Apr 26, 2013

Should You Do HIIT On An Empty Stomach?

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By Russ Howe


When it comes to High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT as it's more commonly known, there is a massive grey area surrounding the optimum nutrition to get the best from the fat loss aspects.

Today we will clear up a few of the myths for you and help you enhance your workouts.

For years a lot of people have believed that you should hit the gym without eating beforehand. This is more habit than fact, however, as science points in the opposite direction. Numerous studies have shown that the benefits of hitting the gym with the right nutrition inside your body will greatly enhance your performance and results.

This form of cardio is still relatively new to the regular gym user, but has been used by athletes for the biggest part of three decades, so while the majority of trainers are already aware that nutrition needs to be changed when working with interval training, the regular gym goer sometimes gets stuck in the wrong way of thinking.

Today's article will focus mainly on people looking towards the fat loss benefits from high intensity interval training. There are two very important keys here, which are:

* Most people perform their workout on an empty stomach and consume their protein or other supplements after they have finished in the gym. Research actually shows that you can obtain far greater fat loss results if you also take a whey protein shake around twenty minutes before your session, particularly with high intensity cardiovascular workouts.

* In an age of hyped up pre-workout supplements which claim to push you to a harder workout in the gym, the best pre-workout supplement you can possibly take is actually good old Essential Amino Acids. That's right. No hype, but studies show that these are far more effective than any caffeine supplement as they actually help you hang on to lean muscle and work very well with your pre-workout protein shake, too.

Most people who are in the habit of training on an empty stomach wait until after their workout before consuming protein, amino acids or any other supplements they might be taking. Again, this is yesterday's advice.

When looking at Essential Amino Acids, for example, research concludes that having them before a workout is superior to taking them post-workout. Two groups trialed this a few years ago and while the post-workout group were able to take up 16% of the amino's the pre-workout group enjoyed a massive 42% muscle uptake.

And that concludes today's lesson, guys and girls. These two simple rules will go a long way to increase your HIIT performance and help you smash through the fat loss barrier. Be sure to look after your pre-workout nutrition as well as your post-workout nutrition and you will be shocked at how much your results improve overall.




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