Gain strength and lose fat at the same time
I get excited when I’m trialling something, and it actually works out
There’s a myth floating around that you can’t gain strength and lose fat at the same time. It’s kinda like saying, you can’t go away for a birthday and end up getting engaged at the same time either.
Speaking from experience on both counts, I can say the seemingly impossible, is in fact possible.
The discovery
As you may or may not know, I’m on the final week of Phase III of Visual Impact and I’ve been coupling it with a combination of Eat-Stop-Eat and lean gains. This particular phase is predominantly focussed on strength gain. Most exercises contained within it, are all focused around the 2-4 rep range.
Why is the low-rep range important?
You need to be working in the lower ranges to activate your Type IIa and Type IIx muscle fibres. This is where your strength will come from.
What about fat loss?
To achieve fat loss whilst you’re gaining strength, you should be training in a fasted state.
Andreaz Engstrom is a prime example of what you can achieve whilst training in a fasted state.
Won’t I lose muscle training in a fasted state?
As I’ve pointed out in articles written over at leangains.com, this is in fact a bit of a myth. Martin Berkhan actually makes a great point of debunking the myths that you need to eat before training.
My own personal experience with intermittent fasting
I went to the gym around 9am today. All i had consumed in the morning was about 10grams of BCAAs in water. I took another bottle with me containing another 10grams of BCAAs.
The Branch Chain Amino Acids will protect your muscles from being used as fuel for your workout.
Did my lifts suffer?
Not at all. I lifted the same on all my lifts but with the added bonus that I was using my fat stores as the primary fuel for my workout.
Not only that, but I increased the achievable reps on a number of my lifts.
Here is Andreaz training in a fasted state…
To sum it up
This is purely my own experience of course and may be different for you. I found that I became a little light headed during the workout when I attempted to super-set some exercises. The body was clearly telling me i was ‘pushing my luck’.
Editor’s Note: Do you ever train fasted? What are your results? Comment below.
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