Training Fasted... Is it beneficial?
NaturalGainsRecned
Posts: 86 Member
Fasting in general... Who fast’? Which method of fasting do you use? How do you feel while fasting? And most importantly; how do you break your fast?
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Replies
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It's not more beneficial than training otherwise with some nutrition consumed.
I would only advice if training fasted helped adhere compliance to training and/or diet.
It is more of a preference relative to the person and type of training.
If you are breaking any fast including the more common awaking from sleep, I suggest a well balanced macro meal which included at least 30g of protien and 3-4g of leucine.8 -
I skip breakfast and work out at lunch. I won’t eat until I come back usually 1230 or 1. I just prefer to workout on an empty stomach and am not hungry in the morning.3
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I don't believe I made any gains training fasted that I wouldn't have made otherwise. I did however, enjoy as I felt more focused while training.
For me personally, whether or not to do it falls under personal preference.
My eating windows were 12pm-2pm and 5pm-7pm with the same number of calories consumed as during unrestricted days.1 -
I do 8:16 .. so 8h fast with 16h eating window. I feel great.
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Training fasted has been proven to burn more fat during the actual workout. But... What studies have shown, you will not burn as many calories throughout the day then if you were to train in a fed state. So, yes... Personal preference is best, however makes you feel the strongest and most focused.7
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It can assist the body in moving into the higher % ratio of fat to carb burn it was going to reach after some 30-40 min anyway, but sooner if done correctly.
This training can be useful for endurance aerobic events.
But if only doing 30 min anyway, or not doing long running/biking/rowing/skiing events anyway - no benefit for that reason.
In which case - ditto's to comments above.0 -
It can assist the body in moving into the higher % ratio of fat to carb burn it was going to reach after some 30-40 min anyway, but sooner if done correctly.
This training can be useful for endurance aerobic events.
But if only doing 30 min anyway, or not doing long running/biking/rowing/skiing events anyway - no benefit for that reason.
In which case - ditto's to comments above.
Good call, I forgot to mention this.0 -
NaturalGainsRecned wrote: »Training fasted has been proven to burn more fat during the actual workout. But... What studies have shown, you will not burn as many calories throughout the day then if you were to train in a fed state. So, yes... Personal preference is best, however makes you feel the strongest and most focused.
Your talking about fasted vs fed cardio which has shown to burn different macros during the event itself but have the same end of day result with overall calories and overall fat loss. Training, if your implying just weights, is not in the same scope
Nippard has a great YouTube video on this reviewing the peer reviewed legit studies7 -
I do 8:16 .. so 8h fast with 16h eating window. I feel great.
I do this one too. It has worked really well, but there is a reasonable amount of flexibility in there because of .... life.
As far as training fasted there really is very little difference in benefits. It is a personal preference more than anything. Some feel like throwing up if they have food in their stomachs, and feel much more focused fasted. Others feel better after eating as it gives them more energy, and as such a better performance.0 -
NaturalGainsRecned wrote: »Training fasted has been proven to burn more fat during the actual workout. But... What studies have shown, you will not burn as many calories throughout the day then if you were to train in a fed state. So, yes... Personal preference is best, however makes you feel the strongest and most focused.
Your talking about fasted vs fed cardio which has shown to burn different macros during the event itself but have the same end of day result with overall calories and overall fat loss. Training, if your implying just weights, is not in the same scope
Nippard has a great YouTube video on this reviewing the peer reviewed legit studies
Yes mate, fasted cardio. I would never weight train fasted. Unless... I absolutely had to.0 -
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Doing fasted cardio made me a lot better at doing fasted cardio.
(Same for fasted strength training BTW.)
How did I feel at first? Like I was about to faint.
How did I feel after an extended period of adaptation? For general gym workouts of strength training or cardio up to an hour I felt the same fed or fasted.
How do I break my fast? I eat my normal meal whether that's breakfast at breakfast time or lunch at lunchtime. Don't really see why you think it's important to break your fast in any particular way so maybe you can expand on that?
Gained a bit of flexibility with fitting in training around my diet, noticed I could cycle longer without the need to fuel my rides.
Made zero difference to body composition or maximal performance as far as I could tell.
I don't fast to a particular schedule anymore but I do regularly skip breakfast to save calories for later.
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Doing fasted cardio made me a lot better at doing fasted cardio.
(Same for fasted strength training BTW.)
How did I feel at first? Like I was about to faint.
How did I feel after an extended period of adaptation? For general gym workouts of strength training or cardio up to an hour I felt the same fed or fasted.
How do I break my fast? I eat my normal meal whether that's breakfast at breakfast time or lunch at lunchtime. Don't really see why you think it's important to break your fast in any particular way so maybe you can expand on that?
Gained a bit of flexibility with fitting in training around my diet, noticed I could cycle longer without the need to fuel my rides.
Made zero difference to body composition or maximal performance as far as I could tell.
I don't fast to a particular schedule anymore but I do regularly skip breakfast to save calories for later.
