Whether young or old, woman or man, fat or thin, trained or untrained: When it comes to energy supply during sports, the processes are similar for most people. Once you start exercising, your body always starts producing energy in the same way. How this process of energy supply works and what it has to do with training on an empty stomach, you will learn this week.
The first thing your body uses during an activity is phosphate stores. They are important for instant peak performance. However, these stores are very small and therefore quickly exhausted. Therefore, the body resorts to the next source, the so-called glycogen stores, to continue to provide energy. Glycogen is the stored form of carbohydrates. During longer endurance activities, the body gains energy from fat stores. This means that it takes a comparatively long time for the stored fat to be converted into energy for training. Only when all stores are exhausted does your body turn to proteins for energy, for which it then uses your muscles, and slowly begins to convert them. The first three energy storage devices are all activated at the same time, they just need different amounts of time to be used correctly.
Whether you exercise on an empty stomach or after eating, your body’s energy supply always follows the same pattern. The difference when you exercise on an empty stomach, however, is that your body has little to no carbohydrates available and the energy must be obtained from fats. This means that your body learns to use the free fatty acids in your muscles more effectively. In addition, fat burning is optimized because there are no disturbing elements that could block the fat burning process.
Nevertheless, fasting training is not equally suitable for everyone. If you have circulatory problems shortly after getting up, it makes more sense to have a snack and enough fluids first. You should also keep the intensity of your workout low, as your performance on an empty stomach is not high enough to maintain throughout your workout. Training on an empty stomach helps with weight loss only to a limited extent, as you train less intensively and may burn fewer calories.