Exercise before breakfast

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[Janet Rosen]

Today's NYTimes site reports interesting research. Folks were fed a high fat, high cal diet and then put into a control group (no exercise) or a group exercising after a big breakfast or a group exercising before a big breakfast.

The workout was intense.

The folks doing the workout after a big breakfast did gain weight, half as much as the sedentary group, but also showed signs of insulin resistance - not a good thing. per article:
"Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”"

I don't like training in the early morning and have trouble esp. when its dark...but I do try to get on the exercise bike before breakfast. Nice to know I'm doing something right! Link here
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/

[Marc Abrams]

Janet:

I use to get up and put in 1-2 hour work out before breakfast when I competed in highly competitive sports. Getting up between 4-6am. was simply what was done. The beauty of no longer training like that is that I have adapted my routine to a highly refined exercise program.

1) Get out of bed and put on the bath robe.
2) Turn on my expresso machine, walk outside to the end of the driveway and get the NY Times and walk back inside.
3) Make a perfect mug of cappuccino (8 shots of expresso with a little wet foam).
4) Read the paper cover to cover while drinking my morning cup.

This anaerobic and aerobic regiment works well for me! :D ;) :D ;) :D

Marc Abrams

[dps]

This reminds me of a study done on Wisconsin dairymen ( in the seventies) who would get up at 4 am and work (physical labor) until 8 am. They would then consume a large breakfast with high carbs, fats and of course dairy products and then back to work.

The results of the study showed that the diet was not detrimental to their health at all.

Hard physical labor is what is missing in many people's lives today and the lack of it is the reason for many health problems.

dps

[Keith Larman]

Thanks for that, Janet. I've always found all sorts of excuses not to exercise in the morning. But now... Seems like it is the one time I could do it regularly and now it appears that it would be a very good thing given the medical issues I'm looking at given I'm on the downward part of the trajectory... ;)

[Janet Rosen]

1) Get out of bed and put on the bath robe.
2) Turn on my expresso machine, walk outside to the end of the driveway and get the NY Times and walk back inside.
3) Make a perfect mug of cappuccino (8 shots of expresso with a little wet foam).
4) Read the paper cover to cover while drinking my morning cup.
This anaerobic and aerobic regiment works well for me! :D ;) :D ;) :D

LOL!!! I do the walk to the end of the driveway for the NYT, which mercifully IS delivered in this small town - then - (sigh) read the first section while pedaling on the stationary bike.
Someday I hope to achieve your level of...of...um.... happiness ! :)

[JW]

Thanks for the heads up.. another interesting thing to follow up on. But depending on what they looked at in that study I may be confused now. I expect to gain weight (muscle weight) if I eat a lot and exercise. So if the before-breakfast group did not gain muscle I will be worried.

Can't argue with the glucose-tolerance part though!

[Janet Rosen]

I believe you have to be doing some pretty serious working out to actually put on wt from added muscle mass.
And - don't know your age - for most middle aged folk pretty rare to do so for physiological reasons

[Nick P.]

Janet:

I use to get up and put in 1-2 hour work out before breakfast when I competed in highly competitive sports. Getting up between 4-6am. was simply what was done. The beauty of no longer training like that is that I have adapted my routine to a highly refined exercise program.

1) Get out of bed and put on the bath robe.
2) Turn on my expresso machine, walk outside to the end of the driveway and get the NY Times and walk back inside.
3) Make a perfect mug of cappuccino (8 shots of expresso with a little wet foam).
4) Read the paper cover to cover while drinking my morning cup.

This anaerobic and aerobic regiment works well for me! :D ;) :D ;) :D

Marc Abrams

I laughed out loud at that one; perfect.

[mickeygelum]

This is the schedule for PT in the military...and we all know that it works.

[Cliff Judge]

I would have liked to see a more detailed description of the actual training regimen. All I read was that it was four days a week, 90 minutes on two of those days and 60 on the other two, and that it was endurance training. I doubt weight training benefits by doing the workout in a fasted state but its not clear from the article.

[Walter Martindale]

There used to be a t-shirt logo that said "Rowers do more before 8 AM than others in a whole day"
Another good source:
http://www.amazon.ca/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113506
W

[Amassus]

Had that research mentioned here in little ol' NZ news.

Some points to consider...
Experts believe this is not a healthy way to start the day if you expect high energy output later in the day as it can sap reserves.
The tests were done on fit, healthy 28 year old males. So doesn't give any reassurance for women or unfit older males.

Useful information but it needs to be put into context.

Dean.

[Marie Noelle Fequiere]

Working out on an empty stomach does not work for me. I gives me a nasty headache. Of course, a booked solid stomach is not a good idea either: it gives me a stitch.
As a result, I wake up at four in the morning when I have 7am practice during the week end, and eat before I shower. After class - between nine an ten - I have to eat something before I take a bite out of someone.
I'm a bit plump. Am I doomed to stay that way? :(