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 Fat oxidation refers to the process of breaking down fatty acids. To oxidize fat, you need: 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...
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