My buddy told me, it’s much better to jog in the morning because it’ll burn more calorie. How much of this is true?

Sexy Kevin Says…

Actually there is a reason why it’s “better” to jog in the morning. Let me explain about jogging and aerobics.

Jogging is a form of aerobics, an activity that is performed over longer periods of time. People always ask, “I don’t have a place where I can run, can I swim for cardio?” Answer is Yes! Any form of sports activity performed over longer periods of time is considered cardio, including badminton, futsal etc. Obviously if you play goalie and just stand there, that’s not much of a cardio session.

How Long Should I Do Cardio For?

For at least 20 minutes! Like you know, one of the main goals of cardio is to burn fat. Sounds simple? Not quite! When you do cardio, your body burns energy it has stored. But what it burns first is glycogen that is stored in your muscles. Glycogen is the first thing your body will look for before looking elsewhere (fat). Glycogen levels rise/fall depending on your carb consumption. Your body only has about a couple pounds of glycogen stored in your muscles. For the average Joe, its takes about 20 minutes for your body to use up all glycogen before turning to fat. Hence, you should maintain your cardio session for at least 20 minutes.

When Should You Do Cardio/Jogging?

It’s up to you! It’s best in the morning only because your glycogen level are low right after you wake up (unless you eat) and you will then start burning fat right away. But it’s not quite practical for the working adult. So, what you can do is “duplicate” this scenario by avoiding carbs 3-4 hours prior to your run to deplete glycogen levels. So say you wanna jog @ 6pm, your last carb meal should be around lunch!

This is good for fat burning but not ideal for performance athletes who need quick energy from glycogen. That’s why football player like Ronaldo are not super lean (although they train daily) as they burn glycogen and not fat.

So, cardio rule of thumb for fat burning: avoid carbs before your session and maintain the activity for at least 20 minutes!

Kevin Zahri is a US AFTA Certified Personal Trainer & Nutritionist and has been active in the Health & Fitness industry for the last couple of years. He’s a well known Malaysia’s Fitness Celebrity.

A simple calculation will tell you your approximate maximum beats per minute while exercising.

220 minus your age

During a workout, measure your pulse with your fingertips for 6 seconds, then multiply by 10 to get beats per minute. Or buy a heart-rate monitor and skip the math. Either way, if you train at 60% to 90% of your max, you’re probably getting good results from your workout.

But it makes a difference how you calculate your percentages; the standard equation isn’t practically accurate. The 220-minus-your-age figure could be off your real maximum by as much as 12 beats per minute in either direction.

A more dependable method, and one’s that correspondingly more labor-intensive, is measuring you heart-rate reserve. This formula includes you resting heart rate (rhr), a key indicator of your fitness level. To measure rhr, take your pulse as soon as you wake up in the morning. Just to make it even complicated, you should probably measure your rhr 3 consecutive mornings and take the average. A lot of factors – stress, a hard workout the day before, incredibly great sex – can temporarily elevate it.

Let’s say you’re a reasonably fit 28 year old guy with a rhr of 80. To calculate you heart rate reserve, subtract your age from your predicted maximum heart rate

220 minus 28 = 192

Subtract your rhr from that figure.

192 minus 80 = 112

Multiply that number by the top intensity at which you might train.

112 x 85% = 92

Add your resting heart rate.

92 + 80 = 172 beats per minute at 85% of maximum intensity

Standard heart-rate calculations would have told you 85% of maximum effort was 160 beats per minute, or 12 fewer!