12 Hour Fast and Working Out

Hey guys
I have a question regarding fasting and working out… I am currently fasting for 12 hours due to religious reasons and was wondering how i should approach my workout regime, in order to maintain muscle mass and/or gain. The way it works is, I don’t eat and drink from 6:15 am to 6:30 pm… Currently, i weigh 177 pds or so and am 5’11… last time, i checked my bf was in the 12 range. Although, i think this number may have increased slightly…

Try very low volume, high load workouts 3-4 x’s/week, if possible. I’d keep the total number of sets in a workout to 10-12 . Hopefully that will help minimize muscle loss without overtraining you on such a restricted diet. You probably aren’t going to make a whole lot of progress this month with either fat loss or muscle gain, so just think of this period as a “recovery” phase in your long term plan.

Logic tells me to suggest high loads and low reps. 3…5 reps per set and yeah restrict your number of sets. I would suggest you alternate your exercies too. Like Day 1, Chest set, back set, chest set, back set. That way you won’t kill yourself.

Thats just what I have discovered with the mutation series, on a fatloss phase when one does not want to kill himself…

Anyone correct me if I’m wrong :slight_smile:

Hi, Tariq.

What I’ve seen people doing in your situation is working out from 5:30 to 6:30pm and eating after their workout. It would be less ideal, obviously, if you worked out in the early AM and didn’t eat after your workout.

Use the 12 hours you do have to eat. Get protein in at regular intervals (every 3 or 4 hours if possible), and be sure to take full advantage of your pre-6:30am meal.

Drinking two large glasses of water before you go to bed pretty well ensures you’ll wake up in the middle of the night to hit the restroom. Use that time to chug down a pre-made shake or anything else you might like to eat.

What you are doing is for religious reasons, but it’s not that different from the Warrior Diet which is a dietary approach in which you underfeed 20 hours, workout, and then overfeed for 4 hours.