Fitter With Fasted Cardio?

Is the age-old practice of hitting the treadmill hungry worth the effort?

- Eric Velazquez, C.S.C.S.

You’ve probably read about fasted cardio a million times on the internet and within the pages of this magazine. That’s largely because the vast majority of the leanest physique athletes swear by the practice, as do those who have lost large amounts of weight. If you didn’t flip through a single research journal, it sounds like it makes sense, right? In the absence of food to use as fuel, the body must go on the hunt for alternative sources—in this case, body fat—during the workout and subsequent recovery. But does the anecdotal evidence that fasted cardio works hold up to the available sci