Sport on an empty stomach

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We all come to understand that there seems to be less. This long and thorny path is dotted with incomprehensible experiments with vegetarianism, raw food, separate meals and other things. The practice of fasting stands apart. The thing is interesting and useful in every sense, especially in the context of sports.

What's the best?

How do you like to train more? On an empty stomach or after a good meal? I personally am able to move only early in the morning, before breakfast. Many people, on the other hand, can function normally only by eating well.

The debate about the best way to go in for sports will probably never subside. Fans of exercise on an empty stomach squabble with lovers of snack once again, and, it seems, the truth is still far away. Today we will try to give the final answer to the question of how to do sports most effectively.

It's time to debunk old myths about food and exercise

It is, of course, difficult to give a definitive answer. Everyone is different and everyone achieves the best training results in different conditions. Telling a person how to exercise is kind of like convincing what time of day to work or what diet to follow. Everything is too individual. But there are a number of myths that people continue to believe in.

Contrary to popular belief, research shows that snacking during the day does not speed up your metabolic processes, skipping meals will not automatically make you fat, and exercising on an empty stomach does not invalidate your workout results. In reality, intermittently skipping meals, also known as intermittent fasting, an alternative diet, or a longevity diet, can be amazingly beneficial.

So let's start with the good ones. For example, the fact that handsome Hugh Jackman, preparing for the next role of Wolverine, practiced intermittent fasting in order to build muscle mass. Why did he choose this particular diet? The fact is that it triggers a chain of hormonal changes that are beneficial both for building muscle mass and for burning extra calories.

Fasting Exercise Has Two Significant Effects

1. Insulin sensitivity increases

The reasoning is very simple. When we eat, the body makes insulin to help absorb nutrients. The hormone then redirects sugar from the blood to the liver, muscles, and subcutaneous fat for energy later. The problem is that the habit of eating too much and too often makes us more insulin resistant, that is, desensitizes. In medical practice, this is called insulin resistance. Low insulin sensitivity increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and also makes it much more difficult to lose weight. In short, it interferes with living with terrible force.

Reducing the frequency of your meals is a good way to address your insulin resistance. The body produces less insulin and, accordingly, becomes more sensitive to it. Blood flow to the muscles improves, it becomes easier for us to lose weight, and the effects of an unhealthy diet are inhibited.

2. The action of the hormone growth hormone

Growth hormone is practically a magic elixir of youth that helps the body build muscle tissue, burn fat, strengthen bone tissue, improve physical function and prolong longevity.

Along with regular exercise and good sleep, light fasting is the best way to boost your body's growth hormone levels.

One study showed that after 24 hours of fasting, levels of growth hormone in men increased by as much as 2000%, and in women by 1300%! The effects wear off quickly, so there are good reasons to fast regularly in order to constantly maintain the growth hormone levels, which miraculously affect our body.

Fasting and sports

Talking about beneficial hormones, testosterone cannot be ignored. It helps to increase muscle mass and reduce body fat. In addition, it increases the level of physical strength, energy and libido, and helps in the fight against depression and heart problems in both men and women. Fasting by itself cannot affect testosterone in any way. But there is an amazing way to get the body to produce more testosterone and growth hormone at the same time, thereby creating the ideal conditions for building muscle and burning fat: fasting + active sports!

Exercises, especially intense ones, that involve multiple muscle groups (compound exercises such as barbell squats) cause large spikes in testosterone. This is why it is beneficial to combine exercise and fasting. Numerous studies have shown that exercising while fasting is a great way to build muscle and increase insulin sensitivity. This approach is effective not only because of hormonal responses, but also because it helps the body absorb nutrients from food much more actively.

In short, sports on an empty stomach helps proteins, fats and carbohydrates to be stored in the form of adipose tissue in the smallest quantities. It has been found that people who exercise vigorously while fasting lose weight much more intensely (possibly due to increased levels of oxidative enzymes).

Such workouts teach your body to use energy more efficiently and not waste it, increasing the efficiency of storing glycogen in muscles. Periodic "lean workouts" further improve the quality of regular workouts. Some studies have also shown that "lean training" can significantly increase athletes' endurance, which is measured by the ability to take in and use oxygen during exercise, and is a pretty smart way to measure exercise.

Not everything is, of course, rosy

It would be unfair to keep silent about the fact that not everything is so rosy. Some studies have shown that exercising while fasting affects performance. However, they mainly investigated such traditional fasts as Ramadan, which does not allow drinking fluids (which is not recommended for athletes). Even the fact that, after all, most people eat before playing sports, already suggests that sports after eating already give good results. Heck, there are even studies that have shown that eating food before exercise can lead to a decrease in the number of calories consumed throughout the day. But all this does not negate the undeniable benefits of periodic exercise on an empty stomach.

So, if you want to try exercising on an empty stomach. ↓

Action plan

We perfectly understand what you are thinking now. Something like the following: "Well, fig, I can't stand the loads without eating anything!" First, let's have a little more faith in ourselves. You can do much more than you think, you just need to arm yourself with the right attitude. Secondly, we will give some simple tips to help you master this diet more painlessly:

1. You can drink more than just water. Do not be afraid to overcome your old habits and get energy from black coffee, tea, caffeine pills, creatine and other non-nutritive substances.
2. Stop fasting when you feel like it. Many people choose to eat immediately after exercise when a short fast has already taken its toll. It doesn't make much of a difference if you prolong your fast. Even if you exercise in the morning and do not eat until the evening, the surge of hormonal changes will last all day and prevent muscle loss. No matter how you decide, your body will always support you.
3. Eat as much as you like. Notice we didn't say "eat as many calories as you want." After all, it is not at all necessary to eat a lot of food.

And finally

The habit of eating is probably the most durable human habit. We are all human, we are all human, our habits are us. Fighting the habit of constantly eating something is a noble business, but ungrateful. This is terribly difficult, especially for those people who have spent N amount of time learning to eat regularly and at the same time. It's true that intermittent fasting takes time to get used to. Our body needs to get used to the fact that it will not receive food as often as it used to. This discomfort disappears over time, but if you feel that this way of eating is not yours, then there is no need to continue. Just don't be afraid to try it.