Gym - before or after breakfast?
Discussion
This should be interesting.
The answer is it depends on your goals, and what sort of training you are doing. Personally I am a huge fan of fasted weight training, but opinion is divided on the subject (the 10-meals-a-day crowd will be along shortly to tell you that if you dont eat for 5 minutes your muscles will start to shrivel up and die)
The answer is it depends on your goals, and what sort of training you are doing. Personally I am a huge fan of fasted weight training, but opinion is divided on the subject (the 10-meals-a-day crowd will be along shortly to tell you that if you dont eat for 5 minutes your muscles will start to shrivel up and die)
I find training before breakfast is the only way to fit in a morning session. If I eat first, I then have to wait a while before I can exercise without feeling ill, so I'd either have to get up very early to eat or get into work late. Neither are acceptable, so I train (running in my case) on an empty stomach.
If you're doing exercise that doesn't make you feel nauseous if done just after eating, then ignore the above
If you're doing exercise that doesn't make you feel nauseous if done just after eating, then ignore the above
Providing you have eaten reasonably well the night before and assuming you didn't do a balls-out session in the gym the previous night it shouldn't make much difference. Weight lifting relies more on the phosphocreatine (lesser extent anaerobic glycolysis) energy system than one fueled by carbs and fat so you should be fine.
Don't expect a regular 8 miles on the treadmill though.
Don't expect a regular 8 miles on the treadmill though.
I go to the gym before breakfast and never had an issue with not being able to train fully.
When I get up I have a pint of water before I head to the gym, I think hydration would be more important than food for performance, as long as you've got a pretty good diet the rest of the time you'll not be starving yourself.
When I get up I have a pint of water before I head to the gym, I think hydration would be more important than food for performance, as long as you've got a pretty good diet the rest of the time you'll not be starving yourself.
1 month I go to the gym before breakfast (X trainer, weights, running, sits&pushes, rowing) and the other month I go after work at around 3pm (lunch at 12ish) and both feel fine to me. I will say that the weights feel a little harder in the morning before food.
The one thing I do ensure is that I have a good clearout before gym.
If your diet is good I doubt you will notice a massive difference either way. Good luck with it though OP.
The one thing I do ensure is that I have a good clearout before gym.
If your diet is good I doubt you will notice a massive difference either way. Good luck with it though OP.
as a professional in the industry I would advise breakfast before training if you want to train in he morning. your body needs fuel in order to train effectively, with low blood sugar you will not be able to workout well enough to improve. so my advice is eat before any training, the little and often approach works best.
gt500nick said:
as a professional in the industry I would advise breakfast before training if you want to train in he morning. your body needs fuel in order to train effectively, with low blood sugar you will not be able to workout well enough to improve. so my advice is eat before any training, the little and often approach works best.
This is the sort of mindless regurgitation of faux-science that gives PTs and other "professionals in the industry" a bad name. ... (but makes lots of money for supplements companies)pilchardthecat said:
This is the sort of mindless regurgitation of faux-science that gives PTs and other "professionals in the industry" a bad name. ... (but makes lots of money for supplements companies)
Hang on - if you dont have porridge and eggs in your belly how will you be able lift weights? 
Maybe this is what did in the dinosaurs? They needed to eat before exerting themselves, thank goodness humans have developed enough to reach a point where we can eat all the time in order to get through the day
(off to have meal 7 now....don't want to enter starvation mode)pilchardthecat said:
This is the sort of mindless regurgitation of faux-science that gives PTs and other "professionals in the industry" a bad name. ... (but makes lots of money for supplements companies)
i don't work for a supplement company and never have done. I'm only trying to offer the guy a simple bit of advice, if you want a long winded essay on how the human body works using different energy systems and how nutrition, exercise, and recovery work together in order to see results i am happy to write you a paper on this. or if you prefer to just be a angry person with a keyboard and very little understanding of health then carry on by all means.Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff