Glycogen-depletion workouts - yea/nay?

serpentegena

How do we all feel about glycogen-depletion workouts?
- for glycogen economy during running
- for bumping up the aerobic zone?
- for fat-burning in general?

Thanks!

tomcustombuilder

Waste of time. You fatloss will be determined by a consistent weekly calorie deficit over time. Depleting glycogen is just dumb. You kill your energy then sit around because of it and burn fewer overall calories.

yirara

What exactly do you think this will achieve? As someone whose every workout uses glycogen only and who bonks because of depletion regularly due to a medical condition I have to say that I don't see any advantages of this.

COGypsy

I’ve never intentionally depleted all of my glycogen, but I’ve “bonked” on quite a few sessions. Why would you want to feel that awful on purpose? Misery doesn’t burn any bonus calorie.

AnnPT77

I'm not the most technical of cardiovascular (CV) exercise enthusiasts, gotta admit, and not a runner at all. (Rower, so short endurance focus.)

At best, I feel like there are a lot of practical interventions that will provide higher performance benefits than things like glycogen depletion training, and until all of those are in place, there's not much point IMO in fiddling with something very technical. It's common to want to pursue the hacks, but putting basics first tends to have a higher payoff IME.

I honestly don't know that many recreational athletes (non-professionals, people without comprehensive professional coaching, training, and nutritional advice) who have all those basic pieces so totally lined up that something like that would be the right next step. (Maybe I don't know any, actually, now that I think of it?)

I'm talking about basics like well-thought-out periodized training plans, excellent overall nutrition, disciplined sleep schedules, knowing one's zones and understanding fueling strategies for various situations, blah blah blah blah. I for sure don't have all of those perfected, and don't have the degree of focus and commitment that I ever will, realistically.

For sure, for fat burning in general - if you're talking bodyweight management (like weight loss) - it's a complete tangent, an overcomplication. It doesn't matter which fuel source we burn when; it matters how many calories we eat vs. how many we burn on average over a period of days. We burn almost entirely fat calories when we rest/sleep in percentage terms, which doesn't mean we should sleep 24x7 for best weight loss, y'know?

If by "bump up aerobic zone" you mean higher performance at lower heart rate, then the classic gradual build to large volumes of low-zone work, adding some carefully dosed high intensity work once aerobic base is in place . . . that would be the first best strategy IMO. Which is pretty much back to periodized training plans again, and covering basics before super-technical interventions.

But maybe you're at a more advanced athletic level, and ready for that kind of experiment, unlike me. If so, your regular coach or other degreed, well-credentialed professional you regularly consult would probably be a more valid source than random idiots like me on the internet. No coach? Getting a good one is a good basic tactic, too.

Best wishes!

jenring3

Distance runner here and I don't do it. Performance suffers if I don't fuel properly and as others have already said, overall caloric deficit 'burns' body fat.

ninerbuff

So say you deplete your glycogen down to very low levels during your workout. As soon as you eat, you restore them.
Your aerobic fitness increases when you can move faster/further in a given distance or time. Having more energy helps you to achieve this.
Fat loss comes down to energy balance and being in a deficit is what you need to do it. BTW, you don't excess fat storage working out....................you lose it with a deficit and burn it off AT REST.

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