Sorry for the hyped title, but I had to get you here somehow, right?
I went for a ride with a local pro triathlete (also a PhD student). I hadn’t had any breakfast and asked her opinion of a fasting workout. She hadn’t ever heard of it. I bumbled my way through explaining what it was and why I was doing it. She just seemed kinda confused. I told her that I would link her to any information that I had.
Tried searching ST, but the search function is terrible. Tried Googling it, but I’m getting a lot of weight lifting results. Interesting, but not relevant.
Read the “Miracle of Fasting” by Paul Bragg. One of the best books on health ever written. And as Howard Head (founder of Head Skis and Prince tennis raquets) said, “see what everyone else is doing and do the opposite!”
The SportsScientists blog has touched on it a bit. Like many research items, researchers often look at one or two variables out of a thousand, and then us athletes draw sweeping conclusions.
Working out in a fasted state probably does indeed encourage some beneficial adaptations. But, what about the rest of the equation? Are other things hindered?
One thing that will be hindered is how intense you can work out. So, nobody really knows if working out in a fasted state can make us better athletes, but if it can, maybe the time to do it is when you are planning an easy day anyway.
Sorry for the hyped title, but I had to get you here somehow, right?
I went for a ride with a local pro triathlete (also a PhD student). I hadn’t had any breakfast and asked her opinion of a fasting workout. She hadn’t ever heard of it. I bumbled my way through explaining what it was and why I was doing it. She just seemed kinda confused. I told her that I would link her to any information that I had.
Tried searching ST, but the search function is terrible. Tried Googling it, but I’m getting a lot of weight lifting results. Interesting, but not relevant.
From my understanding, there may be some research that suggests fasting workouts helps improve fat burning mechanisms in the body and encourages weight loss. I don’t recall if there was any workout advantage or disadvantage.
From my experience, they suck and wouldn’t recommend them to anyone for any reason.
Is it possible that while working out in a fasted state that your body won’t have the carbs to burn so it uses the only fuels it has left?
That is one of the many things I have read about it. Whether that’s good or bad can be left to others. I’m sure there are a few benefits as well as some detriments.
Is it possible that while working out in a fasted state that your body won’t have the carbs to burn so it uses the only fuels it has left?
Sure, if it’s hard/long enough it’ll chew up your muscles
Sorry for the hyped title, but I had to get you here somehow, right?
I went for a ride with a local pro triathlete (also a PhD student). I hadn’t had any breakfast and asked her opinion of a fasting workout. She hadn’t ever heard of it. I bumbled my way through explaining what it was and why I was doing it. She just seemed kinda confused. I told her that I would link her to any information that I had.
Tried searching ST, but the search function is terrible. Tried Googling it, but I’m getting a lot of weight lifting results. Interesting, but not relevant.
Does the forum have any links or suggestions?
Are you talking about simply getting a workout in right after waking up but before eating? Or actually trying to work out on a longer fast than a typical night’s sleep?
Most of my shorter runs (less than 8 miles) are done before breakfast during the week. Its when I can fit them in. I certainly dont like going for longer than an hour session without having eaten at some point that day.
While they are not a workout a pro would ever do, I could imagine someone who doesn’t have much time could maybe benefit from one if these per week. But then there is also the question of should it be low intensity and short like the.morning run Kenyan runners typically do or should it be high intensity like others recommend. For me, the research is not nearly good enough to support my incorporation of them in either my workouts or the athletes I train.
Many years ago I lost weight through fasting. Week long fasts where I had one glass of OJ for breakfast and one glass of milk for dinner plus all the water I wanted. The OJ and milk were for vitamins etc. hey, I was young, what did I know.
During those weeks I remember attempting to do so riding and basically couldn’t. Well, I could, at a leisurely pace, but could not put in any effort at all.
And yes, I’d drop about 10 pounds net in the week.
So, if you are fasting don’t expect to be able to do much of a workout.
Not sure of the biochemistry, but, if you think about, our ancestors did lots and lots of “fasting workouts” (chasing or, more accurately, running down prey when they themselves were were pretty damn hungry–hunger is what motivates one to get the prey). And there is now a growing body of scientific evidence that regular short fasts might have some very significant long-term health benefits (link to BBC episode about this here).
Always keep in mind, that the world is full of super super talented people, who will be fast as shit no matter what silly things they do.
Sure seems to work for this guy.
Not sure of the biochemistry, but, if you think about, our ancestors did lots and lots of “fasting workouts” (chasing or, more accurately, running down prey when they themselves were were pretty damn hungry–hunger is what motivates one to get the prey). And there is now a growing body of scientific evidence that regular short fasts might have some very significant long-term health benefits (link to BBC episode about this here).
They’ve never heard of them but think they’re dumb. Hmmmm… Maybe not the best source for advice? I know plenty of fast people who know little to nothing about nutrition or structured training. They’re just fast.
I do fasting workouts all the time. Always low-to-moderate intensity, early morning workouts. I don’t like to train on a full stomach, and I had a good meal before I went to sleep. Muscle glycogen stores are filled up over night, though blood and liver stores may be low. So I may start out feeling a little sluggish or tired but it’s easier to fight through the more I do it. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now - originally to avoid extra calories (losing weight…) and now because it’s what I’m used to.
The science seems mixed. I’ve seen studies that said it can help with fat metabolism, but I don’t know if the conclusions were rock solid. I don’t have the citations off hand because it wasn’t the kind of thing that was going to change my training habits.
