Is it necessary to play sports on a fasting day? Fasting week, fasting days, fitness, sports, fasting period

Actually, of the sports nutritionists of Soviet and Russian origin, he approves fasting days only Leonid Ostapenko. And even then, he advises limiting yourself to vegetables once a week for those who the rest of the time eat a fitness diet 5-6 times a day with active use sports nutrition. The motivation is simple - an abundance of protein equals slow digestion, which in turn leads to worse absorption of nutrients from both regular food and sports nutrition. In Western sources, the notorious fasting days have gained a second youth. The 5:2 diet, as the most popular scheme “for civilians,” is widespread in our country too. But Michael Moseley in his book misses or ignores one simple fact.

Fasting day and training effectiveness

The author of the diet mentioned above cites an enchanting pseudoscientific fact - they say, he talked with several athletes, and they indicated that you can train even more effectively during fasting than on a regular day. You know what? I have a strongman friend who eats 2 times a day, right according to Mosley’s canons. But there are a little more calories in his meals - about 3 thousand in each. He successfully turns tires in the morning on an empty stomach and does endurance training, but it doesn’t occur to him to do strength training on an empty stomach. The fact, of course, is not scientific, but not all athletes are equally productive on an empty stomach.

Actually, training can be very effective in terms of fat burning, since it is carried out with depleted glycogen, but subject to several conditions:

The lesson fits perfectly into the fasting day schedule. A person spends it when glycogen is already sufficiently depleted, but nervous system still ok. Usually athletes do a simple trick - before fasting, they have dinner with a portion of something protein with vegetables, in the morning on an empty stomach they do endurance training, then the first meal of the fasting day, as a rule, is protein-carbohydrate. As you probably guessed, the fasting day in this scheme is not 1 kg of apples + 0.5 liters of kefir, but banal oatmeal, chicken breasts, vegetables and cottage cheese, only in smaller portions. Technically, a fasting is considered to be a portion of food with an energy value of half the normal requirement.
After class, you don’t end up with half the contents of the buffet at work, and you don’t suffer from hunger. Let's assume, however, that a fasting day will do more for you in terms of calorie savings than an hour-long workout on a treadmill;
training does not cause you symptoms of nervous system dysfunction - lethargy, headache, tremor of the fingers.

If at least one of these conditions is not met, priorities should be set more strictly.

Cheat sheet on the advisability of fasting days

If you started this very thing for the sake of losing weight, it would be useful to know the following:

unloading only helps save calories when it is tolerated normally, does not disrupt the schedule of normal life, and does not lead to overeating the next day;
with frequent, for example 2 times a week, unloading, the caloric content of the diet on other days should be at least at the level of the body’s total energy requirement, or even plus 100-200 kcal, this is if you do strength training seriously and want to maintain as possible more muscles;
abuse fasting days on a medium and low-calorie diet leads to the opposite effect - metabolism slows down, and a person feels all the shortcomings low calorie diet, just multiplied by two. Actually, you should quit fasting days at the first appearance of “carbohydrate”, “chocolate”, “meat”, or some other food cravings;
Strength training should not be done at the beginning of a fasting day, as it tends to increase appetite and requires significant amounts of protein for recovery. If you eat vegetables as a fast, there will be no benefit from either the exercise or the diet;
if you are a girl trying to dial muscle mass, leave all these folk remedies to the people, and take a closer look at any cyclic sports diet with alternating carbohydrates training days. Good result They give you a high-calorie BUCH, a mass-gaining version of the UD2 diet, or any other convenient scheme.

General rules for combining unloading and training

First of all, if a fasting day is something irregular, and it is carried out exclusively after another attack of overeating at a corporate party, and not on a regular basis, do this:

the day after the celebration of life, if there is no hangover, we go to the gym and do strength training there, then we eat modestly, and “eat up” at least to the level of basal metabolism +200, and preferably 300 kcal. If you have a hangover, we sit at home and drink detox drinks (pickle juice, ladies), plus we clear our poor head while going for a walk. Yes, depending on how you feel.
but every other day you can cut both calories and carbohydrates. Moreover, for those who did go to the gym, it would be enough to “cut” the diet by 500-600 kcal, and for those who suffered from the consequences - a full-fledged one, that is, by a quarter of the total energy value of the diet.

