Fasting to Gain Muscular Weight Works

Nutrition
41

So stupid, this is another prime example of taking a valid idea and running way too far with it, ending up with one more retarded fad that sounds much more innovative than it really is, causes a mania among the most gullible and credulous of the masses, and be laughed at in hindsight.

While I think it is extremely valid to look at what our ancestors ate to get a better understanding of what our bodies have evolved to get nutrition from (cows should be grazing on grasses, humans not so much), it is utterly preposterous to theorize that because ancient hunters and gatherers would not eat sometimes for a couple days at a time OUT OF NECESSITY, that we should model a modern diet after that. If hunters and gatherers had food, you better believe they’d eat it. If the hunting and gathering lifestyle produced the strongest humans over time, they would simply have slaughtered the “weaker” ones that chose to live sedentary lifestyles, and then went on hunting and gathering.

Read a book called Guns Germs and Steel. Use your head. You might learn something. It was the humans that had consistent food supplies that grew stronger and did away with the always half starved hunters and gatherers in the end. That’s why we’re NOT HUNTERS AND GATHERERS ANYMORE. Now take a look at the last surviving tribes on the planet that live as close to the hunter / gatherer lifestyle as possible, and tell me if you’d like to look like them. I can’t believe how stupid people are anymore!!!

As a nation, we’re searching for answers to all the problems food is causing us, and we’re grasping at every straw available. The problem has never been having access to consistent food supplies, the problem is having access to Dominos Pizza, McDonald’s burgers, Doritos chips, Pepsi soda, Bloomin Onions, and all the rest of the stuff that comes out of factories loaded with preservatives, chemicals, artificial flavors and colors, corn syrup…which most of the population can not steer clear of. Good food just doesn’t taste as good as a greasy cheese fry dipped in gravy! Eat goddamnit, but eat good shit, and eat it often, and don’t blindly fall for the next “diet of the future”. Eat good shit every day, three times a day, and watch your body thank you!!!

42

I have another story that I have remembered that might add some more credence to this whole fasting thing. Take it as you will. Back about 8 years ago I was going through Marine Boot camp and by the end of it I had wittled down to a slim 157lbs from shipping out at 197lbs. Now I was not fat at 197lbs either, I could do about 25 pullups at that weight which is pretty respectable. At 157, by the end of the crucible I could barely do 20 pullups. Anybody who has been through Marine Boot camp will tell you that they were hungry all the time because you were constantly moving.

Well after boot camp you get 10 days off and then maybe and extra 14 days for recruiters assistance. Well I got the 24 days off. In those 24 days I went from 157 to 188 and my strength was actually greater than when I left boot camp. I mean I literally blew up. No steroids, just lots of food, 10 hours of sleep a night, and hitting up the gym 5 days a week. I ate everything in sight, and not forcefully either, I mean I was always hungry. When I went back to the Fleet, people I went to boot with didn’t even recognize me.

My theory is that those 3 months of literally being starved and constantly moving had revved up my whole system so much that I was in the perfect gaining phase. My body probably catabolized all the bad shit in boot camp so my body was in tip top shape. 3 months of forced semi-fasting. Well that’s my story of the greatest gains in my life.

43

I’m still trying to figure out why ckallandar is trying to give advice on this site. Everything he says is just so fucking stupid. Yah dude, next time I plateau I’ll just drink maple syrup for a day, that will really help me!

Last post of his I saw he claimed his biceps were “HUGE” after adding in direct arm training for a few weeks. Oh yes, I can clearly see that in your avatar.

44

I have done a few water fast for 24 hours in the past and did always feel better afterwards (also did not lose strength).

One time I decided to go for three days of just water because I had a cold. I beat the cold in those three days but lost an enormous amount of strength ( this could also be due to the brief illness).

I had never been so hungry as I was after the second day. I had dreams of prime rib and baked potato. My mouth was salivating constantly and I had no sexual thoughts at all because my next meal was constantly occupying my mind.

The third day wasn’t as bad as the second (which was hell), but I noticed my complexion totally cleared up and I swear I looked younger instantly!

45

I could not work out on the day that I fast. The hunger would be too much for me.

Also, it’s just 24 hours. It’s not that hard. If you want to try it, just sack up. I love food, love to eat, and I get through it with few problems.

I fast on a work day. Some days I’m sluggish and tired. Some days I’m energetic. Pretty much like a normal day except with no food going in my pie hole.

Again, I want to say that I think fasting isn’t for healthy people who are happy with their physical progress. I’m only doing it because it seems to be helping control my chronic hives.

