From Craig Ballantyne.



The problem with myths is that not only are they wrong and give false hope to millions of people trying to lose weight, but they also waste your time and mental effort.

By now you've probably heard that if you don't do
60-minutes of cardio in your fat burning zone on an empty stomach while Venus is in line with Jupiter, you'll never burn fat. Which of course, is garbage.

I have also seen fat loss myths used as justification for cheating on a diet, watching countless men and women justify their "treats" because they believe they are on some type of magical exercise program or nutrition plan.

I could go on for days about fitness myths, but I cut my list from 30 down to the Top 3 Fat Loss Cardio Workout Myths today. I'll save the others for future newsletters.


Myth #1: You have to do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

Relax. You don't have to hop on the treadmill at 4:30am every
morning. Let's allow common sense to dictate when and how you exercise.

If you want to work out first thing in the morning, and I know that is the best time for many TT readers, by all means, go ahead and do it. There's nothing magical about this time - although it is often the only time many of day many people have to themselves.

We need to think "outside of the hour" of exercise and realize that calorie burning and fat burning goes on for 24-hours. Forget about the theories and look at the big picture.

It doesn't matter when you exercise - as long as you exercise
intensely and consistently. Focus on relatively high-intensity
workouts to increase your metabolism for as many hours after
exercise as possible. That is best done with interval training and resistance training.


Myth #2: You have to do your cardio in your "fat burning zone".

Again, nonsense.

While you might burn a larger proportion of total calories as fat when you exercise in your fat burning zone, you burn fewer calories overall by exercising at such a low intensity.

When you increase your workout intensity and get out of your
so-called "fat burning zone", you burn more total calories, and as a result, more fat.

In addition, the "fat burning zone" training doesn't put
"turbulence" on your muscles...so you don't burn many calories in the post-exercise time period. But with interval training, you burn a significant amount of calories for hours after training, and that leads to more fat loss.

I've worked with hundreds of people that have avoided the fat
burning zone while still managing to lose dozens of pounds of fat.

The "fat burning zone" is one of the biggest fitness myths of all time.


Myth #3: You have to do cardio for 20 minutes before you burn fat.

When I hear this, I picture a fat-burning switch in my body that turns on only after I've been doing "cardio" for 20 minutes. But what if I only exercise for 19 minutes and 59 seconds? Are you telling me that I won't have burned any fat? That's ridiculous.

What if I did it on an empty stomach in the morning and in my target heart rate zone? (read that one sarcastically!)

I'll say it one last time. We need to be more concerned with our 24-hour metabolism, not how much fat or even how many calories are burned during the workout.




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I work out in the mornings for the most part, but definitely not on an empty stomach! I find it to be REALLY difficult to keep jogging if I haven't had anything to eat.

I never know if I'm in my target heart rate zone, I don't check. Instead, if I'm sweating like a beast (LOL) and I'm breathing hard, I know I'm doing something good. Of course, I replenish those fluids, too!

I exercise until I get bored to be honest.. Whether its 10 mins or 30 mins. The 10 mins doesn't happen often, only if I've had a bad day.. 90% of the time, though, its between 15 and 30 mins.

The only 'myth' I could consider not being a TRUE myth, but may have some truth to it is the morning with the empty stomach. Your body doesn't have any food in you to burn off and instead burns the fat in your body as calories to keep you going. Always made sense to me.

Well the whole concept of working out in the on an empty stomach stems from having only free fatty acids in the system and not glucose..so you will burn more fat.

I like working out on an empty stomach and I do believe I burn more fat that way.

Its just harder for me to workout on an empty stomach, I don't have enough energy to get through it all.

I generally run pretty close to 1200 cal/day so I really need that snack at the end of work about an hour before I work out or I have exactly zero energy. I do hear that exercising in the morning raises your metabolism for the rest of the day but who has time really?

Me.. LOL.. I wake up around 8:30 and hit Curves at 9:30 or 10 (I live 30 mins away from Curves and about the same distance from my job, but luckily, Cuves is much closer to my work).. I work out at Curves, and from start to finish (including changing clothes and stretching) I'm there for 45-60 mins, depending on how long I work out (30-45 mins). Then I go to work at 12. If I work at 10 that day, I go in earlier, obviously. I feel better if I work out in the mornings before a long day at work. I have SO much more energy (needed when people want to talk to you about things you don't care about) and stamina. I really enjoy it. I think everyone should fit in working out in the morning for a week and see if they feel any different.

I run up in the gym about 4:30pm and do some cardio, intervals, support muscles then meet my trainer for weights/endurance at 6pm for an hour. I do that 4 days a week and then everything but the trainer 2 more days. Mondays and Tuesdays are incredibly crowded.
As it is I'm at work at 5am every day so there is no way I'm gonna work out in the morning.

Mind you this is the routine I was on 6 months before LCing it and didnt lose an ounce.

Perhaps because you were gaining muscle and losing fat simultaneously? Don't make my give my skin fold caliper lecture again. ;-)

Nope. Already had all the muscle I have now. My trainer had me on this horrid endurance routine.