Will running in the morning burn muscle?

[IAMKINGJAM3S]

Will running right in the morning before eating anything burn muscle? I usually jog/run around 2 miles in the morning and im just worried that since im running on an empty stomach, it will burn muscle. Please help!?!?!

[layarph]

Depends when you last ate, but assuming you ate a meal the night / evening before at some point and assuming you didn't do any endurance style activity the day before, your glycogen levels will be nowhere near depleted. so you'll be fine

[Jonnyg419]

I agree, that is not gonna burn muscle, people get waay to paranoid that every little thing is going to burn off their muscle for fuel, I understand where that paranoia comes from considering we work so hard to put that muscle on; but if our bodies were actually built to be that catabolic toward muscle then all athletes would look like Pee Wee Herman.

[lee__d]

The main thing that will determine muscle loss (assuming you're already weight training and getting adequate protein) is going to be the size of the deficit. If you're running yourself into a 60% deficit, yea you'll lose lbm. If your deficit remains modest, chances are, you'll be okay.jpg.

[PeterGibbons316]

I think you don't start to actually use muscle for fuel until you have been exercising for longer than 45-60 minutes or something like that - once your glycogen stores are competely gone. I have no factual evidence to back this up, nor can I cite any sources.

[TheStreetKing]

I agree, that is not gonna burn muscle, people get waay to paranoid that every little thing is going to burn off their muscle for fuel, I understand where that paranoia comes from considering we work so hard to put that muscle on; but if our bodies were actually built to be that catabolic toward muscle then all athletes would look like Pee Wee Herman.

How many times have you seen real Bodybuilders running for distance? I'm not talking about fitness guys who weigh 180lbs and have their summer abs i'm talking about Bodybuilders?

[adamdavidson47]

My wife likes to run, and for the life of me I don't know why anyone would run for any reason other than for their life. To me, running sucks. I'd much rather lift weights, eat right, and get cardio in other methods.

[scrawnykid1015]

Will running right in the morning before eating anything burn muscle? I usually jog/run around 2 miles in the morning and im just worried that since im running on an empty stomach, it will burn muscle. Please help!?!?!

i know this is an old thread but how did this go for you??

[beardb]

I would drink BCAAs prior to your run to prevent breakdown. If your heart-rate stays low enough, you should be fine, but if it's elevated too much, then you're going to risk being catabolic.

[heinstein]

Lots of variables here. You have a pretty decent sized store of energy ready for exercise even when you wake up fasted. If you exceed that arbitrary amount of rapid energy expenditure, you'll burn more muscle than you would've had you not been fasted. hope this helps O.0