If you follow the “2 days with a quarter of the daily calorie requirement per week” scheme, try to spend these days without strength training. It will be better if it doesn’t take place the next day, at least until 17.00 or at least until “after lunch”. Otherwise, you can experience all the joys of strength training on depleted glycogen. Have you ordered CrossFit T-shirts with clowns? Do long, steady cardio, or stretching if you really need to, right after your deload the next morning.

There may be a compromise option. For example, you only train in the morning. Before your workout, you drink your protein and eat a banana for energy. Or, if you got up 2 hours before, indulge in oatmeal with proteins. Do strength training, then drink protein, eat cottage cheese or whatever else you eat for protein. Then - a full lunch “as usual”. And about two o’clock in the afternoon…the fasting day begins. That is, for dinner you will have something ultra-low-calorie, but high in protein, like the kefir I hate + a small piece of cottage cheese or breast. Or better yet, a white omelet with the same breast. The next morning... again a protein omelet, but with almost zero-calorie mushrooms. Then - 100 grams of cottage cheese. For lunch - light soup. But after two days, straight from the afternoon snack, you can eat everything that you usually include in your diet. So what - the fasting day is over, and you have consumed the minimum amount of calories that is suitable for saving.

Just keep in mind that everything said above applies to those who “unload” to save kcal, and not for the purpose of “cleansing the intestines,” “resting the kidneys,” and other similar things. So don’t use protein fasts to speed up digestion, and don’t overuse “fast days.” Yes, ideally, before cutting back on anything, it would be nice to make sure you don’t have gastritis.

Elena Selivanova

Briefly and clearly, why contrast weeks are better than fasting weeks.

Lightweight or “fasting” weeks can be found today in many strength programs. What are they needed for? Let's turn to the grandees: Professor Zatsiorsky in his “Theory of Two Factors” wrote this: “ Training effect consists of two factors - increased results after exercise (a) and fatigue (b). The combination of positive and negative changes determines the final result.”

In other words, when you constantly train hard, your gains are somewhat masked by accumulated fatigue. When unloading, fatigue is relieved, and you are suddenly faced with an increase in results.

Typically, fasting weeks are prescribed in the program, for example, every fourth. Personally, I don’t like to plan kickbacks, because life itself often gives us unplanned rest due to illness, injury or other circumstances not related to training.

On the other hand, it is better not to lead to injury or illness, but to slightly reduce the working weight according to the schedule, preventing these troubles.
But there is a third way: planned contrast weeks.

Changes in load and specific fatigue

When you are working hard on one program, be it strength training or aerobic training, and you get tired, then in order to recover you need to give up exactly what tired you the most. This can be done in two ways:

Avoid any physical activity
Choose a different physical activity

Although both will provide the necessary rest, I lean towards the second option due to the principle of “specific fatigue”. When you train a certain quality, the accumulated fatigue affects it more than anything else. For example, on Monday you did 5 sets of 5 reps on the bench press with high intensity, and on Tuesday you want to practice again. Think about what would be the most difficult thing to do:

Bench press 5x5
Bench press 2x15
Dumbbell press on incline bench 1x30
Squat 3x10
Running 5 km

I have already arranged them by difficulty of execution: fatigue will affect the exact same bench press most of all, and running least of all. Of course, any workout will take some energy out of you, but still, the 5x5 bench press is performed using the ATP/glycolytic energy system, and the aerobic energy system is responsible for the 5K.

