Try exercising before breakfast

For many people, exercising in the morning is impossible because of the number of tasks that must be completed in a shortwhile.
Take for instance Jackie, a mother of three. Her day starts at 4:30am when she wakes up, prepares breakfast for the children, lays out their uniforms, wakes them up after 30 minutes, bathes them, dresses them up, then takes a quick shower herself as they eat breakfast before driving them to school and then going to office herself.
All this, she does within a space of three hours on a good day. On other days, the traffic is not so kind.
So for Jackie, exercising in the morning is a dream. However, we all know that this routine lasts for only as long as the school term is on.

During holiday, there is time to exercise in the morning before you run off to work.

Why work out in the morning?
According to www.slashgear.com, a new study from researchers at the University of Bath and the University of Birmingham has shed light on working out before breakfast. Based on the six-week study, the researchers found that exercise before breakfast drastically improved the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels due to an increase in insulin sensitivity.

By improving blood sugar control, the reaserchers note that working out before eating breakfast may cut one’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes.
According to Helen Kayokoyo Buteme, a qualified strength and conditioning coach and also the Lady Cranes rugby coach, not everyone should exercise before breakfast.
“Yes, you lose more weight working out before breakfast but it is not advisable for everyone. It varies from individual to individual,” Buteme stresses.
She says overweight individuals benefit more from working out before breakfast in terms of weight loss. Those who are not overweight may be negatively affected instead.
While lean people can get away with exercising on an empty stomach occasionally, doing it consistently damages their bodies, overweight people can get away with it without much harm or with no harm at all.
Buteme recommends some simple exercise routines for before breakfast.
•Skipping rope is cheap and doesn’t need much space. Try three one minute sets.
•Body weight squats - three sets with 15 repetitions.
•Lunges - 3three sets with 10 repetitions on each side
•Mountain climbers - three sets of one minute and Sit ups - three sets with 15 repetitions.
Note: Rest for 20 seconds between each set and one minute between each exercise.

Rules of the game
•It has to be performed immediately upon waking up. This one has to do more with habit than anything. You create the expectation that your body has to perform the second it wakes up.
• It should be short and sweet. Your morning workout is something you should want to do every day, and that includes your workout days. You don’t want to overdo it and be tired for the remainder of the day, or worse, work out so hard that your gym performance suffers. As a general rule, your morning workout should be under 15 minutes and not loaded with repetitions.

• It must have at least one static stretch movement. Examples of such exercises are spiderman lunges with bottom holds (pushing your hips forward) and lateral lunges with a hold at the bottom.

• It must have at least one explosive movement
In order to get your blood pumping like crazy, boost muscle building, and elevate your metabolism for the day to come, you need to include at least one sort of explosive exercise in your routine. (Source: www.bodybuilding.com)