Fasting and Heavy Training

 

Question: I compete in powerlifting.  I am interested in dropping down a weight class and want to try intermittent fasting to do so.  Will it be possible for me to keep my strength, or even get stronger, while fasting?  I can see how intermittent fasting would be good for getting in shape or losing weight easily, but I am concerned that it might not be good for strength athletes.  Can you really build mass and power while practicing intermittent fasting? (Question comes via email from Stuart)

 

Answer: I have personally used fasting myself in order to drop a weight class for a powerlifting meet.  Over 20 years ago, when I competed regularly in powerlifting, I always lifted in the 181-pound class, but I wanted to get down to the 165-pound class as sort of an experiment to see how strong I would be at the reduced bodyweight.  To do that, I opted for the “Warrior Diet.”  This was in 2000.  No one knew anything about intermittent fasting at that time.  And I mean no one.  In fact, it didn’t even really enter the lexicon of modern “fitness” or the American gym culture, I would say, until around a decade ago.  So, when I told my lifting buddies, not to mention my workout partner, that I was going to train for a powerlifting meet while only eating in a brief, 4-hour window, while fasting the other 20 hours of the day, well, let’s just say that almost everyone thought I was insane.  Since that time, I have used fasting regularly, not only to stay in a weight class­­—or to drop down a weight class—but to stay lean once I retired from competition.  So what follows are some of my thoughts on fasting and heavy lifting.

     To answer your first question here, Stuart, yes, you most certainly can build strength while fasting.  I like it for lifters who need to drop weight for the simple reason of how, well, simple it is.  It must be noted that when training only for strength—or, at least, when strength is the primary interest—it is the training program itself that is most important and not the nutritional regimen of the lifter.  This can sometimes appear to be an odd statement to a lot of lifters, especially if you have been involved in bodybuilding or have primarily trained for hypertrophy.  In bodybuilding circles, it’s common to hear/read the statement that “bodybuilding is 80% nutrition and 10% training.”  I’ve even heard bodybuilders say that nutrition is 90% of bodybuilding success.  I’m not sure if either of those statements are correct—if it was me, I’d say that it’s 50/50—but I understand the sentiment.  When you’re attempting to build maximal hypertrophy—especially if you’re trying to get incredibly lean at the same time or stay really lean while building mass—nutrition is definitely a fundamental cornerstone.  If you don’t focus on your daily nutrition—getting enough calories throughout the day, consuming enough protein, manipulating your other two macronutrients, and so on and so forth—then there’s simply no way for you to build muscle mass while staying lean.  So, for aesthetics, nutrition is hugely important if not paramount.

     Training for strength only is a different matter.  I may even go so far as to say that training is 90% and nutrition is only 10%.  Pure strength training is largely neural, which is why the training itself is what matters and not the nutritional regimen of the lifter.  If you have no interest in gaining mass while getting stronger, and little interest in losing bodyfat, then how you eat simply won’t be that big of a matter.

     Having said the above, let’s make something clear: that advice goes for strength and power training only.  The second question—can you really build strength and muscle mass while practicing intermittent fasting?—is a different matter.  Once you add muscle-building into the equation, you’re looking at a horse of a different color.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  There have been, and will continue to be, lifters who manage to build muscle while also practicing intermittent fasting, but I think they are the exception rather than the rule.

     So, I’m not so sure about intermittent fasting as a means of mass-building, but I wholeheartedly believe it can work if you’re just trying to build strength without the concomitant muscle gains.

     My advice would be to practice intermittent fasting while “in season,” and then eat more like a bodybuilder during the off-season, when you might be looking for some muscle gains to go along with the strength.

     Let me add one other, more personal, issue which may or may not be applicable to your particular training.  I’m not sure if I could have practiced intermittent fasting while powerlifting if I would have trained early in the morning.  I always needed to eat a little something about an hour—maybe just a half-an-hour—before lifting.  This means that I would go all day without eating (I did drink plenty of water and my fair-share of non-caloric beverages, such as black coffee), and then I would eat a small meal or snack before training.  I would then consume a post-workout meal shortly after my lifting session was complete.  But that, as mentioned, is simply a personal preference.  If I would have trained in the morning, I have a feeling that I would have ended up eating all day.  That’s another thing with me: once I start eating, it’s hard for me to stop.  Some lifters don’t have a problem with this.  If you can train, and eat, early in the day, then stop eating for the remainder of the day, then this won’t be an issue.

     If you’re interested in what kind of powerlifting training I would recommend while fasting, then I think either of these would be ideal:

The Speed-Power-StrengthProgram

High-Frequency Training:Powerlifting

 

 

     If anyone has any questions they would like me to answer AND you don’t mind if I publish the question(s) here on the blog, then just shoot me an email with your Qs, and let me know that it’s okay to use your question for a post.  And, of course, you can always just email me, and the correspondence can just be between us.