A contrast week provides an opportunity to recover by trying something new and still getting out of your comfort zone. You won’t believe it, but you can rest while increasing the load, if this load is really different. Also keep in mind that no program is perfect and cannot provide everything - there is always some compromise. Bodybuilding protocols do not develop maximum strength, and powerlifting regimens may not produce the desired hypertrophy. In both methods, mobility and other useful qualities are often neglected. And it is during the week of contrasts that you can work on what is missing in regular training.

You can also get comfortable with a new exercise before adding it to your main program. For example, you want to add a kettlebell snatch or a barbell clean, but you're not doing them well enough to hit the target properly yet. Just in weeks with a change in load, you can work them out, honing your technique.

How to get the most out of contrast weeks

So, changing the load restores, but contrasting weeks can also solve certain problems.

Cumulative trauma

In narrowly focused strength sports (weightlifting, powerlifting, weight-lifting and others) you can develop cumulative injuries by repeating the same movements. In this case, during the week of contrasts, try to reduce the load on problem areas, or even better, remove them completely.

Powerlifters with bad knees may want to give up squats for a week and focus on movements that are less painful. knee-joint, for example, hyperextensions and bridges.

For weightlifters with sore wrists, instead of lifting and holding the barbell on the chest, temporarily focus on snatch and jerk lifts. In any case, remember that it is not necessary to reduce training volume or intensity. The main thing is to change the movements that cause problems.

Delayed post-exercise pain

Many athletes suffer from delayed pain, but most often those who try new exercises every training session and/or overuse negatives. In this case, to change the load, devote one week to well-known exercises and try to reduce the eccentric phase of the movement. You can, for example, run, ride a bike or push/pull a sled (prowler).

CNS fatigue

Pure security forces are most hampered by the overload of the central nervous system. By contrast, it is better not to give up training completely, but to switch to moderate-intensity bodybuilding protocols, or general physical training. It is also useful to turn to such restorative techniques as foam roller massage, not to mention quality isolated lying in bed at night.

Hateful monotony

A very important aspect that many people ignore: even dedicated athletes have their nerves on edge from the monotonous repetition of one program. So for a contrast week, remember what you liked and what you haven’t done in your workouts for a long time. After a refreshing active recovery, your appetite for your usual exercises will awaken.

Psychological stress

High-intensity strength training not only exhausts muscles, ligaments and joints, but also causes a psychological “fight or flight” response. This stress also accumulates, and you are constantly on edge. In this case, during the contrast week you need to reduce the load, relax and do light and pleasant things.

Contrast is better than nothing

As you can see, for a variety of problems, a simple change in load will help you recover, preventing you from getting bored from training with warm-up weights or losing your form due to a complete lack of physical activity. And a subsequent return to the main program will bring a new increase in results, so try replacing the fasting weeks with contrasting ones.

Sports diet Containing a low amount of calories, it is suitable for all those who are actively trying to exercise. You can follow it for a long time, after the corrected weight, you can switch to a regular diet.

Sports diet for weight loss

The diet range is from 1400 to 1500 calories. With this diet you will lose 1-2 kg per week. You will “dry” your body, get rid of excess fluid and fat. This will give you the opportunity to admire your figure in all its glory.

By increasing your portion size, add another 500 calories to your diet if, for example, you don't need to lose weight. For men, you can create a diet with up to 3000 calories. Once a week, do fasting days, choosing a mono-diet - kefir or apples.

An example of a daily diet for athletes:

Breakfast first, about 80 kcal (choose 1 option):

one banana;
two apples;
1 glass of milk or kefir.

Second breakfast, about 400 kcal (choose option 1):

scrambled eggs (2 eggs), a piece of rye bread, carrot salad with honey and raisins - 200 g and tea with lemon.
baked vegetables with rice - 200 gr., boiled turkey, seaweed, coffee without sugar with milk;

Lunch, about 450 kcal (choose 1 option):

vegetarian soup - 200 g, beef with stewed vegetables - 200 g, rye bread and tea.
Beef borscht - 200 g, cabbage and tomato salad with vegetable oil - 200 g, rye bread, a glass of juice.
sea fish - 200 g, rice - 100 g, cabbage salad with sweet pepper and olive oil - 100 g, green tea.