But I also don’t think it’s a big deal to give it a try if you want to see what’s what. Or you can try it for mental/spiritual reasons or whatever. Like I said, it’s really easy to start. There’s no planning and nothing to buy.

46

[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
I’m still trying to figure out why ckallandar is trying to give advice on this site. Everything he says is just so fucking stupid. Yah dude, next time I plateau I’ll just drink maple syrup for a day, that will really help me!

Last post of his I saw he claimed his biceps were “HUGE” after adding in direct arm training for a few weeks. Oh yes, I can clearly see that in your avatar.[/quote]

LOL.

47

This thread is just great if you want to read pure BULLSHIT.

Theres no pictures, no evidence of any of this crap working, just pure speculation with theories based on how CAVEMEN used to live.

“Yeaaah man, dont eat for like a day or two so your body can eat away all the toxins maaan.”

“Cavemen were super ripped and muscular because they couldn’t eat sometimes when they hunted.”

48

So, are there ANY citations on fasting in the manner being proposed, which are in ANY way applicable to our demographic as a group? (ie. not a study on 80 year old Japanese women showing better skin and digestion as a result)

The title of the thread is fasting for muscle gain, provide SOME evidence which we can hypothesis and postulate on, as anecdotal information being selectively fed to an online forum is just SOOOOOOOOO believable.

49

[quote]silverhydra wrote:
So, are there ANY citations on fasting in the manner being proposed, which are in ANY way applicable to our demographic as a group? (ie. not a study on 80 year old Japanese women showing better skin and digestion as a result)

The title of the thread is fasting for muscle gain, provide SOME evidence which we can hypothesis and postulate on, as anecdotal information being selectively fed to an online forum is just SOOOOOOOOO believable.[/quote]

Well, I do know that carbohydrate manipulation works well in alot of people to resensitize themselves to the anabolic effects of insulin. I do know that protein manipulation works well in alot people to resensitize them to anabolic effects of protein as well. Heck even CT and some members of this site have started to implement, low calorie, low protein days into their diet regimes once a week with great success.

But like I said before, take my example for what you will. I’m sorry I don’t have a 100 page doctoral thesis on the subject to present to all of you on this. I just gave an example of what I have been doing for the past 4 months and it has worked out for me. If you don’t want to try it, then don’t. What do I care?

But I will say this. My initial reason for fasting once a week was from a health standpoint. Believe it or not there comes a time in a person’s life when hitting a 500lb. bench isn’t that important anymore. It just so happened that I have started to look better and perform better as a nice side effect of doing this.

50

[quote]McG78 wrote:

10,000 years of readily available food doesn’t change potentially millions of years of evolution. Every animal on the planet, has the same physiological response to starvation. Moreover, if we are so adaptive in the short-term, why does are body still not fully accept grains as a primary food source.[/quote]

Although I believe examining the ways of our ancestors is valid to come to hypothesis’, you have to remember that it isn’t an end all be all solution.

Just because our ancestors did something, does not mean it is the most beneficial; What would have happened if, instead of cooking meat, our ancestors continued to eat it raw like their ancestors? (Drawing from the theory that increased absorption of proteins enhanced human evolution, neurologically speaking)

Our ancestors did not resistance train and consume whey hydroslate in a protein pulsing manner, that’s probably the most polar opposite for what they did. Does that mean that since the human body isn’t used to pulsing that it’s not beneficial?

End Rant :smiley:

51

[quote]Charlemagne wrote:

But I will say this. My initial reason for fasting once a week was from a health standpoint. Believe it or not there comes a time in a person’s life when hitting a 500lb. bench isn’t that important anymore. It just so happened that I have started to look better and perform better as a nice side effect of doing this.[/quote]

I commend you for looking after your health (everyone should), but I believe that fasting is a fad answer, it’s very popular right now and everyone’s interpretation of it differs (Nothing but water, some allow tea, some allow calories in liquid form, etc.) Little consensus paired with little applicable scientific evidence leads me to believe that fasting may be overhyped (As vegetarianism was/is)

And if the idea is to reduce the energy cost of digestion, can’t you just eat no fibre / cellulose / other indigestables for a day and consume a few low GI shakes with a good blend of protein, carbs, and fats? I don’t think that it would be that stressful to digest it, and you can still get in a good 1000kcal that way.

52

There are no documented health benefits to fasting (as far as I know). If you are eating a clean diet and not overeating then I can’t see a rationale behind it. Yes, maybe if you eat a lot of junk food every day (for years) then there might be an inkling of logic there. Even then, i doubt it. Having no nutrition whatsoever places more stress on the body, not less. Oh, you might feel euphoric - that doesn’t mean jack shit. I feel euphoric when I drink… is drinking healthy?

