Food free workouts

Hydrating your body is extremely important

To fast or to feed prior to a workout, that is the question. Fitness experts, athletes, gym trainers, doctors and health professionals have long debated over this. Some argue that a full stomach filled with carbs and energy rich foods like eggs and bananas is the best time to exercise. However, proponents of working out on an empty stomach vouch vociferously for its merits.

For starters, let’s dismantle some food myths. Eating many small meals a day does not speed up the metabolism, skipping a meal does not make you fat, all diets do not work equally well on all individuals and body types and exercising on an empty stomach does not reduce its benefits. In fact, periodic, short timed cleanses can be beneficial to the body and accompanied by a brisk workout, they are nothing short of magic.

But how does it actually work? In two ways:

• An empty stomach triggers hormones to behave in different ways. It causes improved insulin sensitivity, which makes the body produce more insulin and thus absorb sugars and nutrients from our food quickly and easily. Overeating impairs insulin sensitivity and leads to obesity, heart disease and increased risk of cancer. Therefore periodic fasts remedies the issue, making the body more sensitive to insulin and improving blood flow and enabling us to lose fat more easily.
• Fasting also triggers the release of the growth hormone that helps build tissue and burn existing fat away. Fasting at intervals ensures that the body releases this hormone at periodic intervals and burns away the fat stored in the muscles. A study shows that 24 hours without food makes the male body produce growth hormone faster by over 2000% and the female body by nearly 1300%. This hormone production stops when the fast stops, so periodic cyclical fasting may be a good idea, after all.

As you can see, fasting isn’t bad for your body, quite the contrary. But how do you ensure that you take optimum advantage of the fast and burn the most fat and gain the most muscle during this brief interlude. By exercising, of course. Exercising on an empty stomach stimulates the body’s endocrine glands to produce high levels of yet another hormone, testosterone. This ensures that the body builds up a terrific amount of lean muscle mass and develops high levels of insulin sensitivity. Not just this, working out while fasting helps you progressively burn fat at higher levels of intensity quickly and efficiently.

And you don’t have to be a weightlifter or a boxer to ensure that your body benefits from the effects. There’s good news for those simply wishing to improve their energy levels and endurance too. Fasted workouts improve glycogen retention, absorption and storage by the muscles over three times as compared to a workout on a full stomach. Fasted workouts also help you improve your VO2 max, a measure of the maximum volume of oxygen any athlete can use, a great fitness indicator.

We’re not saying starve yourself regularly and sweat away listlessly on the treadmill. But research clearly does indicate the significant benefits of a food free workout.

So have you decided to give it a try? Want to give your body a chance to see if this works for you? Here’s how you go about planning your very own food free regime:

• Increase your liquid intake: No you don’t just have to gulp down copious amounts of water, you can consume other liquids too! Juice, black coffee, tea, energy drinks…whatever works for you. Caffeine gives your body an energy boost and will make you feel active. Hydrating your body is super important, even for a food free workout, so drink up quick. Carry your liquids in your very own portable running bottle which you can find from our selection here http://www.liveyoursport.com/running-bottles/.

Avoid alcohol, though. It slows down your metabolism and makes your body sluggish. Strong liquor can also erode the lining of your stomach in the absence of its usual food levels, so stay away from that whisky during your fast.

• Had enough? End it: Break your fast whenever you feel like you’ve had enough. Even a day long fast, morning to evening, is beneficial to the body. Do what makes you feel comfortable and don’t push yourself beyond set limits. Don’t take it to an extreme and starve yourself for days like Anna Hazare, that’s just silly.
• Eat when you like: Post your fast, eat at whatever time best works for you and figure out what your body likes eating best. Some prefer a giant meal loaded with protein and carbs, some prefer smaller doses throughout the day. Whatever you prefer, do it. Experiment to see what makes you feel lighter and fitter.

Cleansing your body from time to time isn’t as hard as you’d think. Give it a try and see!

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