Every day, millions of people ask Google some of life’s most pressing questions, big and small. And I’ve taken it upon myself to provide you with the answers.
Today, I tackle five of the most popular questions on the subject of fasted weight training, muscle growth and fat loss.
1. Is It OK To Lift Weights On An Empty Stomach?
Yes, it is OK to lift weights on an empty stomach. You can do just about anything in a fasted state, and that includes lifting weights. However, the quality of your workouts may end up being compromised to some degree, depending on the type of training you’re doing, when you’re doing it, and what you’ve eaten the day before.
If all you’re doing is 20 minutes or so of machine-based exercises, whether your workouts are done fed or fasted isn’t going to make much of a difference.
But if you’re training for longer than an hour, lifting heavy weights, doing exercises that require a reasonable degree of skill to perform correctly (such as squats, deadlifts, and so on) and pushing yourself hard in each set, you’ll probably benefit from eating something before hitting the weights.
You also need to factor in when you’re training. Fasted weight training first thing in the morning is unlikely to pose a problem, although it may take you a few weeks to get used to it. But, if you leave it until the afternoon or evening before you train, chances are that you’re not going to be able to train as hard, lift as much weight or do as many reps.
Over time, this dip in strength will mean that muscle is gained more slowly compared to doing the same workout with a few meals inside you.
I can usually make it through until the early afternoon without eating anything. After that, I start to get hungry, tired and light headed. For me, the idea of fasted weight training in the afternoon isn’t a pleasant one. I’ve trained on an empty stomach in the morning without a problem, but not in the afternoon and certainly not in the evening.
The amount of food you’ve eaten the day before is also going to make a difference. A big day of eating prior to a fasted workout will leave you with plenty of energy to get through that workout. But if you’ve barely eaten anything the day before, chances are you’re going to find it difficult to give your all in the gym.
There’s also a degree of variability from person to person.
Some people love working out fasted, and feel like they do better without eating anything before a morning workout. Even just a pre-workout shake leaves them feeling like they’re going to throw up the entire time.
Others find that they get shaky and dizzy when they try fasted training. Their best workouts come after they’ve eaten several times throughout the day.
All of which means you’ll need to experiment. It’ll take time for your body to adapt to fasted weight training, so give yourself a few weeks to get used to it before deciding whether or not it’s right for you.
2. Can You Build Muscle Training Fasted?
Yes, you can build muscle training fasted. Whether you’ll build as much muscle as you would have done had your training been done in a fed state is open to debate, for the reasons I mentioned earlier. But resistance training, even in a fasted state, will still stimulate muscle growth.
To maximize the muscle-building response to a bout of resistance training, especially if it’s done on an empty stomach, you want to get some protein inside you soon after that workout is over [1].
Training first thing in the morning in a fasted state, then waiting until the afternoon before eating any protein, will almost certainly slow the rate at which muscle is gained.
That protein can be in the form of regular food or a protein supplement. Some whey protein mixed with water will do the job just fine.
Training in the morning on an empty stomach will mean that it takes you a little longer to warm up. And you’ll probably find that you’re weaker in the morning than you are in the evening (although the difference in strength between your morning and evening workouts will become smaller over time).
What’s more, fasted weight training isn’t going to help you build muscle any faster than the same amount of training done after a meal.
But to answer the question, as long as your training program is set up properly, muscle can certainly be gained if your training is done fasted. However, I think you’ll see better results by eating something before training, even if it’s just a piece of fruit and a protein shake.
3. Will Fasted Weight Training Help With Fat Loss?
Fasted weight training can certainly help with fat loss. But it isn’t going to help you lose fat any faster than the same workout done after eating. In fact, the benefits of fasted exercise, from a fat loss point of view at least, are minimal.
Studies do show that fasted weight training relies more heavily on fat metabolism compared to the same workout done after a meal [2].
When you wake up in the morning, insulin and blood sugar levels are low. As a result, there are plenty of fatty acids floating around in your bloodstream, just waiting for your body to pluck them out and burn them off.
However, your body will adjust the rate at which it burns fat and carbs over time. That’s why we need to look at how fasted training affects fat loss over a period of weeks and months. What happens during a workout itself doesn’t tell the whole story.
There are only a handful of studies to look at the long-term effects of fasted exercise on body composition. All show much the same thing. Whether you train fed or fasted, it won’t make much difference to the amount of fat you lose.
When a team of researchers looked at the effect of four weeks of exercise performed in a fed or fasted state, it was only fasted exercise that led to a decrease in body fat percentage [3].
But that finding alone doesn’t tell the whole story.
For one, the amount of extra fat lost – less than one half of one pound – was very small. And the differences between the groups could have been down to the fact that skinfold callipers, which aren’t very accurate, were used to track changes in body composition.
In a follow-up study, 20 young women were assigned to one of two groups: a fasted group that exercised three times a week after an overnight fast, or a non-fasted group that ate breakfast before working out [4].
