How to get the most out of your workout

Should you do cardio exercise on a full or empty stomach? There are differing opinions on this.

If you work out on an empty stomach, you will burn more fat calories because you will not have any food in your system to burn.

If your goal is to tap into your fat stores, this may be a great option for you. If you are exercising on an empty stomach, you may not have enough energy to engage in an intense workout, which is more important for long-term fat and weight loss.

But if you are going for endurance, you do not want to do cardio on an empty stomach, as it will reduce your aerobic capacity.

The best strategy is a light snack an hour before so that you have more energy during your cardio workout.

CARDIO IN THE MORNING VERSUS LATE IN THE EVENING

Many fitness professionals recommend that cardio be done early in the morning because of the fasting that has taken place during the eight hours of sleep.

This is questionable. It is all about personal preference. For some people, doing cardio in the morning allows them to have more energy throughout the day and facilitates a clearer mind.

Doing cardio in the evening can, for some people, have more benefits.

This is because the nutrients you have eaten and the water you have drunk throughout the day are still in your system.

Everyone has a different peak workout time and one should figure it out and use it to their advantage.

At the end of the day, it does not matter what time you do cardio as long as you get it done effectively.

SPEED OF YOUR WORKOUT VIS A VIS WEIGHT LOSS

Before you design a strategy, you must first define what your goal is and what you want for the long-term.

You can lose weight doing either slow, less intense exercise or fast, high intensity workouts.

What’s important is how you want your body to look.

Compare athletes from different sports such as marathon and track sprinters or people you admire. You will notice the difference in the shape of their bodies.

There is no one superior way; it is just about what your goals.

If you want a long lean body and not as much muscle on, do long duration workouts like cardio.

If you are looking for a more toned and defined frame, do the higher intensity and faster workouts.

Try the methods above, test them on yourself and see how you feel, how your body changes and reacts, and the overall results that you get.

If you are getting closer to the results that you are looking for, stick to the programme and train using those techniques.

There is a systematic approach you can take to fitness and then it is up to you to test those approaches to see what works best for you.