Afternoon snack:

A glass of herbal tea or juice, an apple or orange. Perhaps a small dessert

Dinner, about 350 kcal (choose 1 option):

broccoli stewed with sunflower oil and mushrooms - 200 g, cabbage salad with carrots on olive oil- 100 g, tea.
vegetable pilaf on rice or millet cereal - 250 gr., a glass of tomato juice.
oatmeal - 100 g, cucumber and tomato salad with 1 spoon of natural low-fat yogurt - 100 g. Green tea.

Low Fat, High Protein Diet for Athletes:

When rising:

Mix lemon and orange juice and add a glass hot water. When the drink has cooled, drink it with 1 tablespoon of fructose.

Breakfast:

To choose from: half a grapefruit, orange, apple, prune compote; 1-2 fried or soft-boiled eggs; cod, wholemeal bread with butter; Cup of tea.

Lunch (Second breakfast):

Mixed fruit salad (cut the fruits finely), add seedless raisins, ground nuts; 1-2 glasses of fruit juice.

Dinner:

1-2 slices wholemeal bread with butter; tomato salad with herbs; fruit or fruit salad; a glass of fruit juice.

Afternoon snack:

A glass of tea with a rusk or cracker with butter.

Dinner:

Milk soup; to choose from: lean meat, fish, omelette with potatoes and green salad, vegetable salad assorted; to choose from: fruit salad, compote, pudding with semolina, pasta.

Filatov's diet

Filatov's diet is based on the principle of carbon alternation. It allows you to lose fat mass in a short time, while maintaining muscle mass. In this diet, the main thing is to clearly define how long you want to lose weight and strictly follow the nutrition plan. The fact is that throughout the diet you need to change the amount of carbohydrates consumed. This must be done according to the scheme. Therefore, the entire weight loss process will be divided into four-day cycles. In the first two days of such a cycle, carbohydrate consumption is reduced to a minimum. The third day is high-hydrohydric, the fourth is moderate. You should also monitor the amount of protein in your food. Losing fat mass will also occur unevenly, which is a natural process. Specialists will help you choose a meal schedule and correctly calculate the carbohydrate content in it. They will talk about healthy eating, the menu of which corresponds to your age, gender and personal preferences.

Curd diet

The cottage cheese diet is a therapeutic mono-diet and is very popular. It has a diuretic effect due to the content of calcium salts in the cottage cheese, and also promotes the breakdown and removal of fat due to the amino acid methionine. There are several options for this diet. The daily diet in this case will be 600 grams of low-fat cottage cheese, no more than 100 grams of sugar and 50 ml of low-fat sour cream. All this should be consumed during the day, dividing the total amount of food into several meals.

For those who find this diet too complicated, there is a lighter version. You will have to stick to this diet for seven days. The main dish must contain cottage cheese and be eaten for lunch. For breakfast or dinner you will be offered dishes from a special list. This can be muesli, vegetable stew, boiled lean meat.

This diet is very satisfying and varied. And it is classified as a mono-diet because eating cottage cheese daily is a prerequisite.

We'd all like to believe that we can hit the gym at peak efficiency and strength for months on end, but we know that's not true. You become stronger when you recover from physical exercise. It's a simple concept that has formed the basis of exercise physiology and programs for many years. In a nutshell, the basic theory of supercompensation, in which an athlete gets stronger after rest, works like this:

Provide stimulation for the body (exercise)
Remove incentive (rest)
The body adapts to the stimulus (next time you will be able to lift 190 kg instead of 185 kg).

All people are happy to do steps one and three, but they often forget about step two, which is probably the most important. Think about it, if you never remove a stimulus from the body (your muscles/body), the body has no way to adapt to it and will begin to shut down. This is called overtraining, and it is one of the most common causes of injury. Your body and muscles need time to rest, recover, and adapt to the stress you put on it during your workout. Rest is therefore an important part of your development as an athlete.

