however you don’t have any physical ailments then essentially a treadmill is the most adequate form of exercise equipment you’ll ever need. It’s a good investment to invest in one if you don’t already own one, they are readily affordable these days, some are only a few hundred in most countries, so shop around, you don’t need a high speed one nor an automatic incline, just a treadmill that works! It’s great for a slow jog or a light brisk walk. It’s also a little better than running on the footpaths because of the cushioning the treadmill provides, and you’ll be running without interruption or stopping for red lights and so forth.

After the low intensity cardio exercises you should immediately determine your target heart range zone to be somewhere around 65% to 70% of your maximal heart rate. To establish your target heart rate zone subtract your age from 220.

 

220 subtracted by (Your age) = (whatever that is)

.65 (65%) or .7 (70%) multiply by (whatever that is) = Your Target Heart Rate Zone.

 

By using the first two fingers of one hand and locating the artery, either on your neck below your jaw, or at the base of your thumb where it meets the wrist, a pulse rate can be easily determined. Immediately after exercise, isolate your pulse and count the number of beats in a 10-second period. Then simply multiply that number by six to get the total beats per minute.

Believe me, all that is easy, the hard part is what foods to eat, and what not to eat. For the best and fastest results, eat ONLY good clean foods. What that entails to is that you do not consume any of the following; processed sugar, salt, oils and no dry foods because of the preservatives. If however you cannot go without eating salt, sugar and all, then you MUST cut down on their consumption rate, especially sodium. Water plus salt plus fat equates to love handles, that’s excess fat! Salt also holds onto a lot of water, and since we workout and burn energy or fat stores as fuel our body releases waste, just like how an automobile would by burning gas and releasing polluted waste. So if the body holds onto water it’ll also hold onto more of these waste toxins. Have less salt – where possible cut it out completely, and drink lots of water to flush out the toxins from within our body. Water also helps to cushion our vital organs and to lubricate our joints. Asparagus helps rid the body of excess water and toxins due to its natural diuretic affect, so have those frequently with a balanced portion of proteins.

Be mindful of your local butchers too, certain butchers have a nasty habit of putting preservatives in their fresh foods to prolong their shelf life. Minced meat especially, so be weary of that. It’s often the healthier brighter red looking mince meats that contain the preservatives that’ll make you sick, and as gross as this may sound, the browner ones are usually the ones without the added preservatives, yes.

Always take it slow, and slowly progress into a certain routine, instead of just blindly spear heading into it all, only to fall out at the end from a greater height of disappointment. Say you start doing the cardio on a Monday morning in a fasted state, if it’s your first time running or light brisk walking then try it for 10 to 20 minutes, if you're accustomed to it and all you should aim for a little higher. Then rest for a few days and start running again on Thursday, to give your body enough rest (if however you’re muscles are sore then you ought to rest for another day or so, never exercise a sore muscle). For Thursday’s run aim for the same duration as well. And as the weeks progress you can slowly increase the frequency of exercises and the duration of the cardios, until you’re finally running six times a week, twice a day, for the duration of an hour.

Your motivation will come from the results you’ll be seeing in just a month or so, believe me, follow this routine and you’re set for a total body fat loss. There is NOTHING out there in the market that gets you the desired results as hard work, dedication and determination do. So pay no attention to diet fads and pills and all that rubbish. No pills, weight loss formulas or sports supplements will ever replace determination and hard work.

That’s that, for now...
And remember, the greatest change comes not from your body but from your heart and mind...

All the best and many a success to your investment in health!!!