In this video, we're gonna go over a new and interesting study looking at what happens
to your muscle and strength gains if you train on an empty stomach.
Let's dive right in.
In this 2023 study, researchers specifically wanted to know what happens to muscle and
strength when training fasted during the Muslim intermittent fasting month known as Ramadan.
During this month, people fast from dawn to sunset, which was about 14 hours for the region
of the subjects in this study .
Speaking of subjects, the researchers recruited 40 young adult males considered as recreational
weight lifters.
They trained four times per week for 8 weeks, using a fairly standard progressive overload
lifting program.
The subjects were also randomly assigned to either a FASTED or FED group.
As the name suggest, the FASTED group trained in a fasted state in the late afternoon and
the FED group trained about 1 to 2 hours after breaking their fast in the evening.
Now with the methods laid out, let's get to the fun stuff, the results.
In terms of muscle growth, interestingly, neither group saw any noticeable changes,
with the measured quad and bicep muscles remaining about the same size.
But in terms of strength, squat 1-rep max in the FED group modestly increased from 169
kilograms to 174.
Squat 1RM for the FASTED group went from 168 kilograms to… 168 kilograms.
For deadlift 1-rep max, FED group again saw a modest increase of 187 to 195 kilograms.
The FASTED group went from 186 kilograms to 187.
And finally, both groups did not see a statistically notable increase in bench press 1 rep max.
But before we move on, we should also mention two extra nuggets of information from the
results.
One is that subjects reported that their workouts felt notably more difficult once they started
training fasted, going from about a 5 to about a 7 out of 10 RPE, or rating of perceived
exertion.
RPE scores for the FED group stayed around 5 throughout the entire trial.
And, the second extra nugget of information is what I personally found the most interesting
about this study.
As mentioned, the trial intervention lasted 8 weeks in total.
But, Ramadan only lasts for about 4 weeks.
And the subjects had a primer week before fasting to get accustomed to the training.
So that leaves us with an extra 3 weeks after Ramadan where subjects continued to train
but stopped fasting.
And, during this 3-week period, we see some interesting developments.
The FASTED group, which were no longer training fasted, started seeing significant improvements
in strength.
Squat 1RM went from 168 kilos by the end of Ramadan, to 172 kilos 3 weeks later.
Deadlift went from 187 to 190.
And bench press went from 109 to 120 kilograms.
The FED group saw similar strength increases as well.
And, good news, during this time period, both groups finally saw increases in muscle gains.
So now taking into consideration both the results during and after the fast, we can
now feel even more confident in saying that training on an empty stomach is very likely
to hurt your strength gains when compared to training fed, all the while making your
workouts feel more difficult to compelte.
Also, since muscle only increased in both groups after the fasting stopped, in a way,
we can also say that fasting in general might be holding back your muscle gains.
Now, we can't say for sure, especially since both groups, which had similar diets, did
lose weight while fasting, suggesting that the bigger issue is their overall nutrition
potentially being insufficient for muscle growth.
Also, Ramadan restricts both food AND fluid intake, which might lead to the muscle growth
observed actually being water muscle swelling from the increased water uptake once the fasting
stopped.
Still, these post-fasting results are certainly something to think about.
It's hard to explain these changes are due to anything other the discontinuation of training
fasted and fasting itself.
That said, again, this study is specifically on fasting during Ramadan, which in fairness
is not exactly the same as something like 16/8 intermittent fasting, especially with
the exclusion of water.
And as always, a disclaimer: this is only study.
We should always look at the totality of evidence to draw better conclusions.
However, compared to prior evidence, this new study doesn't stray too far from the norm.
That norm being that training on an empty stomach is still probably a bad idea.
As the old saying goes which I just made up, happy belly equals happy gains .
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As always, thank you for watching and don't forget to get your PROTEIN.
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