Intermittent Fasting

One nutritional tactic that appears in the strength and conditioning world is intermittent fasting (IF). I have been interested enough to research this in the last week and its a concept that produces results for many people. Martin Berkhan at Leangains.com seems to be a legitimate advocate of the concept, his results page serves as evidence to his programme and IF.

In a nutshell, the athlete stays fasted for long periods of the day and condenses his eating time into a shorter period.

eg: Skip breakfast, instead opting to have first meal of the day at 12 noon. Then having a couple more meals in the 8 hour feeding window until 8pm. From 8pm you start to fast again until 12 noon - a 16 hour fasting period.

Mark Sissons of Mark's Daily Apple does a really informative series on Intermittent fasting. (6 parts)

I tried one day of it and, to be honest, it suited me really well. I was a bit hungry but I had a tea and felt loads better. I just toughed through it really. I didn't mind the feeling of being fasted and it gave me time to locate and prepare a quality bit of food to break my fast with.

So is IF good for everyone?

John Welbourne of Crossfit Football writes this excellent article on how IF and his strength and power programme may or may not be best suited, its interesting reading for Strongmen and other power athletes.

Train Smart, Charlie.