Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Benefits of fasted training?

Fasted training is an idea that pops up a lot among the paleo crowd.  Art DeVany is supportive for example.  Anyway, in that context I thought this was interesting.....as I read it you recover better if you train fasted.

Comments? 

Training in the fasted state facilitates re-activation of eEF2 activity during recovery from endurance exercise

Nutrition is an important co-factor in exercise-induced training adaptations in muscle. We compared the effect of 6 weeks endurance training (3 days/week, 1–2 h at 75% VO2peak) in either the fasted state (F; n = 10) or in the high carbohydrate state (CHO, n = 10), on Ca2+-dependent intramyocellular signalling in young male volunteers. Subjects in CHO received a carbohydrate-rich breakfast before each training session, as well as ingested carbohydrates during exercise. Before (pretest) and after (posttest) the training period, subjects performed a 2 h constant-load exercise bout (~70% of pretest VO2peak) while ingesting carbohydrates (1 g/kg h−1). A muscle biopsy was taken from m. vastus lateralis immediately before and after the test, and after 4 h of recovery. Compared with pretest, in the posttest basal eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2) phosphorylation was elevated in CHO (P < 0.05), but not in F. In the pretest, exercise increased the degree of eEF2 phosphorylation about twofold (P < 0.05), and values returned to baseline within the 4 h recovery period in each group. However, in the posttest dephosphorylation of eEF2 was negated after recovery in CHO, but not in F. Independent of the dietary condition training enhanced the basal phosphorylation status of Phospholamban at Thr17, 5′-AMP-activated protein kinase α (AMPKα), and Acetyl CoA carboxylase β (ACCβ), and abolished the exercise-induced increase of AMPKα and ACCβ (P < 0.05). In conclusion, training in the fasted state, compared with identical training with ample carbohydrate intake, facilitates post-exercise dephosphorylation of eEF2. This may contribute to rapid re-activation of muscle protein translation following endurance exercise.

2 comments:

Mike T Nelson said...

There is more and more literature coming out in this area recently.

I believe that health and performance are directly related to how adaptable you are.

Train fasted? Cool--performance should be fine

Train after a huge protein and carb drink with sky high insulin level--performance should still be good.

The body should be able to work well under all conditions (Metabolic Flexibility)

Rock on!
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
Extreme Human Performance

Matt P said...

This isn't the first study of this nature to come out in the last year or so, and I'm no more convinced by this than I was in the past.

I'm skeptical of anything that takes a brief time-slice and then draws conclusions based on the brief elevation of one or two upstreams of MPS elevation. Further, there was no protein administered between groups, which makes me even more skeptical given that AA stimulates MPS and does so synergistically with resistance training.

Show me something that indicates greater elevation of FSR over the entire time-course of adaptation, and better, show me something that correlates to realized hypertrophy over a span of time.

I just can't get excited because of an uptick in a few signals in trials like this.