Full transcript
Fasted Versus Fed Training
0:00So, let's talk about training fasted or
0:02not training fasted. I'm chuckling
0:04because you know, there are these times
0:06when I think, oh, you know, recently it
0:07got really intense online, should women
0:09train fasted or not train fasted? Coming
0:12from the world of research science,
0:14which we both do, like these
0:16quote-unquote battles online, they're
0:18like nothing because it's
0:20in the end, it really boils down to what
0:22do we know, what do we not know. Right.
0:24Right? Battles in science get down to
0:26two people looking at the same graph and
0:28arguing about it, like every you know,
0:30that one piece of the data out on the
0:32plot. We're not really arguing data when
0:34we're arguing um mass experience. So,
0:39what is the data, the laboratory data on
0:42women training fasted in terms of fat
0:45loss,
0:46muscle gain, strength gain, and just
0:48whether or not it's a good or bad idea
0:50on the whole?
0:52I'm glad you bring up the data piece
0:54because in some of these conversations,
0:57there's a lot of extrapolation
1:00of a potential mechanism. And that's not
1:03where we lean when we develop our
1:07recommendations about exercise and
1:09nutrition. We need to look at the data
1:12in the population of interest, humans,
1:15measuring the outcome we're interested
1:18in using the intervention
1:21that we're discussing. So, in the case
1:24of a fed and fasted state training, this
1:28has been looked at long on longer term
1:31studies, so consistent fasted state
1:33training, not just an acute bout of
1:36fasted state training. And the muscle
1:39growth and fat loss adaptations to
1:43exercise are the same in men and in
1:46women. And there was a school of thought
1:50that fasted training might be beneficial
1:54for fat loss. So, like 2012, maybe, and
1:57everyone was doing fasted cardio
1:58thinking it was going to accelerate
2:00their fat loss because
2:02they were exercising in a in a fasted
2:04state and oxidizing more fat because
2:07they were fasted acutely. Turns out that
2:10acute fat oxidation or fat oxidation
2:14post workout
2:16isn't meaningful enough to offset the
2:19rest of the metabolism throughout the
2:22day such that you don't lose more body
2:25fat long-term.
2:27Now the pendulum has kind of swung in
2:29the other direction and the argument is
2:31that if you're training fasted, you're
2:33going to gain fat or lose muscle. And
2:38that doesn't make a whole lot of sense
2:40either because when we wake up in the
2:43morning, we ate dinner last night,
2:45right? We have stored glycogen. And most
2:48resistance training sessions aren't
2:51extremely glycogen depleting anyway. So,
2:54unless we're going to do some really
2:57long-form
2:59endurance training, in which case yeah,
3:00it's probably wise to have something to
3:03eat beforehand to fuel that that long
3:06session.
3:07The decision to train fed or fasted
3:09should be based on personal preference.
3:12Do you have a personal preference? If I
3:14go in the morning, I always train
3:17fasted. If I go later in the day, I've
Caffeine & Exercise Performance
3:21eaten.
3:22Caffeine before you train?
3:24Always. Mhm.
3:26Um for the just general alertness
3:30or also performance-enhancing effects of
3:32caffeine?
3:33I notice more the general alertness, but
3:37it's probably hard to to separate those.
3:39I think we see more performance benefits
3:43if you go from being, you know, caffeine
3:46naive and I am not.
3:49I'm very habituated at this point, so
3:50I'm probably not seeing that many
3:52performance benefits, but I
3:55yeah, I I definitely feel it when I
3:57don't have caffeine pre-workout. 90% of
4:01adults in the world drink caffeine every
4:03day, and it turns out one of the hardest
4:04things to do about running a study on
4:06caffeine is getting people
4:08to not drink caffeine for like 2 weeks
4:10to do a washout cuz otherwise you end up
4:12studying caffeine withdrawal versus
4:13people who are continuing to drink
4:14caffeine. I spent a lot of time with
4:16this literature and it's a maddening
4:17literature. I'm right there with you, uh
4:19total caffeine addict and I'm cool. So,
4:22I'm Andrew, I'm a caffeine addict, you
4:24know,
4:25um
4:25and proud of it.
