"Ask the Coach" is a new column in which Wolfgang Unsöld answers your questions.
Question: " You recommend interval training as it says in your book "Your Best Training" , can you also do it in the morning on an empty stomach? Wouldn't that be an advantage?” Thomas Kohlmann
WU: Interval training on an empty stomach is a great way to give away progress. So my answer is clearly no. In the morning after waking up, our blood sugar level has reached its lowest point. The primary source of energy in interval training is carbohydrate, or muscle glycogen. With interval training, your blood sugar level continues to drop. Training on an empty stomach can result in mild to severe hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, sometimes even the so-called hunger pangs. That blood sugar fluctuation in the morning is difficult to get back under control. She drags her through the day. The result is fluctuations in physical and cognitive performance. And an increase in body fat in the hip and abdominal areas.
My advice is to stabilize your blood sugar levels by eating protein and healthy fats for breakfast, as recommended in the book. If someone has to do interval training in the morning because there is no other time, the minimal breakfast is a handful of nuts or seeds.
I wish you success!
If you have a question for the "Ask the Coach" column, email it to training(at)keinfitnessstudio.de with the subject "Ask the Coach" and with a bit of luck your question will be selected for one of the upcoming posts.
Picture: YPSI athlete and 100m/200m sprinter Sven Knipphals doesn't do his sprint training on an empty stomach for good reason. (Photo: German BKK)