anyone ever do this? i’ve had to work out way early in the morning the past 3 weeks, and i feel Im noticeably leaner because of it. Ive dropped 5 pounds morning weight. Atleast visually i havnt lost any muscle and have made gains in the weight room. i All i have is a whey protein shake in milk, and a protein bar and i’m fine in performance after the first couple of days getting use to it. I might make this a normal thing.
I work out completely fasted, as compared to semi-fasted. My workouts are at ~11am, and when I finish I eat lunch which is my first meal of the day. Breakfast is two cups of coffee with no cream or sugar (or sweetener for that matter), so zero calories.
I like working out fasted because I’m not a breakfast person anyway, and if I train after eating, even several hours after eating, I get nauseous. So it works.
I don’t think it is for everyone, but if it works for you, great. If it doesn’t, great. I think in your case it is working now, so if you enjoy it, keep it up. If it stalls out after a while, then change it up then.
–Me
I did leangains for a few months. Found it very convenient to not have to worry about preworkout meal. Still saw good gains and fat loss. Currently, what I do is much more akin to semi-fasted. My pre-workout is caloric and towards the end of my workout I have some milk. Working well for me and I would encourage others to try it.
Also, I saw no diminishing of strength and my lifts continued to climb
My senior year of college, I would wake up at 5:30am to microwave a burrito, slam down a MRB, and hit the gym at 6 sharp. I needed at least 500kcal in order to feel like I wouldn’t faint during squats, but merely 500kcal after a night of sleep is my definition of “semi-fasted.”
My preference is to work out 60-90min after a larger meal. The only thing I gotta say on the topic of fasted workouts is this: working out in any capacity beats not working out at all!
While not technically fasted, my best sessions (by a wide margin) or when done 3-4 hours after a meal, preferably lunch. No clue as to what or why, but I seem way more alert and focused. Lifting any sooner than 2 + hours after eating has the opposite effect.
Never tried that for my main lifting sessions, but i used to have separate morning session that were fasted. They were basically just supersetted dips and pullups, and ab work. My evening sessions were just one main lift and a couple assistance exercises. I don’t know how much the morning sessions contributed to my gains, but at the very least I got a lot better at pullups and dips, and the sessions didn’t seem to interfere with each other. Worked great training economy wise
I wake up, have a protein shake with about 20g worth of protein, some coffee, and a tbsp of VCO. That’s all I eat before I workout. Unless I do something small like only arms, having a full meal on my stomach makes me nauseous, and having carbs pre-WO makes me groggy.
I actually do this and love it. I just drink my workout shake before during after and eat 45 mins later. Seems to help recomp and makes you utilize all of your carbs better throughout the day.
I sometimes eat right before or even during my workout and feel fine. I feel the best though when I have a solid day of meals in my stomach and work out later in the afternoon.
I think (for me at least) it’s very much mind over matter. I like lifting on a full stomach, but really don’t suffer if I have to lift before breakfast. Just get the session done and don’t let trivial details hold you back mentally.
I would comment that if this is something that you want to try for a desired result (I imagine leanness), do it. It might suck, a lot, but you will adapt and see some awesome results.
I recall wrestling practice on about 13 calories a day in my diet, that shit sucked. You get used to it though.
Edit: ditto for training on a full stomach. When I first tried to eat before a heavy squat or pull day I felt like puking. I adapted.
[quote]mkral55 wrote:
I would comment that if this is something that you want to try for a desired result (I imagine leanness), do it. It might suck, a lot, but you will adapt and see some awesome results.
I recall wrestling practice on about 13 calories a day in my diet, that shit sucked. You get used to it though.
Edit: ditto for training on a full stomach. When I first tried to eat before a heavy squat or pull day I felt like puking. I adapted. [/quote]
True the first day or two I did it I felt much weaker but after that I’m exceeding my previous bests.