Pre-Workout Nutrition Facts
4:28So, if you were going to
4:30ingest food before you train,
4:33um
4:35and given that most resistance training
4:37sessions are not glycogen depleting,
4:40which you said, um is there any
4:42advantage to having some starchy
4:45carbohydrate before resistance training
4:48that's independent of glycogen? Um is
4:50there any value to eating a given food
4:53before training? Might make you feel
4:56better. You might feel like you have
4:58more energy, you might feel better in in
5:00the gym. Other people feel like they
5:03have GI issues if they eat too close to
5:05a workout, and so that's
5:08uh they prefer to eat afterwards. So, I
5:10I think if you are someone who wants to
5:13experiment with both, then have at it.
5:16But, for resistance training,
5:18the composition of the meal you're
5:21eating pre-workout is very unlikely to
5:25be used as fuel in that workout. Hm,
5:28really? Well, if we are eating right
5:32before we train, then we still need to
5:34digest and absorb those nutrients. So, I
5:37guess it depends what it is that we are
5:38consuming. If you're consuming
5:41uh
5:42you know,
5:43one of those liquid packs that people
5:47um consume during a marathon, do you
5:49know what I mean?
5:50>> goo packs, yeah. Like so though that's
5:52like really fast generating um
5:55but
5:56if we're if we're going to have some
5:58oats or something, then
6:01um if I'm eating my oats and going to
6:04the gym, I'm probably not using that as
6:07my fuel for that workout. What about
Anabolic Window Myth
6:09post-workout nutrition? Uh for many
6:11years there were all sorts of ideas. You
6:13have a unique opportunity to you know,
6:15store more glycogen uh
6:18to this day I still have some fruit and
6:19some starch in a protein drink after I
6:21train. Does it matter if it's in the
6:23first 30 to 90 minutes in terms of the
6:27adaptation? This is all independent of
6:30um hunger and kind of what one what
6:33makes one feel better. I'm just thinking
6:36in terms of
6:37recovering more quickly uh to be able to
6:39train again, get back to work, and do
6:40other things. So the training is the
6:43stimulus for the adaptation or muscle
6:45growth if we're talking about resistance
6:47training. And then the nutrition or the
6:50dietary protein can kind of optimize our
6:53results from that stimulus. And there
6:56was once a school of thought that there
6:59was this anabolic window and it was very
7:00narrow and you needed to slam that
7:02protein shake the second you left the
7:04gym or you know, why did you even bother
7:07lifting that day?
7:08Uh it turns out that
7:11post resistance training, that window,
7:15that elevated protein synthesis,
7:18is
7:19long-lasting.
7:21We've measured this and see that it's
7:23still elevated even 24 hours after your
7:26session.
7:27Not that I'm suggesting you wait 24
7:29hours to eat, but this indicates that
7:32whether you're
7:33eating within 30 minutes or 3 hours,
7:37that's not going to affect the extent to
7:40which that dietary protein can support
7:44your muscle adaptations. I saw a study,
7:46I think it was about a year and a half
7:47ago that asserted that post resistance
7:50training, and I forget how long they
7:51waited post resistance training, but
7:53some period of time after resistance
7:55training that men and women can
7:57assimilate up to 100 g of protein.
8:01Whereas previously we thought that uh
8:03one could only assimilate 30 g of
8:05protein per feeding. Whatever became of
Optimizing Daily Protein Intake
8:08the 30 g limit and how does exercise
8:11impact um
8:13the amount of protein one can and
8:15perhaps should ingest?
8:17Well, when we think about the protein
8:21that we're actually able to
8:24absorb and utilize for muscle
8:27adaptation, it's a different question
8:29of, you know, how much can we consume
8:31and absorb. Because not all of the
8:34protein that we consume is going
8:37straight into the muscle. So, it's not
8:40that
8:41we should worry so much about maximizing
8:45per meal protein so much as, you know,
8:49per day, per week consistent protein
8:52intake.
8:54And that will, again, support the
8:58adaptations from the stimulus that we're
9:00getting from our training. But the idea
9:03that we're
9:05somehow
9:07gaming the system with timing or or or
9:10dosing, it's really we need to kind of
9:13pull back the lens and think more big
9:15picture of, "Okay, if I'm aiming for
9:18this overall protein intake, then
9:20practically it probably makes sense for
9:22me to split that up into a couple of
9:23meals. So, what does that look like?"
9:26And then can I do that consistently?