INTERMITTENT FASTING

Lately I have been asked for my opinion on and questions around, intermittent fasting. I am going to start by saying straight of the bat, I am not a big fan. We can however find pros and cons, like any situation and if fasting helps you achieve your body composition goals, then it’s horses for courses. So what is intermittent fasting? In a nutshell- it’s a designated period of time where you commit to consuming no calories. As usual, there is always more than one way to skin a cat and over my time, I have heard them all.  Some recommend 16:8, which means for 16 hours of the day you are not consuming any calories and then all of your meals and calories for the day are to be consumed during a set eight-hour period. Some suggest the 5:2 diet, which requires that you fast and eat roughly 500 calories for two consecutive days, and then eat what you want on the remaining five days of the week. I have heard of some crazy diets out there where you are fasting for 36 hours at a time. A pro for intermittent fasting is that these variations allow you to find the option that suits you and your lifestyle. I am going to start with the main challenge. When you’re working out at ACTV, your body needs fuel to move, function, and grow. That fuel is energy and it comes from the calories we eat. If you cut off that fuel source by cutting down on your consumption of food, you may find yourself coming up short on energy when it's time for your next gym session. Secondly, if your main goal is maximizing muscle, fasting is not a great idea at all. Very rarely can we add muscle mass when restricting calories. So don’t try. To build muscle on one of our strength days, you should be consuming a balanced meal, consisting of protein, fats and carbs, consumed about 45 minutes before training. This will: - Replenish blood glucose and muscle glycogen stores for utilisation during exercise. - Provide amino acids for Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS) post exercise. (Repair muscle fibres) So, the bottom line is, to get the most out of your strength workouts, eat before and after you train. Ideally, on conditioning days as we are working-out at an intense level, we should repeat the above protocol. In summary, it is best to consume a balanced diet, to make sure the body is fuelled for your daily workouts. If training hard is something you love doing, then eat but eat well. Fasting can be a great tool when used correctly but only use it if it compliments your lifestyle. I mentioned this before, there are pros and cons to any diet and before changing your current diet please seek advice from a qualified health professional. Hope this helps any questions please reach out. Barts Director- ACTV Strength Co