I’m waiting for the thread that attempts to convince people to get high colonics and enemas… you know, to get rid of all those toxins that are trapped in your colon. We’re already halfway there, with this thread.

53

[quote]McG78 wrote:
Intermittent fasting is the diet plan of the future. It boils down to our ancestors. Think of the first humans beyond 10,000 years ago…[/quote]

I don’t want to be a dick, but this isn’t Anthropology.com. Most of us are trying to get as muscular, strong and lean as possible. Back then they were trying to avoid starving to death… Those are two completely different goals.

If our ancestors did something that specifically relates to getting big and jacked, then lets discuss. Otherwise that information is totally irrelevant here. Any time I hear people talking about topics like how our molars “mean” that we’re supposed to eat a certain diet, I know I can stop listening as far as bodybuilding advice goes.

54

Message forums are a strange animal. A person posts something “relevant” to the forum subject matter and they are accosted with a couple posts of “use the search function” and “man that topic is so tired, it’s been discussed a million times”, then the thread dies and falls off the first page.

Enter someone posting something a little off base and not totally in line with what most members are interested in. We end up with a thread that doesn’t seem to end, as user after user feels the need to tell the OP either A) “how dumb they are” or B) “how so off base this topic is for this forum”.

You go man, if fasting works for you, keep up the good work.

I am off to find that very interesting thread about squatting men with skinny jeans on.

55

Unlike a lot of the obvious experts on here I don’t have an educated opinion about full fasting myself yet, but I’ve read several people over the years (some of the old guys) talking about different types of fasting and the positive effects on hormones, the digestive system, and overall health (Jeff Anderson, Nick Nilsson, Mike Brown, Mits Kawashima, Bud Jeffries) there are more I can’t remember off hand.

I could be wrong but I thought I’ve read about a lot of the very early strongmen practicing some type of fasting. I think I read that Steve Justa fasts once a week also and if that’s true, I’d bet he can lift far more than most on this site.

Either way i don’t know the facts but I think it there could be some benefit to limited fasting. It’s kind of retarded to just dismiss it without any evidence.

56

[quote]Charlemagne wrote:
About 4 months ago I began to stop putting so much emphasis on eating all the time for the sake of eating just to maintain and gain muscular weight. I was about 185lbs. at 5’ 7", probably 12-13% BF.

Health has become my number one priority now, I mean whats the point of having a big squat if you feel like shit all the time and have poor mobility. I also picked up Paul Bragg’s book “The Miracle of Fasting”, it is a pretty good book and has some interesting ideas, ideas that I have decided to implement into my own life.

One of those ideas was that fasting allows the body to stop using all of its energy towards digesting food and puts it towards catabolizing all of the tissues and cells that the body no longer needs. In short the body will detoxify itself. 0

Think about it, when you get sick, it is your body’s natural inclination to not want to stuff your face with food. Animals do the same thing, they do not eat. The thing that you want to do is to rest, relax and guess what happens…the body heals itself naturally. Nature will take its course. Hippocrates said that the body heals itself, there is no pill or magic supplement that will cure it, only maybe to help the process along.

Anyway, what I have been doing once a week for 24-36 hours is water fasting. No food, only plenty of water and maybe some apple cider vinegar. Initially I started doing it just to see if I felt better, and I did almost immediately.

But something happened. I haven’t lost any strength, in fact I have gained strength, I have veins popping out in places where I never had them, and I feel alot better. I have also always struggled with acne and oily skin, now my skin looks so much better, there is a healthy glow to it and my digestion has improved. I am now about 173lbs but I have definitely put on muscle. How do I know, well because I look bigger and I move more weight for more repetitions. I have changed really nothing else to my diet except added in the fasting once a week.

Then I started to think about it. Did mankind evolve to be eating every 4 hours? No, not really. We would probably be eating once, maybe twice a day if we were lucky. I think resting the digestive system allows the body to got more from the food that we do eat. Anyway that’s my story.[/quote]

Ori Hofmecklar would be proud! :wink:
You are correct in that rational underfeeding is much better for our health and that eating constantly is simply not how we evolved and is therefore unnatural.

57

Brad Pilon goes through evidence of positive effects in his book Eat Stop Eat. Fasting probably isn’t a great idea if you’re trying to get huuuuge, but when I’ve done it regularly, I easily maintained weight if I was lifting regularly. I didn’t have any strength issues…actually pulled my Deadlift PR of 435lbs@174lbs about 19 hours into a fast.