After four weeks, there was no significant difference in the amount of fat lost between the two groups.
In a similar trial, researchers from Canada’s McMaster University looked at the impact of fasted versus fed exercise in a group of overweight and obese women [5].
After six weeks, both groups lost an average of 1.3 pounds of fat. But there was no difference in the amount of fat lost between the fed and fasted groups. Women who hit the gym before breakfast lost no more fat than women who exercised 60 minutes after eating.
In short, I don’t think you’re going to see a huge benefit in terms of fat loss from fasted weight training.
Truth is, exercise by itself isn’t particularly effective as a fat loss tool.
It can certainly help… a little. But if you’re wondering if fasted weight training will help with fat loss, you’re focusing on the wrong thing.
When it comes to getting lean, the food you eat (or don’t eat) is a lot more important than what you do in the gym. Think of your workouts as a way to gain (or even just retain) muscle, and your diet as a way to get rid of the fat.
As long as your diet is set up properly, the decision to train in a fasted or a fed state can be based largely on personal preference. When it comes to losing fat, there’s no great advantage or disadvantage to one or the other.
4. Will Fasted Weight Training Lead to Muscle Loss?
No, fasted weight training won’t lead to muscle loss. It certainly increases the potential for muscle to be lost, depending on when that fasted weight training is being done and what your overall diet looks like. But lifting weights on an empty stomach, in and of itself, won’t cause muscle to be lost rather than gained.
There was an interesting study done on a group of guys during Ramadan, which involves a month of no eating or drinking during daylight hours [6]. One group of men lifted weights in a fasted state between 4-6pm, while the second group did so between 9 and 10pm, having eaten something beforehand.
There was no significant difference in terms of training volume between the two groups. Whether they trained in a fed or a fasted state, the men did roughly the same number of sets and reps as they’d been doing before Ramadan.
No muscle was lost either. Lean body mass was maintained in both groups.
Other than signs of mild dehydration (not entirely unexpected if you haven’t had anything to drink all day), there were no adverse effects of training in a fasted state
I don’t think that either protocol was “optimal” for building muscle. And Ramadan only lasts for a month, so the study doesn’t tell us what would have happened over longer periods of time. However, it does show that lifting weights in a fasted state doesn’t make the loss of muscle inevitable.
If you’re fasting all day, training in the evening and then eating one big meal at night, the risk of muscle loss is certainly increased. But that’s because you haven’t had any protein throughout the day, not because of fasted weight training per se.
But if you’re doing fasted weight training in the morning, and you’re following that up with multiple protein-rich meals during the day, there’s far less potential for muscle to be lost.
5. Should You Lift Weights in the Morning?
You can lift weights in the morning. Whether or not you should do is another matter. If you want to build muscle as fast as humanly possible, most research points to the afternoon and evening as being the best time of day to train.
Back in 2009, a team of researchers based at Finland’s University of Jyväskylä ran a very simple experiment [7].
They rounded up a group of young men, and got them to train in the morning or evening for a total of ten weeks.
The morning group trained between 7am and 9am, while the evening group did their workouts between and 5pm and 7pm. Both groups followed exactly the same training program, which involved lifting weights 2-3 times a week.
Although the difference in muscle growth didn’t reach statistical significance, subjects who trained in the evening saw their muscles grow more quickly than the group who trained in the morning. In fact, the evening group increased the size of their thigh muscles, on average, 30% more than their counterparts in the morning group.
A follow-up study, this time lasting six months, shows much the same results [8]. Men who trained in the morning saw their quads – specifically, their outer thigh – grow by an average of 12%. But the ones who hit the gym later in the day saw their thighs grow 50% more quickly.
Some research shows much greater variability from person to person in the strength of the growth signals sent to muscles with a morning versus an evening workout [9].
That is, lifting weights later in the day seems to produce a much more consistent rise in the various growth signals sent to muscle fibers. Training in the morning, on the other hand, leads to a more pronounced increase in some subjects, but also a decrease in others.
Again, there is a degree of individual variability. Some folks may do just fine lifting weights in the morning. Others will see better results by training in the late afternoon or early evening.
The key is to find a training time that works for you. Your body can adapt to training at different times of day. Even though you may not feel as strong lifting weights in the morning, your body will get used to it.
I remember when I made the switch from evening to morning training, and it was a shock to the system. Everything felt so much harder. But gradually, over time, I got used to it.
Ultimately, the best time of day to train is the time of day that works for you and fits your schedule. Timing is a lot less important than simply making it to the gym in the first place. Getting your workouts in on a consistent basis is more important than most other things when it comes to getting in shape.
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If you want less flab and more muscle when you look down at your abs (or where they should be), check out The Flat Belly Cheat Sheet.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christian Finn is a former "trainer to the trainers" and fitness writer based in Northamptonshire, England. He holds a masters degree in exercise science, and has been featured in or contributed to major media on two continents, including the BBC and Sunday Times in the U.K. and Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness in the U.S.