Fasting is tricky and there’s disagreement on its benefits. Some argue it’s good because your body burns more fat than muscle and carbs in the morning. Then there are others that say it’s not great because prolonged fasting spikes cortisol. This makes sense to me based on my experiences with fasting. I feel ok in the beginning but after a while I start to feel like shit. It affects your mood.
If you do choose to fast, drink tons of water and make sure you’re getting electrolytes. I always add a bit of salt to my water. It’s important because we evolved to survive in the wild. And if our ancestors were able to find water, then food was also going to be close by. But if you’re fasting and you’re not drinking a lot of water, your body will think something is wrong and go into survival mode. Once in survival mode, your body shifts to low energy in an effort to preserve the resources needed for survival.
Also, our ancestors were hunters not bodybuilders. Pushing your muscles to their limit and breaking down all the muscle fibers was not something our ancestors did intentionally. They did it coincidentally during their hunts and battles.
For example, when you train legs really hard you’ll notice that there’s a feeling of anxiety that creeps in as you start to fatigue and approach muscle failure. My belief is that your body is sending a signal that you’re in danger. Obviously you aren’t and the best bodybuilders ignore this and push through that discomfort. But your ancestors didn’t do squats for aesthetics. They were likely being chased or in danger. When they’d feel that burning sensation and anxiety they knew that their muscles are going to fail soon which would lead to imminent death. At that point you have to look for a tree or something to get out of harm’s way. Well if you’re training while fasting, you already have less resources to utilize.
Training while fasting seems like a terrible idea to me. I don’t think I’ve ever had a good workout while hungry. I’d say give it a try and see how you feel. Do you have similar strength? Do you feel less motivated to finish the workout? Alternate between the two and try to compare how strong you are.
Your diet probably has a lot to do with it too. Someone nostr:npub1an6xs9jt6apmw45rmvu8pnspewdp6juwcgp76fk72ruky4dmcadqwfze63 who is fat adapted probably can handle a workout while fasting better than I can. Also how early you do the workout matters too. If you wake up at 7 am and workout at 8 am, you’re probably gonna have a better workout than if you were to do it at 12 pm.
