Is it better to do strength training on an empty stomach or after breakfast?

There is no one-size-fits-all standard answer to this matter. It all depends on your training goals, physical tolerance, training intensity and duration. Don’t believe the extreme comments on the Internet that “everyone should train on an empty stomach” or “exercise on an empty stomach will lose muscle”. The best solution is the one that suits you.

I have known my bodybuilding friend Lao Yang for almost ten years. He is a classical bodybuilder and one of the top three in provincial competitions. For more than ten years, he has been going to the gym at six o'clock in the morning and has always done weight training on an empty stomach. When I asked him why, he patted his chest muscles and laughed: "When I wake up and practice with stuff in my stomach, my stomach feels uncomfortable when I bend over to do flyes. My nerves wake up quickly on an empty stomach. When I push 140 kilograms, I focus entirely on muscle contraction, and I can even breathe on time." ”Do you think it’s wrong for him to practice on an empty stomach? His achievements are there, his body fat is controlled within 10% all year round, and his muscle mass increases steadily every year.

But if you think that practicing on an empty stomach is the golden rule for everyone, you are totally wrong. A little girl I met two years ago had stepped into this trap. At that time, she read on the Internet that practicing on an empty stomach is more efficient in burning fat. So she went to practice deadlifts on an empty stomach. As soon as she reached the third set, her vision went dark and she fell. She broke a big piece of her knee. It took her half a month before she dared to touch the equipment. Now she has to eat half a bagel with peanut butter 40 minutes before each practice. She is in very stable condition during practice. Her deadlift PR has increased from 40 kilograms to 70 kilograms. She has also lost almost 5 points of body fat. She does not burn less fat because of eating.

In fact, the exercise physiology community has been arguing for so many years, but has never reached a final conclusion on this issue. Studies supporting fasting training say that glycogen reserves in the early morning are less than 30% of the usual level. Training at this time will mobilize more fat for energy, and cortisol levels are higher in the early morning. The nerve recruitment ability is stronger when combined with strength training, and the output power is higher. It can also avoid the reflux and gastroptosis problems that are easy to occur with full training. Especially when doing exercises that involve a lot of core participation such as crunches and deadlifts, fasting is indeed much more comfortable.

But the research against fasting training also provides solid evidence: the main energy supply of strength training itself is glycogen. When your glycogen reserves are insufficient, the body will not only burn fat, but also break down muscles to supply energy. For people in the muscle-building period, losing muscle for no reason is really not worth the gain. Moreover, blood sugar is unstable during fasting training, especially for people with hypoglycemia. The probability of getting dizzy and causing an accident halfway through training is too high, and the gain outweighs the loss.

If you really want to choose a method that suits you, you don't have to worry about what others say. Just spend a couple of weeks trying and making mistakes. Practice on an empty stomach in the first week. Every time you practice, remember the training capacity you can complete - that is, the weight multiplied by the number of sets multiplied by the number of times, and whether you feel dizzy, weak, or collapsed after the exercise. If your condition has been stable and your training capacity has not been lost, or is even higher than before when you practiced with food, then you are suitable to practice on an empty stomach. In the second week, eat some fast-digesting carbohydrates half an hour to forty minutes in advance, such as half a banana, half a piece of corn, and a handful of raisins. Don't eat too oily buns and fried dough sticks, and don't drink too much porridge, which will make you unable to exercise. Record your status in the same way, and choose whichever is more comfortable.

If you are in the fat loss period and want to balance fat burning and muscle preservation, it is absolutely fine to exercise on an empty stomach. Drinking a cup of branched chain amino acids or mixing a spoonful of whey protein powder in advance will not burden the stomach and reduce the risk of muscle decomposition. I personally tested it and it works well. I am like this now. If I am training heavy chest and leg weights in the morning, I will eat half a banana and add a spoonful of peanut butter in advance. If I am training shoulders and back with small weights or make time to do aerobics, I will go directly on an empty stomach and eat breakfast after training. After practicing this way for almost three years, my muscle mass has not lost and my body fat has remained stable at around 15%. There is nothing wrong with it.

To put it bluntly, fitness is a very personal matter, and the way your body feels is always more reliable than the "standard answers" on the Internet. How can there be so many black and white rules? The way that allows you to persist and achieve results is the best way.