Cardio in the morning alongside weight gain

**McBurge** · 20-12-2011 05:44 PM

Hey,

Just wanted to see what people thought of this. I want to gain weight and will be implementing a training/diet routine soon. I struggle to eat first thing in the morning, so I thought about having a protein shake and going for a short run first thing to kick start my system. Then I'd get back and eat my breakfast.

Would this hinder any muscle gains even if I had a protein shake before I went out? And how long should I be out running for?

Thanks

**McBurge** · 20-12-2011 05:45 PM

To clarify, I think this would really help me to kick start my system, eat more in the morning, and help me to eat more throughout the day. So I believe the calories burned will be more than made up.

**stronglikewood** · 20-12-2011 05:47 PM

What do you mean by kickstart your system? If you don't like eating in the morning, don't feel you must. You can still gain weight without an early breakfast. I generally don't eat until about 12 onwards most days. A lot of leangainers do the same.

**Dolphinski** · 20-12-2011 05:59 PM

Yeah, just eat more at night instead!

**McBurge** · 20-12-2011 06:41 PM

I thought there was a strong emphasis on getting a good breakfast in to get your metabolism going? Is it ok to eat a lot at night despite all you're going to do is go to bed?

**badly_dubbed** · 20-12-2011 07:14 PM

Breakfast and "starting the metabolism" - hype!

On training days I eat the majority of my calories and carbs around 10pm

**musio** · 20-12-2011 10:17 PM

You'll be fine and the cardio will have positive effects in your training and metabolism.

Do some short HIT cardio, maybe a little scoop of bcaa in your shake if you're paranoid and you'll be fine

**stronglikewood** · 21-12-2011 07:41 AM

Yes- cardio will increase your metabolism and maybe help keep you a little leaner whilst you bulk. As for when you eat, that's all down to when you want to eat.

**apoc3001** · 31-12-2011 09:51 AM

One thing to remember is when gaining weight you need to have a calorie surplus. if you're doing cardiovascular every morning then you're burning more calories. you need to factor this in to what you'll be eating and eat more to compensate.

**btbeast** · 31-12-2011 10:09 AM

You should try and eat before cardio, especially if your trying to gain mass as it will slow your progress, I'm assuming your intending to do steady state cardio which doesn't have a big effect on your metabolism hiit is a much better option for someone looking to gain mass as well as doing cardio but Your'll still need to eat first.
As for eating more before bed so you can skip breakfast this will likely lead to you gaining fat you want to be eating a slow digesting protein before bed.
You can get shakes and breakfast replacement supplements as this is a pretty common problem.
You should aim to eat within an hour of waking up