Views On Fasting.

Hello people.

 

I just have a few questions;

 

- What are your views on fasting, specifically water fasting?

- What do you think is the benefits/dangers of fasting?

- Fasting and training? muscle loss? fat loss? 

 

I am currently on day 3 of a water fast. I'm not a health nut, but I read so much about it I just had to see for my self.

 

I am not doing any training.

 

Thanks.

I don't think its a bad idea. it has a lot of health benefits and its been proven to increase longevity. I'm sure theres others on the forum that will disagree with me but I don't think you will lose muscle just because you don't eat for a couple days. This is probably more of a concern for weight lifters but my view is that if it only takes you 2 or 3 days to lose muscle then its not real muscle. Someone correct me if i'm wrong but I think the muscle that you gain from Gymnastic Strength Training™ is more real and longer lasting then the muscle you get from body building. 

Hello Tonio, and thanks for your answer.

 

I too believe there are health benefits. I just want to test them out.

 

Muscle loss I have read to be the greatest within the first 3 days. after that the body turns to fat burning.

 

As to the last part; I like to think that gymnastics muscle are more "real" than bodybuilder muscle, but if I think about it, what is fake muscle?

I don't think fake muscle exists. Either you have muscle or you don't. Strength, however, is another subject entirely.

 

Thanks.

Not too much to add here. My nutrition professor exclaimed that it was NEVER a good idea to fast. That it is an unhealthy and unsafe situation to force on the body. Especially for longer periods ala-weeks. I don't really have an opinion on the occasional fast, although personally I'm too skinny to do it.

I think there may be some merit to the whole detox idea behind it. Some people have claimed to treat their cancers and other problems with juice and water fasting but...that is not something i would advise to try haha. Make the educated decision for yourself, if I were you I'd do some research before you do fast though :-)

Long term fasting is generally not a good idea.  It is definitely not true that muscle stops being used as fuel.  The body will break down muscle to feed the brain.  

 

There is some evidence that intermittent fasting increases longevity of life.  This is thought to be due to autophagy which is used by the body to get rid of pathogens and improve cell health.  However IF is not good for optimal performance.

 

As for the real muscle argument... There are two types of hypertrohy sacroplasmic and myofibrillar.  Research these and you will find that many argue that bodybuilding just increases fluid in the sarcoplasm (fluid surrounding muscle fiber) while other more strength oriented sports increase myobrillar (more muscle fibers).  In reality neither are mutually exclusive and there are more factors.  The greater reason is that movement oriented strength training like gymnastics has greater impact of neuromuscular control and this leads to a feeling that it is "better muscle"  Ive heard it stated a lot of ways: "his muscle is more compact", "he has less water weight" things like that.

Well, I think fasting is a perfectly natural thing for the body. 

 

But, it is generally not welcomed in conventional medicine, partly because, where is the money in people fasting? 

 

I did 4 days. No significant detox symptoms, probably because my diet is quite clean overall. 4 kgs weightloss, of course a great deal of water weight, but probably some muscle and some fat too.

 

All in all a good experience.

 

I believe in trying ut things for yourself, and not blindly trusting in the experts with the books.

 

People who do a lot of calisthenics tend to get a more compact physique, opposed to weight trainers who tend to get more bulky. Not sure what is better, I guess it depends on what each individual is interested in.

I think fasting has health benefits, but will do nothing but harm your athletic ability in the short-run. If you have certain health problems, doing a short juice supported fast can be extremely healthy.

 

@Menging, most people that I see doing calisthenics are thin, but almost everyone I see doing GST style calisthenics does have a certain visible muscle density that I think you are noticing. Perhaps it's all the isometrics we do that actually makes our muscles denser? It's definitely visible to me.