What are your thoughts on fasted cardio?

[darkxshade]

The idea is that for people who are already relatively lean that you could burn off more fat by doing fasted(or IF) cardio because your body is depleted of glycogen and with lowered insulin levels, means that fat is more easily mobilized specifically from stubbon areas like the lower belly.


This is one debate where you'd find arguments on both sides of the fence which is why I'm bringing it up and want your thoughts on it.


I'm thinking about experimenting with this to see what kind of results I'd get before summer rolls around. Also considering giving the EC stack a go while I'm at it. I've done a ton of reading so I know how to ramp up my dosage but basically I figure I'd wake up daily, pop a dose, do 30 mins of whatever at low-moderate intensity at a target heart rate of 120-140bpm. I figure the anti-catabolic nature of ephedrine will blunt muscle loss while the caffeine will give me the energy and keep me awake + the synergistic combo of the two to increase fat burn. I've been stuck at 11-13% bf(most of which is in my lower belly and love handles) since last summer and I'm just about ready to try something different. And of course I will continue to lift heavy at the end of the day full-body 3x/week as I'm currently doing.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

If you're 11-13% body fat, you don't need to be using an EC stack to lean out. You say you still have love handles and such - what's your height and weight? My bet is that you just don't have enough lean mass to look the way you'd like. In this case, you should do a clean bulk. After that, leaning out will result in a much more drastic change.

 

[darkxshade]

5'8 165-170lb range(bulked up from 155-160 last summer)

Ok, maybe I don't really have love handles the way you think I might have them. If I pinch the fat fold, it's about 3/4 inch on the love handles and 1/2 inch on my lower belly. I'm half conviced it's stubborn fat. If I tighten my abs, I can somewhat see my 6 pack but only under good lighting.


You might be partially right though. I do have a lot of lean mass but I typically don't do much ab workouts unless you count lifts like squats, etc so perhaps it might be that I don't have lean mass in my ab region but certainly I wouldn't consider myself to be lacking in terms of bulk. I'd hate to get any bigger than I'm already am.

So at what point should I use the EC stack? I thought it was <15&#37;. What about your thoughts on fasted cardio? Right now I just wanna try something different, the other option being the keto diet.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

5'8 165-170lb range(bulked up from 155-160 last summer)

Ok, maybe I don't really have love handles the way you think I might have them. If I pinch the fat fold, it's about 3/4 inch on the love handles and 1/2 inch on my lower belly. I'm half conviced it's stubborn fat. If I tighten my abs, I can somewhat see my 6 pack but only under good lighting.


You might be partially right though. I do have a lot of lean mass but I typically don't do much ab workouts unless you count lifts like squats, etc so perhaps it might be that I don't have lean mass in my ab region but certainly I wouldn't consider myself to be lacking in terms of bulk. I'd hate to get any bigger than I'm already am.

So at what point should I use the EC stack? I thought it was <15%. What about your thoughts on fasted cardio? Right now I just wanna try something different, the other option being the keto diet.

Using the EC stack is silly in almost all situations. You don't have to go keto to get lean. Cutting carbs and especially sodium will lean you out. You don't have to get anywhere near keto, but getting 150g or less of carbs per day would definitely make you see a difference. An EC stack should only be used to get down to sickly low body fat percentages (3-5%) IMO. I don't agree with using EC without trying all the other options.

Fasted cardio, again, is an unnecessary extreme. I'd suggest doing something like HIIT to increase calorie burn without undergoing too much catabolism. I definitely wouldn't do HIIT on lift days though. On top of that, you should definitely do more ab exercises. Frequently, abs will look wimpy (even if they aren't) if you don't challenge them in proportion to everything else. Add some ab exercises (note: not hip flexor exercises, which everybody thinks are ab exercises). Examples include planks, ab roll-outs (with an ab wheel or rings), dragon flags, weighted bridges, etc. I bet you see a significant change in less than a month.

Again, get your diet in check - lots of veggies, seeds, nuts, lean protein, some fruit, some dairy, some grains (but not many), very little sodium.

 

[spamsk8r]

Fasted cardio is fine, but I would keep it very, very low intensity, maybe even just a 30-45 minute brisk walk in the morning, which can actually improve recovery without being catabolic, and it burns some extra calories. It's also a good stress reliever, which can help if you have adrenal issues. I would avoid the stimulants, though, at least for now. Try it out, see if it helps, make adjustments from there.