Extended Fasting and Exercise? Leangains and BCAA?

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Extended Fasting and Exercise? Leangains and BCAA?

This topic contains 2 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by  SeriousOmz 6 years, 10 months ago.

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  • 37 yo male, 5’10”, 200lbs here. After trying low calorie, low fat, low carb and other failed recommendations, I’ve finally settled on alternate day fasting. Basically I follow The Obesity Code, Dr Jason Fung 42 hour fasting 3 times a week eg Monday I would have lunch and dinner (anything within 2300 cals), nothing except water/coffee/tea on Tuesday, and then starting to feast again at lunch on Wednesday. Same pattern follows 3 times a week. This has worked great for the last 3 months, and I’ve seen gradual progress and fat loss and this way of life has become easy to follow.

    I’d like to add training now that I’m more comfortable with my weight and movement. I’d like to alternate weight/endurance training with cardio/rest days, however I’m unsure as to which day to do either. LeanGains discusses 16:8 mostly but I’d like to stretch it a bit to what has worked for me so far in terms of longer fasting durations.

    One option would be to have cardio/rest on the full fast day and endurance training on the feast days, employing the morning pre-workout BCAA recommended by Leangains, and post-workout scoops until lunchtime. I’m concerned whether it would be actually possible to train with weights after almost 36 hours without food?

    The other option, would be to have cardio/rest on a feast day, with weight training immediately the next morning of the fast day, so that energy is not an issue. However that training would fall on a full fast day. BCAA scoops every 2 hrs makes sense if it’s between morning and lunchtime. What if the intention is to go the full day without a meal? Would it be necessary to have additional BCAA during until sleeptime? Or is this not a viable option altogether?

    Appreciate any thoughts or advice you can provide.

    Of course, I could just switch to pure LeanGains, but I’d like to continue with what I found worked for me in terms of weight loss.

    I don’t take BCAA, but I follow OMAD 23:1 protocol and use 1-2 48h fasts every week. I train HIIT ~2x a week in the morning of a normal 23h fast and I Train muscle at the very end of the 48H fast with seemingly great results.

    As I subscribe to Dr Fung’s
    “No such thing as starvation mode” I focus only on the spike of testosterone noted in many study’s after refeed hence why I always train with weight before my refeed. Dr Mercola is a fantastic resource for optimising your fitness routine for maximum results.

    One thing I advise is NOT to use endurance training unless you have a specific event you’re training for (so stay away if you’re after maximum fat loss). Sorry about the jumbled reply, I have too much to say about fasting.

    Much thanks for that advice!

    I actually haven’t hit the weights in a long time, having switched to cardio-boxing, HIIT and the occasional crossfit style bootcamp. I am hoping to complete a Tough Mudder event some day!

    I do want to maximize fat loss, but with only 20 or so lbs to go, I’d like to start muscle toning a bit as I’ve lost too much over the years, which is why am researching optimal methods of fasted training.

    I wasn’t aware of OMAD, but I’m definitely researching it and will consider it! Looking at my search history I’ve stumbled onto some of Dr Mercola’s articles so I’ll also spend some time there.

    However, most of what I’ve seen online is that training fasted is not such a big deal, and perhaps I just have to try things out and see what works for me 🙂

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