The line separating fasted workouts from disordered eating can become blurry for athletes.
Proponents claim that fasted workouts have several significant health and performance benefits. The main reasons why athletes perform fasted training include:
- Increasing the rate in which your muscles use fat for fuel
- Sparing glycogen stores
- Increasing mitochondrial density
- Healthy mitochondria (the powerhouse of cells where chemical energy is generated to power the cell's biochemical reactions).
- Fat molecules (specifically triglycerides) to be broken down into glycerol and fatty acids. Fatty acids are then transported to cells and undergo a series of reactions (beta-oxidation) to produce acetyl-CoA to enter the citric acid cycle to generate energy.
- Oxygen (transported to the muscles by blood). Fat cannot be burned (or oxidized) without the presence of oxygen.
While there are studies supporting the benefits of fasted training, what may start out as a genuine attempt to become more "metabolically efficient" can become a slippery slope that descends into disordered eating patterns.
Although working out in a fasted state is not an eating disorder, it can be considered a form of disordered eating. This is because any type of rigid food rule about when you can eat may foster unhealthy behaviors around food and may bring on a hyperfixation on body composition. Telling yourself when you can and cannot eat is telling your body that the cues and signals given from the body aren't important and can be ignored.
Fasted training may seem like an easy option to improve fat burning potential but if you are working out on an empty stomach in order to improve metabolic efficiency, consider the following when it comes to proper implementation:
Although working out in a fasted state is not an eating disorder, it can be considered a form of disordered eating. This is because any type of rigid food rule about when you can eat may foster unhealthy behaviors around food and may bring on a hyperfixation on body composition. Telling yourself when you can and cannot eat is telling your body that the cues and signals given from the body aren't important and can be ignored.
Fasted training may seem like an easy option to improve fat burning potential but if you are working out on an empty stomach in order to improve metabolic efficiency, consider the following when it comes to proper implementation:
- Fasted training is shifting the eating window an hour or two later in the morning while still maintaining proper energy intake throughout the day to support energy and health needs.
- Proper refueling is key after a fasted session. Failure to adequately refuel will have harmful effects on health and physiological adaptations.
- The process of fat burning has several components and regulatory mechanisms. A critical component of fat oxidation is oxygen. Fasted training should only be used during low-intensity, "aerobic" training sessions.
- Fasted workouts should only be done once or twice a week. When there are limited hours between training sessions to refuel and restore muscle glycogen levels, fasted workouts may impair recovery and workout quality may be compromised.
- The ideal phase of fasted workouts is in the early base period when workouts are of low intensity and low volume.
Fasted workout reminders......
- Weight loss and body composition changes are not goals of fasted training.
- Only one or two low-intensity, low volume sessions per week should be in the fasted state.
- You can't see or feel the fat that you use for exercise. Fasted workouts are not designed to specifically change how you look.
- High intensity and high volume workouts should not be done in a fasted state.
- Athletes should be cautious with fasted training, especially females. Negative effects include elevated cortisol, potential to break down lean muscle for fuel, slow recovery, increased adipose fat, and hormonal issues.
- Fasted training doesn't work for everyone.
- Fasted training should not be performed by individuals who have a history of disordered eating or an eating disorder.
Fasted training for performance is not.......
If you have not achieved at least 90% of your athletic potential through years of consistent training, healthy lifestyle habits, good restful sleep, proper recovery and optimizing mental health, you shouldn't be chasing the final 10%. The 90% are the real magic bullets that will help you optimize your health and performance.
- Fasting even when feeling low in energy, weak, lightheaded or hungry.
- Carrying out all weekday training sessions fasted.
- Increasing workout volume and intensity in a fasted state in order to burn more calories/body fat.
- Testing how long or hard you can workout before you need to fuel.
- Using fasted workouts as an excuse to skip a meal or snack.
- Carrying out fasted training because you think it will help you lose weight.
- Fasting due to fear of gaining weight (or not burning fat or as many calories) if you eat before a workout.
- Using fasted workouts as a reason to "burn" the calories consumed the day before.
Many athletes are drawn to fasted workouts for performance gains but it's very easy to overuse or misuse fasted training as a way to manipulate body composition due to an unhealthy relationship with food and body.
In my professional opinion, I am not a fan of fasted training. While fasted training may increase fat oxidation rates, there's little to no evidence that specifically working out on an empty stomach will enhance performance. Fasted workouts will increase the stress on the body in addition to the stress that is caused by life and training. There are many other areas to focus your time and energy on that will bring you far better gains in performance and body composition.
In my professional opinion, I am not a fan of fasted training. While fasted training may increase fat oxidation rates, there's little to no evidence that specifically working out on an empty stomach will enhance performance. Fasted workouts will increase the stress on the body in addition to the stress that is caused by life and training. There are many other areas to focus your time and energy on that will bring you far better gains in performance and body composition.
Consistent training (with a fueled body) is an effective way to increase the capacity of fat oxidation. Through training, you generate more mitchondria, more enzymes, more transport proteins, better muscle blood supply and faster breakdown of triglycerides into fatty acids. The end result is a greater capacity to burn fat. In other words: fasted training is not needed to become better at fat burning.
If you have not achieved at least 90% of your athletic potential through years of consistent training, healthy lifestyle habits, good restful sleep, proper recovery and optimizing mental health, you shouldn't be chasing the final 10%. The 90% are the real magic bullets that will help you optimize your health and performance.