Experienced cardio training practitioners know that to overcome training plateaus, the duration, frequency and intensity of cardio workouts need to be varied. Keeping the body in a state of adaptation will lead to continued fat burning. But have you considered the benefits of early morning workouts before breakfast? Working this variation into your routine can give your workout the intensity it needs without increasing your maximum heart rate at all.

Easier Shift from Anaerobic to Aerobic Energy

When you wake up in the morning, your anaerobic sugar counts are low due to the lack of glucose present in your blood stream. This makes the aerobic fat burning shift an easy one for your body to make. Because your body is already low on available anaerobic glucose, it will make the shift to an aerobic energy system within the first three minutes of exercise. Instead of having to wait for  twenty minutes to shift to the aerobic energy system, as you would during or after digestion, your body is already primed to make the shift easily.

Lower Percentage of Maximum Needed

Where a twenty-minute sustained level of exertion is necessary to make the shift to the aerobic energy system and begin to burn away fat after a meal, workouts first thing in the morning and before you eat will begin to burn fat almost immediately. You don’t have to maintain 80 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate; a level of 65-75% will be sufficient to make the energy system shift. Workouts before breakfast will allow not only a smoother shift, but an easier one without the extra 15 to 20 percent exertion level usually needed to make that change with food in your system.

Vary Exertion Levels for Maximum Results

As with any cardio regimen, varying the workouts is going to be necessary. When the body begins to adapt properly to the exertion level, it is again time to vary the workout demands on the body. Intervals are a great way to mix it up and continue to get the fat burning results you are looking for. Start off and build up to 80% of your maximum for 10 minutes; then bring it down to 65% for 5 minutes and then back up to 80-85% before cool down. If your workouts are longer in duration, repeat the intervals 2 or 3 times during a session.

Timing is Everything

Early morning workouts are very effective for kicking in the aerobic energy system quickly because your body has been 8-9 hours without food. The blood glucose is low, and the shift to an aerobic fat burning system is very easy to accomplish. When you begin your workout just after waking, you make demands on your body that draw off reserves, or in other words, body fat. When your body draws the energy it needs from body fat, you lose weight and decrease your total body fat count in the process.