Cardio on empty stomach is bad

I know you have heard people telling you to do cardio on an empty stomach. Sure you can do that, if you want to risk fainting or burning your muscles instead of fat. You need some protein in your body to save as much muscles as possible while burning fat when you do cardio.

 I do my cardios first thing in the morning, but before I go, I eat 2 egg whites and a protein shake about 45 mins – 1 hour before I do cardio. The tiny amount of fat and carb from protein shake is insignificant. This is effective because now I am sparing my muscles while burning fat, and not feel tired or weak because of hunger. I mix my protein powder with plain black coffee for the caffeine. Caffeine also helps in losing weight, and keep you energized for your cardio workout.

 I only do 20-22 minutes of cardio for 1-2 times per week. I run as fast as I could till I am exhausted, and then I would speed walk (sort of a rest) for 2 minutes, and repeat the first step and so on. I did cardio this morning, and that gave me almost 300 calories burn (it was roughly 290… I think). Also, by running fast, this speeds up metabolism, which would give me additional calories burn for several more hours.

Learn more about cardio and building muscles from Vince DelMonte’s fitness program