Is it ok to workout fasted if trying to build muscle ??

siiil209

Hey guys , so I workout mornings no later then 11:00am so I usually dnt eat till after my workout . I stop eating around 9pm the night before and wake up hit the gym & then eat .. my goal is to gain as much muscle as possible right now . Even though I would like to loose belly fat also . But idk if working out in that fasted state will hold me back from gaining muscle ? Help please I'm not sure what to do to loose belly fat , while trying to put on muscle .

sardelsa

As far as I know, as long as you are fueling adequately the rest of the day, and your workouts feel good (good energy, progressing with lifts going up) then I don't see why it would be an issue.. maybe someone has more research on that.

But... you kind of have two contradicting goals... lose belly fat + gaining as much muscle as possible.. not really going to happen if you are eating in surplus since while you can gain muscle, you gain fat as well. So I wouldn't' really recommend bulking unless you don't mind putting on more belly fat or you are underweight.
So you can eat at a small deficit and cut down a bit before you bulk, but you won't really be building significant muscle at this point.
Another option is you can look into recomp.. eating at maintenance, where you can lose fat and gain muscle over a longer period of time. It can take a while though.

ndj1979

sardelsa wrote: »

As far as I know, as long as you are fueling adequately the rest of the day, and your workouts feel good (good energy, progressing with lifts going up) then I don't see why it would be an issue.. maybe someone has more research on that.

But... you kind of have two contradicting goals... lose belly fat + gaining as much muscle as possible.. not really going to happen if you are eating in surplus since while you can gain muscle, you gain fat as well. So I wouldn't' really recommend bulking unless you don't mind putting on more belly fat or you are underweight.
So you can eat at a small deficit and cut down a bit before you bulk, but you won't really be building significant muscle at this point.
Another option is you can look into recomp.. eating at maintenance, where you can lose fat and gain muscle over a longer period of time. It can take a while though.

all this..

do you know what your current body fat% is OP?

se015

sardelsa wrote: »

As far as I know, as long as you are fueling adequately the rest of the day, and your workouts feel good (good energy, progressing with lifts going up) then I don't see why it would be an issue.. maybe someone has more research on that.

But... you kind of have two contradicting goals... lose belly fat + gaining as much muscle as possible.. not really going to happen if you are eating in surplus since while you can gain muscle, you gain fat as well. So I wouldn't' really recommend bulking unless you don't mind putting on more belly fat or you are underweight.
So you can eat at a small deficit and cut down a bit before you bulk, but you won't really be building significant muscle at this point.
Another option is you can look into recomp.. eating at maintenance, where you can lose fat and gain muscle over a longer period of time. It can take a while though.

Can you explain how recomp in more detail or where I can find more specific Recomp programs? Is Recomp mainly just a dietary change or does it encompass different lifting style too, i.e. reps/weight schemes? Just curious.

JeromeBarry1

This has actually been studied. Fasted workout before your first meal achieves lower levels of performance. Properly fueled exercise lets you do more, get stronger.

sardelsa

Seth1825 wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

As far as I know, as long as you are fueling adequately the rest of the day, and your workouts feel good (good energy, progressing with lifts going up) then I don't see why it would be an issue.. maybe someone has more research on that.

But... you kind of have two contradicting goals... lose belly fat + gaining as much muscle as possible.. not really going to happen if you are eating in surplus since while you can gain muscle, you gain fat as well. So I wouldn't' really recommend bulking unless you don't mind putting on more belly fat or you are underweight.
So you can eat at a small deficit and cut down a bit before you bulk, but you won't really be building significant muscle at this point.
Another option is you can look into recomp.. eating at maintenance, where you can lose fat and gain muscle over a longer period of time. It can take a while though.

Can you explain how recomp in more detail or where I can find more specific Recomp programs? Is Recomp mainly just a dietary change or does it encompass different lifting style too, i.e. reps/weight schemes? Just curious.

There is no recomp specific program, it is basically progressive lifting/resistance training and maintaining your weight.

You can check out this thread for more info:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

Also @sijomial really knows his stuff so maybe he could explain or answer any questions you have, I don't really have a lot of experience recomping

sijomial

sardelsa wrote: »

Seth1825 wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

As far as I know, as long as you are fueling adequately the rest of the day, and your workouts feel good (good energy, progressing with lifts going up) then I don't see why it would be an issue.. maybe someone has more research on that.

