Muscle Retention and Pre-workout meals

[Matt76]

Hey everybody,

I just read the Warrior Diet and I'm at the end of day 2 of following the diet. Guys, what has been your experience with growing and/or maintaining mass with this program? I've made some really good progress over the past 6-8 months with my muscle growth, so I'm now in that retain muscle but lose the last bit of belly fat dilemma.

I'm wondering about pre-workout fuel. Ori suggests working out on an empty stomach to accelerate fat loss and he says that growth hormone is at it's highest after the semi-fast so this is great for muscle growth as well. OK, sounds great on paper, but have you guys been working out on an empty stomach? Is it helping or hurting your muscle growth? THANKS!

[Theo]

Find out what works for you,the little nutrition previous to training has little physiological effect relative to performance, if you're low on glycogen before intense training or you're malnourish it'll affect your training, otherwise it's unlikely it will have a geat effect. However, food greatly effects our mental state which has a huge effect on our training. Some people prefer to train after a meal, while some don't, others have food as a lucky charm, so they'll always eat a certain something previous to the activity.

So to put it simply, experiment and see what works for you.

 If you do eat leave it an hour or two before training to digest.

Oh, but no you won't lose muscle. Exercise is the main determinant of muscle size, (strength, work capacity etc)

I've built muscle against all the supposed odds lol, you don't need calorie surplus and you don't need to eat six meals a day.

To lose fat you eat less, to build muscle you lift heavy weights; a basic diet and sleep helps, the rest isn't that important so don't worry about it.

Wolf

[Matt76]

Hey Wolf, thanks for your input...good to hear that this is working for you, that's encouraging. Yeah, I might try to eat a something small pre-workout. Yesterday was my <dreaded> leg day and I did it on an empty stomach. I made it through ok, didn't feel sick or shakey, but I definitely lacked some of my typical stamina. Thanks again for the feedback.

[milone]

I have trained fasted and with a pre-workout meal...I prefer a protein shake and a banana to break my fast then I train about 45 min. later..then post work out shake then the real eating begins  :-)  I feel stronger when I have the little bit of food in me pre-workout but it may just be a mental thing I also had some great workouts fasted too.

[fdnyceguy]

If I recall correctly, Ori allows/suggests endurance athletes partake in a pre-workout meal. With this in mind, if you're putting in the miles biking, cycling, or running, you should apply this information.

As a kettlebell enthusiast, I have always trained on an empty stomach (when doing my typical morning workout). This includes 'the grinds' (strength movements), which are not endurance oriented, as well as ballistics (explosive/cardiovascular movements) which can be for strength/endurance. Despite the strength/endurance aspect of ballistics training, I do not kid myself into thinking that it warrants the caloric intake of an endurance athlete. Honestly speaking, my 40 minutes of VO2max training has not be jeopardized by skipping a pre-workout meal. In addition, my post-workout meal tastes that much better (having earned it) and I feel that the nutrients will be better absorbed.

Triathletes, feel free to ignore my diatribe. However, those who employ more common training protocols should honestly evaluate the demands of their training and eat accordingly. My experience(s) with frequent feeding approaches made me examine this in my own routines. In hindsight, I have to laugh (at myself) for what I was consuming (not having earned it). Of course, if your goal is hypertrophy, different rules may apply, but I would examine your goals and see if your nutrition applies.

Since applying the Warrior Diet, my muscular bodyweight has remained within a 3-4 pound range, with over 30 pounds of bodyfat dropped. After applying my current VO2max protocols (probably for the remainder of the summer), I will apply a hypertrophy approach in training. However, I'll still do that on an empty stomach.

Thanks for your patience, in reading the rant.