Are you waking up and working out fasted?

Hypertonic minerals to add into filter water for hydration and energy

Quinton Hypertonic – in the morning upon rising; 1 packet; In 20 ounces of filtered water; plus add hydrogen tab
Isotonic- evening

Should you do a fasted exercise training session or not?

It depends.

So as an athlete, how should you implement fasting without engaging in so much calorie restriction that it becomes unhealthy?

While the goal of this chapter is not to give you a thorough treatise on the matter of calorie restriction and fasting, I’m going to give you my top six steps to successfully implementing calorie restriction without damaging your body. If you want more, then I would recommend you read the most useful book on fasting for athletes that currently exists, which is written by the brilliant Dr. John Berardi and can be downloaded as a 100% free online manual at Precision Nutrition by clicking here.

Step #1 – 12-16 hour daily fast: The most practical and effective fasting strategy used by myself and the athletes I coach is a 12-16 hour fasting window for every 24 hour cycle. For example, you can eat dinner at 8pm, then eat nothing until breakfast or an early lunch sometime between 8am and 12pm the next day.

Step #2 – skip the fast on high volume days: On high volume days, such as an Ironman triathlon training weekend that might involve several hours of exercise on both Saturday and Sunday, don’t fast. Just eat when you’re hungry. The risks outweigh the benefits of calorie restriction combined with high volume exercise. This goes hand-in-hand with the concept of also allowing yourself slightly higher carbohydrate intake on big training days or big blocks of training days.

Step #3 – don’t do hard or long workouts fasted: An easy morning swim, run, bike ride or body weight workout session that follows an overnight fast is fine.

So is a short 10-60 minute hard interval training session, assuming you listen to your body and you’re able to maintain your goal intensity, recover well and eat a big breakfast afterwards.

However, any workout that is A) hard and longer than 60 minutes or B) easy-to-moderate and longer than 2 hours should not be done in an overnight fasted state. This is a quick path to overtraining and unhealthy levels of self-cannibalization.

Step #4 – some foods are OK to eat when fasting. There are several foods that will allow your body to maintain low levels of blood sugar and low levels of insulin, but allow for adequate energy levels and even enhanced fatty acid utilization during a fast. By consuming these foods, you can also lower the amount of hormonal or metabolic stress you may experience when combining fasting with high levels of physical activity. These foods include: MCT or coconut oil, essential amino acids or branched chain amino acids, coffee or green tea (including Bulletproof® coffee), and spirulina, chlorella, greens powders or greens supplements.

Step #5 – every once in a while, do a 24 hour fast. Every one to two months minimum, choose one day on which you’re not going to exercise at all and you’re simply going to clean out your body and allow for enhanced cellular autophagy (basically, clean-up of your body’s junk). This is especially important for athletes who are eating thousands and thousands of calories per day. This occasional complete day of rest for your muscles, your adrenals and your digestive system can be incredibly therapeutic.

Step #6 – be careful if you’re female. Many women find that fasting causes sleeplessness, anxiety, and irregular periods, among a myriad of other hormonal dysregulation symptoms. Once again, this may seem sexist or unfair, but it seems that men simply do better heading off into the hills to hunt, gather or fight in a state of calorie restriction – while the same scenario sends many women into a complete metabolic downspin. There is a very good article about this called Shattering the Myth of Fasting for Women: A Review of Female-Specific Responses to Fasting in the Literature (Ruper).

I highly recommend you give it a read if you’re a female and you want to try fasting. I’ve personally found that when it comes to maintaining health and hormonal status for the female clients I train, the complete 24 hour fast described in step #5 is far more effective than daily intermittent fasting. And if you are female and simply cannot resist the idea of daily intermittent fasting, at least implement the extra nutrient steps I outline in step #4.

https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/nutrition-articles/how-to-customize-your-diet/

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Kion Aminos = 20g; Pre or post workout
Kion Creatine (for muscle building protocol) = 5g; Per day
Kion Organic Coffee (decaf) = Optional but drink French roast in morning before 12pm.
Kion Lean: when eating higher carb meal as at night or on “flex day” (once a week)
Kion Flex: take at night if injuries, inflammation or sore muscles

MUD/WTR