So, what do we know about “rest”? The first thing that comes to mind is to take a day (or two) off from the gym, or perhaps spend some time on active recovery - play basketball, swim, etc. But depending on the volume, frequency and intensity of exercise, a day or two may not help. Obviously, you don't want to spend weeks outside the gym not working out, so what alternatives do you have? Enter a fasting week.

What is a fasting week?

A fast week, as the name suggests, is a week of training during which you go to Gym, but the intensity and volume of training is much less. During the fasting week, it is planned to reduce the total intensity and/or volume of your training.

Why is it needed?

Strength Training Basics explains the purpose of a deload week as an opportunity to "prepare the body for increased load in the next phase or period" and to mitigate the risk of overtraining. As I mentioned, the main purpose of a fasting week is to give your muscles and joints time to recover, heal, and become stronger. A properly planned and carried out fasting week allows you to recover connective tissues(muscles recover faster than your joints and ligaments) and testosterone and cortisol levels. Additionally, a fast week gives you a chance to take some time away from the intensity that heavy training requires.

If done correctly, you should return with a more adjusted, well-rested, stronger and more focused body, which equates to new levels of stress (i.e. heavy weights, intensity, etc.), which allows you to start the process from the beginning.

Need more proof? A 2010 study by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that athletes showed best result in a “self-regulated progressive resistance training” mode (where students worked at their own pace, increasing or decreasing the resistance according to how they felt) than in a linear progression model (where there is an increase in intensity and resistance from week to week).

When and how to use a fasting week?

If you are already studying according to a developed program, then your fasting week is already planned. You just follow what the program says and you will see that one week your volumes and loads will be much lighter than others.

If you are making up own program, there are some clear signs that provide an indication of when you should enter a fasting week. This includes feeling weak or unable to lift heavy weights (which is a sign that your central nervous system is tired), joint pain, and a lack of motivation and desire to exercise.

Ultimately, a pre-planned offload is the best option because you don't have to wait for these signs to appear.
A fast week is usually scheduled in the fourth week in most programs. Jim Wendler's example program:

So how can you incorporate a fasting week into your your own workout? One of simple ways is to adopt the four-week cycle method that Wendler and other trainers recommend. You do your normal rest days during the training weeks, but when you get to the deload week, you should deload. Matt Rhodes gives several options to successfully incorporate deload weeks: Perform regular workouts at normal volume (sets and reps), but reduce the weight you use to 50-60% of your work load.

Use the same weight you normally perform exercises with, but reduce the total volume (sets and reps) to 50-60% of your normal volume. (Please note that you must stick to the 8+ rep pattern)

Use light weights and focus on refining your form and technique. Keep in mind that the longer your program is planned for, the more fasting days, weeks and even months you can include in your training. If you or your coach have planned a macrocycle ( training plan usually lasts a year with the goal of reaching peak performance for a specific competition), then you will most likely need to include a fasting month or two in the plan - usually after several difficult months or before the start of an intense cycle, and then after the competition, for which you trained (for example, think about the fasting month after the Games).

What should it be perfect fasting day? First of all, it is not harmful to the kidneys, liver, gastrointestinal tract and low in calories. In this case, it will be best if your brain does not notice that you are “doing something wrong” with your diet and does not “revenge” you by increasing your appetite the next day. This is only possible by maintaining normal fiber levels and introducing a moderate amount of protein into the diet. Well, the second secret to a successful fasting day, which is not accompanied by overeating “for tomorrow,” is a decrease in physical activity. If you regularly engage in fitness, the maximum you should do on this day is a long cardio lesson of medium or low intensity, plus stretching. Beginners can, with peace of mind, spend the entire “unloading” on the sofa with a book, this will help reduce stress levels and minimize the feeling of hunger.