It’s a bit advanced of an answer, way too much to type. But I’ll simply explain one way, which is best for muscle building. Consume some high glycemic carbs to spike your blood sugar quickly. So that’ll stop any type of catabolism, and open up the cells to become more receptive to protein. Pretty much capitalize on the cells being more receptive, and can get more of the nutrients in6 -
NaturalGainsRecned wrote: »Doing fasted cardio made me a lot better at doing fasted cardio.
(Same for fasted strength training BTW.)
How did I feel at first? Like I was about to faint.
How did I feel after an extended period of adaptation? For general gym workouts of strength training or cardio up to an hour I felt the same fed or fasted.
How do I break my fast? I eat my normal meal whether that's breakfast at breakfast time or lunch at lunchtime. Don't really see why you think it's important to break your fast in any particular way so maybe you can expand on that?
Gained a bit of flexibility with fitting in training around my diet, noticed I could cycle longer without the need to fuel my rides.
Made zero difference to body composition or maximal performance as far as I could tell.
I don't fast to a particular schedule anymore but I do regularly skip breakfast to save calories for later.
It’s a bit advanced of an answer, way too much to type. But I’ll simply explain one way, which is best for muscle building. Consume some high glycemic carbs to spike your blood sugar quickly. So that’ll stop any type of catabolism, and open up the cells to become more receptive to protein. Pretty much capitalize on the cells being more receptive, and can get more of the nutrients in
Hmmmm.
(I'm assuming you are referring to the Leangains style of IF not one of the many other IF protocols.)
Very dubious about the necessity of that bearing in mind an adult male has about 2000cals of carbs onboard already - which isn't significantly depleted by fasting BTW as the main part of the fast period is sleeping when the vast majority of your energy needs are coming from fat reserves.
If high GI carbs were necessary or significant after 16 hrs of fasting then surely it would be significant for people following a standard meal timing of 12hrs fasting?
BTW - you don't "completely stop catabolism" as it's part of everyone's normal day, you cycle between anabolism and catabolism all the time - you can influence the balance of the states though. MPB and MPS are normal everyday processes and can't be stopped.
If you have some reputable literature to support your ideas I'd like to read it.
PS - at least it's refreshing you aren't one of the growing crowd of "insulin is the devil" disciples!
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I definitely can't eat anything up to three hours before a workout. Particular if I'm doing cardio or anything that involves contracting my abs. It just feels horrible.0
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Training fasted is beneficial to me for a couple of reasons:
1. I get more sleep - I already get up at 4:00 to go to the gym, so getting up earlier to eat something is not a good option
2. I spend more time training and less time in the bathroom puking (I cannot train with food in my stomach)2 -
NaturalGainsRecned wrote: »Doing fasted cardio made me a lot better at doing fasted cardio.
(Same for fasted strength training BTW.)
How did I feel at first? Like I was about to faint.
How did I feel after an extended period of adaptation? For general gym workouts of strength training or cardio up to an hour I felt the same fed or fasted.
How do I break my fast? I eat my normal meal whether that's breakfast at breakfast time or lunch at lunchtime. Don't really see why you think it's important to break your fast in any particular way so maybe you can expand on that?
Gained a bit of flexibility with fitting in training around my diet, noticed I could cycle longer without the need to fuel my rides.
Made zero difference to body composition or maximal performance as far as I could tell.
I don't fast to a particular schedule anymore but I do regularly skip breakfast to save calories for later.
It’s a bit advanced of an answer, way too much to type. But I’ll simply explain one way, which is best for muscle building. Consume some high glycemic carbs to spike your blood sugar quickly. So that’ll stop any type of catabolism, and open up the cells to become more receptive to protein. Pretty much capitalize on the cells being more receptive, and can get more of the nutrients in
I'm supposing this to be post workout when taking in some protein also? - or pre-workout in which case ditto to @sijomial about glycogen in muscles still be available after a fast - because they can't be put back into the bloodstream anyway.
Post workout - as long as you can indeed get some carbs in with protein during the recovery period so your body can indeed make repairs best it can and actually improve from the workout. Though insulin can go up with just protein too.
That's where I've seen some describe a screwed up schedule that is probably pushing their luck on getting the results of a good workout by killing recovery.
They rob a big chunk of that up to 24-48 hr recovery time by making it a fast period. Now if they were in a study and blood tests galore to know exactly where their line was, great. But normal folks aren't going to know that.4 -
For gaining weight and strength I've always felt weaker and performed worse if I was hungry during, meaning less weight being lifted in the gym.2
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I train fasted. Can not work out with food in me. Caffeine is fine. I wake up at 6am, drink black coffee with my husband, go to work for 2 hours, get home and walk the dog quickly, meet my gym buddy by 9:30am, usually do our heavy lifting first and follow it with cardio once or twice a week. Get home by 11:30am, and refill the water bottle, drink more coffee, shower, lunch sometime after 1pm. Just works best with my med/work/home schedule and like I said, food in my system usually means I cannot complete a workout or end up puking. My lifts keep improving so for me it does not seem to be a negative.1
I do understand 
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