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“Man, I’m going to burn muscle if I fast”. This is the line I hear most often when I talk about fasting. Intermittent fasting for muscle building just ain’t the norm. The term ‘fasting’ just doesn’t sound right in muscle building circles, does it? Just the other day I was talking with a friend of mine; this particular friend has the metabolism of an elephant. I could literally inject sugar in to his blood all day long and we might be lucky if a millimeter of fat built up. Think he’s lucky? Not so fast (pun intended), building muscle isn’t his thing either (or so he thinks). I’m convinced if he came under my wing and did as he was told for a few months we’d be looking at a completely different man. He’d like it too. Unfortunately building muscle does take a bit of diligence which isn’t for a lot of people. Anyway, moving on…I told him I can fast all day and never burn any muscle. Of course he was surprised. Who wouldn’t be? No calories surely equals no muscle. I disagree,obviously.
As a side note; I almost fell from my seat when I saw this picture.
It’s probably a good thing there are no thumbs down buttons for blogs otherwise the title alone would have the stereotypical muscle building community kicking down my doors. I’m serious, some guys take this way too seriously. I digress. Alrighty, here goes; you have a few friends that work out all the time and never seem to get any bigger right? We all do. They’ve got skinny packs. By the way, skinny packs don’t count for six packs; you’re just skinny. I’m permanently confused by girls that fall for this. “Oh my God, he’s so ripped.” 😐� .
Most skinny guys you know probably eat all day and never put on any weight. They also probably eat a ton more junk food that you or I. It drives me cuckoo too. Well, here’s why they’re not putting on any muscle.
Number #1 is you just aren’t eating enough calories, specifically muscle building calories. Number #2 is there’s never any change in your blood sugar levels. Well, there is but you see when you constantly eat crap food your blood sugar is always high. It just so happens these skinny guys can metabolize that sugar more efficiently than you or I can. What’s that got to do with muscle? Well, muscle requires sugar to grow right? The problem exists when there is never anything new added to the mix. Your body hates when things are different so it adapts and essentially it rewards you for your diligence. Sort of like a double negative makes a positive. Don’t give your body sugar all the time, it’s not used to that. It’s new to your body. Here what’s going to happen; assuming you are training right and your muscle building workout routine is up to scratch and you time your meals correctly, all that sugar you are feeding it is going to be pummeled in to your muscles. If you’rereally skinny just eat more at these times. Easy eh? It’s practically muscle building genius, who would have thought? Find out more about that .
This is what’s so interesting about building muscle. To get sugar to your muscles you need to work with insulin (so you grow, duh..) Remember insulin forever and ever. Insulin takes all the sugar from your blood and distributes it throughout your body. You want it to go to one place. Yep, you guessed it, your muscles. Pack ‘em with sugar, pack ‘em hard. This is where fasting comes in to play. Fasting makes you more sensitive to insulin. So? Well, the more sensitive you are to the more it will help you by loading your muscles with muscle building sugar. Therein lies the birth of the above sub head; ‘mo sugar, mo muscle’.
The more often you eat the less opportunity your body has to rest and recuperate. Meaning there is a constant stream of sugar and insulin in your blood. You might not be getting fatter but you sure as hell are becoming more and more resistant to insulin. What’s that mean? Well it basically means insulin won’t be so nice and bring sugar to your muscles. No sugar in your muscles means no muscle building – no sugar, no muscles. It’s that simple.
When you start to incorporate intermittent fasting to the equation things start to look a whole lot different. Try fasting one day each week. That’s right, fasting for muscle building Preferably fast on a non workout day OR a pre-planned high-intensity workout day. I fasted today for example and I banged out this complex for a total of 9 rounds;
Use a barbell and don’t let it drop until you’re finished the entire circuit. Perform 8 reps of each exercise with a moderate weight and rest for 60 seconds between circuits.
You must drink tons of water. You can also drink black tea and black coffee. Some people like to supplement with BCAAs; this is more for added security as it will make you comfortable that you’re not going to lose any muscle on your fast day.
Time your meals and it will work perfectly.
The biggest one is around your workout. This is the time of day you really need to take advantage and load up on food. Depending on your goals try a workout drink before and after, and load up on carbs about an hour after your workout. These are your main muscle building meals. The rest of your meals should be a little lower in carbs, higher in protein and much more spread out.
To find out exactly how to time your meals, what to eat and when to eat it, .
Closing Thoughts
(A Muscle Building Must)
Stay Healthy
A. B.
p.s you need this in your life –
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