Fasting day for Yulia Bordovskikh

The secret of this fasting day– in a full healthy breakfast. As a result, your metabolism will not slow down, and you will be able to survive this day fully and actively. The “plumb line” will be a kilogram, traditional for such days, and you have a chance to keep half the result as a constant weight indicator.

Breakfast: 40 g bran bread, 30 g parmesan cheese or 50 g ricotta cheese, a cup of coffee with milk.

Dinner: 200 g steamed non-starchy vegetables (cauliflower or broccoli, green beans, carrots, shiitake mushrooms), 50 g 2.5% yoghurt.

Dinner: glass of kefir 2.5%

It is allowed to split lunch and dinner in half and make five meals instead of three. Yulia Bordovskikh recommends repeating this fasting day once a week. It can also be useful if you regularly follow a diet high in protein, and in addition, it does not slow down your metabolism.

Fasting day of Madeleine Gesta

This fasting day developed by French nutritionist Madeleine Gesta and is one of the elements of her weight loss diet. Ideally, you should stick to this regimen for two days in a row. The fasting day of Madeleine Gesta is stricter than the previous one in two days you can lose up to 3 kg of weight. This day is especially recommended for those who have swelling and overeat salty foods in everyday life.

Breakfast:

Immediately after waking up– a glass of warm water with lemon juice.

After half an hour: a cup of cocoa in water with two tablespoons of milk 3.2% and two teaspoons of honey.

In one hour: a glass of grapefruit juice or half a grapefruit.

Dinner:

Vegetable soup: leeks, broccoli, green beans, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, celery root. Boil in water, you can grind in a blender. Eat 200 g of the finished product.

Dinner: 100 g lean steamed fish, 100 g vegetables.

Fasting day of M. Ginzburg's low-fat diet

The low-fat diet from nutritionist M. Ginzburg is not as “promoted” as, for example, M. Koroleva’s weight loss system. However, it is no less effective in practice, and quite easy to use. The essence of M. Ginzburg's fasting day is not only to reduce calorie intake, but also to limit fat. It is recommended to arrange such a fasting day once a week, as it is quite complete, varied and easily tolerated. The peculiarity of this day is that the main meal is transferred to dinner. This makes it easier to maintain restrictions, and at the same time, dinner is balanced and you won’t overeat.

Breakfast:

100 low-fat cottage cheese and 50 g of any sweet fruit or Doctor Slim cocktail

Dinner:

100g of fish and 200g of salad without oil from tomatoes and cucumbers, or two servings of the Doctor Slim cocktail

Dinner:

2 baked potatoes, cucumber, 100 g fish (pollock, hake)

During the fasting day you can drink water, tea, coffee. It is not recommended to use vegetable cream, even low-fat, and sweeteners. These substances retain fluid in the body.

Fasting day from the gym

This simple fasting is used by those who are forced to eat large portions of protein foods most of the time and take protein. The main goal of the day is to slightly “reset” the gastrointestinal tract, remove swelling and shake up the body.

Morning:

A glass of warm water with lemon juice.

Breakfast:

100 g oatmeal in water, 30 g almonds.

Lunch:

2 cucumbers, 50 g yogurt

Dinner:

Vegetable broth and a slice of bread

Second lunch:

8 prunes, a glass of kefir

Dinner:

Green apple, 100 g cottage cheese.

On this day consumption is prohibited protein shakes and bars, which enhances the cleansing of the body. According to some versions, the evening apple should be replaced with 200 g of stem celery.

So, a good fasting day is not necessarily a mono-diet. The main thing is that your diet consists of healthy, non-canned foods that are easy to digest. If you want to create an unloading yourself, be guided by the fact that the minimum you should consume is 1000-1200 kcal. Large values are only acceptable for those who are seriously involved in strength training.

And the last thing you should know is that it is better not to unload meat products and canned fish. These types of foods slow down digestion and you may not get the desired result from a fasting day. Well, if you just need to enhance digestion, you can replace dinner with a glass of kefir and eight prunes, and snack on green apples a couple of times during the day.