But... you kind of have two contradicting goals... lose belly fat + gaining as much muscle as possible.. not really going to happen if you are eating in surplus since while you can gain muscle, you gain fat as well. So I wouldn't' really recommend bulking unless you don't mind putting on more belly fat or you are underweight.
So you can eat at a small deficit and cut down a bit before you bulk, but you won't really be building significant muscle at this point.
Another option is you can look into recomp.. eating at maintenance, where you can lose fat and gain muscle over a longer period of time. It can take a while though.

Can you explain how recomp in more detail or where I can find more specific Recomp programs? Is Recomp mainly just a dietary change or does it encompass different lifting style too, i.e. reps/weight schemes? Just curious.

There is no recomp specific program, it is basically progressive lifting and maintaining your weight.

You can check out this thread for more info:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

Also @sijomial really knows his stuff so maybe he could explain or answer any questions you have, I don't really have a lot of experience recomping

Blushing! @sardelsa - too kind.

@Seth1825
Recomp (recomposition) is just a descriptive word for eating at or around maintenance, training appropriately and with either the aim of adding muscle / losing fat simultaneously or just achieving that as a by product of your training.

Just your body's normal reaction to a training stimulus and the also the natural use of your fat reserves for fuel.
It didn't used to have a name, when I started training it was mainstream ("getting in shape") but over the years bulk/cut cycles seem to have mushroomed from rare and very niche to mainstream.

There are complex protocols around - involving calorie/nutrient cycling but to me that seems over-complex and unproven to be superior. People will state recomp is slower than bulk/cut cycles but that doesn't seem to be evidence based or universal. What is more likely is that it will suit some people better than others, pros and cons to both approaches. As an example a bulk for me would just lead to me getting fat, as a dinosaur I don't have the capacity to add muscle quickly.

Some people like @sardelsa (if I recall correctly) struggle to make progress eating at maintenance and bulk/cut works better.

Link is to a long read but a good read by Eric Helms, not just about recomp.
https://muscleandstrengthpyramids.com/calorie-deficit-gain-weight/

sardelsa

@sijomial I think I am just more impatient , I am sure if I gave it more time (and I wasn't as lean to start) I would probably see progress

se015

sijomial wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

Seth1825 wrote: »

sardelsa wrote: »

As far as I know, as long as you are fueling adequately the rest of the day, and your workouts feel good (good energy, progressing with lifts going up) then I don't see why it would be an issue.. maybe someone has more research on that.

But... you kind of have two contradicting goals... lose belly fat + gaining as much muscle as possible.. not really going to happen if you are eating in surplus since while you can gain muscle, you gain fat as well. So I wouldn't' really recommend bulking unless you don't mind putting on more belly fat or you are underweight.
So you can eat at a small deficit and cut down a bit before you bulk, but you won't really be building significant muscle at this point.
Another option is you can look into recomp.. eating at maintenance, where you can lose fat and gain muscle over a longer period of time. It can take a while though.

Can you explain how recomp in more detail or where I can find more specific Recomp programs? Is Recomp mainly just a dietary change or does it encompass different lifting style too, i.e. reps/weight schemes? Just curious.

There is no recomp specific program, it is basically progressive lifting and maintaining your weight.

You can check out this thread for more info:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

Also @sijomial really knows his stuff so maybe he could explain or answer any questions you have, I don't really have a lot of experience recomping

Blushing! @sardelsa - too kind.

@Seth1825
Recomp (recomposition) is just a descriptive word for eating at or around maintenance, training appropriately and with either the aim of adding muscle / losing fat simultaneously or just achieving that as a by product of your training.

Just your body's normal reaction to a training stimulus and the also the natural use of your fat reserves for fuel.
It didn't used to have a name, when I started training it was mainstream ("getting in shape") but over the years bulk/cut cycles seem to have mushroomed from rare and very niche to mainstream.

There are complex protocols around - involving calorie/nutrient cycling but to me that seems over-complex and unproven to be superior. People will state recomp is slower than bulk/cut cycles but that doesn't seem to be evidence based or universal. What is more likely is that it will suit some people better than others, pros and cons to both approaches. As an example a bulk for me would just lead to me getting fat, as a dinosaur I don't have the capacity to add muscle quickly.

Some people like @sardelsa (if I recall correctly) struggle to make progress eating at maintenance and bulk/cut works better.

Link is to a long read but a good read by Eric Helms, not just about recomp.
https://muscleandstrengthpyramids.com/calorie-deficit-gain-weight/

Thanks for the info!

ccrdragon

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

This has actually been studied. Fasted workout before your first meal achieves lower levels of performance. Properly fueled exercise lets you do more, get stronger.

If you're a world-class olympic-level or professional athlete, maybe... for the average joe schmo trying to maintain what they've got or firm up what they've got, not so much.