Strength training first or cardio on empty stomach first?
I’m a light weight body builder who has always done cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Did a 1/2 marathon last year and was very successful. Now going back to body building but I want to change my workouts. I would like to strength train 1st thing in the morning and do cardio later in the afternoon. Will I see the same success?
These are great questions but it will be goal dependent.
Regarding training on an empty stomach – a lot of what you hear saying its bad it not supported anywhere to be “harmful”. On the other hand, it may not be effective in reaching your goals. For example, see below for the Train Low – Complete High theory.
Train Low – Compete High. That is to train in a glycogen depleted state and you perform/compete after you fuel muscle glycogen stores. This has been reported to be an effective strategy for endurance performances.
However, if your goal is maximize lean muscle tissue – train low, perform high is not an effective strategy.
Regarding the Concurrent training.
Concurrent training is very difficult to address and largely overlooked in program design. Why – because they are competing adaptations and people do not realize they are very difficult to combine aerobic and anaerobic training without hindering goal attainment. If your goal is to put on lean muscle mass (bulking) performing ANY cardio will limit this goal. However, there are certain strategies to apply to limit the competing adaption (i.e. cycling sprints) which are as close as to weight training adaptations (biomechanically and physiologically) as you can get.
Performing cardiovascular exercise before training will alter neural activity to the working muscle. In other words, your resistance training will be sacrificed by performing cardiovascular exercise first.
Hope that helps you make some more informed decisions based on your exercise goals.
If you have any other questions feel free to shoot me an email – I have power points on concurrent training as well as numerous studies on the effectiveness of the train low – compete high theory.
Fuel the Movement,
JM