3 Reasons Every Guy Who Wants To Be Ripped Should Try A Fasting Diet

To a guy serious about his fitness, getting his breakfast in and eating plenty of protein is the quickest way to get the gain train heading straight to the gainsville/shredstown station. This is a no brainer to every guy out there who proudly curls in the squat rack and does chest on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. But could it be possible to skip out on meals to wind up more ripped, stronger and healthier over all?

Most people think fasting is for tree hugging hippies. Plot twist; fasting is also for the health-conscious bro. Before everyone starts flipping their shit, everyone fasts. Fasting has been around as long as we have. It’s where breakfast got its catchy name from. People were breaking their fast.

What I’m suggesting to bros is just a planned fast. An intermittent fast. Either with a 16 hour fast each day accompanied by an 8 hour eating window. Usually the 8 hour eating window begins with a post workout meal. This is the protocol I follow. As well as Chief Bro King, John Romaniello. Or a 24 hour fast once or twice per week. Instead of just haphazardly fasting, you’re now planning your fasts.

Why should guys start fasting and how does it even work? Here are the 3 reasons every guy needs to start fasting.

1. Fasting leads to more fat loss.

This one couldn’t be more obvious. Going longer without food means your body has to use something for fuel. That something winds up being stored carbohydrates in the form of glycogen and body fat. A planned fast prolongs the period you’re depleting glycogen even more, and burning fat. This is doubled if you end your fast with an intense lifting session.

This works in a two pronged approach.

  1. Your burning through more calories, which inevitably means more fat burned. Your gains don’t just disappear either. It’s really damn hard to lose muscle tissue. Much harder than supplement companies want you to believe.
  2. Your body now has a priority to replenish glycogen as quickly as possible since it’s the preferred source of energy. Which in turn means for the hours after you’ve worked out your body has to burn something to stay alive. That something winds up being body fat.

2. Fasting leads to more efficient hormonal control. Which means less fat and more strength.

When you sleep at night you secrete growth hormone. This is essential to repair tissue, rebuild muscle, and become jacked. Growth hormone is basically a bros ticket to ridiculous strength while looking awesome. When you eat in the morning, growth hormone secretion shuts off. Fasting prolongs the release of growth hormone. This means more gains, more recovery, and more strength.

Fasting is also a nice little hack to get your body to produce more of the hormone leptin. Leptin is one of the master hormones in the body in terms of fat loss. Leptin has a major role in regulating your metabolism and whether or not you become a fat burning monster. This is thanks to the fact that leptin regulates hormones like T3 and T4. These hormones are so powerful for fat burning that bodybuilders take synthetic versions before competitions to shed fat. They’re pretty damn powerful hormones that you can tap into them with a simple fast.

3. Fasting helps reverse the damage you’re doing your liver and regenerate neurons in the brain.

This much is clear: when you fast your body has to rely on other sources for energy because food isn’t coming in. Much of this comes from glycogen and fat. However your body also throws a process known as cellular autophagy into overdrive. Autophagy is just a fancy science term meaning cleanse. While cleanses sold in stores and online may be complete bullshit, fasting is the real deal when it comes to cleansing damaged cells. Many of these damaged cells are in your liver, which filters immense amounts of bullshit like Fireball and Natty Light.

Fasting also seems to turn on a gene that basically regenerates neurons. Something scientists thought couldn’t happen. This is huge because it means your brain stays on point. As a bro who goes hard in the paint in the gym and at the bars, your body takes beating. You go get a quick pump then head out and pound beers. You burn through neurons like crazy, which in the long run hurts your brain game. Fasting helps your liver do its job, and keeps you from turning into a complete dumbass when you’re hung over or old.

Fasting is the easiest tool a bro could add into his current fitness plan to get ripped by spring break. It speeds along fat loss. It helps bros gain strength. It helps reverse the damage a bro who works hard and plays hard puts his body through. Most importantly it helps any bro get ripped, and keeps him on top of his game.

Tanner is a fitness professional and writer based in the metro Atlanta area. His training focus is helping normal people drop absurd amounts of fat, become strong like bull, and get in the best shape of their life.