Natural Energy Sources to Workout ?

[marmel75]

Proof is in the pudding, pal.
None.

Don't waste your money. Get your vitamins from foods.

Learn to love vegetables. It's not easy but it takes patience and experimentation. Your vitamins and minerals should come from whole, nutritious food with a plentiful variety of fruites and veggies.

The problem with this is that soil nutrient quality continues to decline, that even with crops planted in the same soil mineral content can be drastically different from one plant to another, that pesticides/fertilizers block nutrient uptake very effectively quite often, and that you would have to eat impossible quantities of these products even if they contained all of their nutrients they say they do to obtain what the body needs on a daily basis in many cases, and in some cases it would be impossible. For instance...there is virtually nothing you will be able to consume that will give you enough Magnesium on a daily basis, nor is there really anything you can consume that will give you the needed amount of Vitamin K2 on a daily basis.

In theory it sounds great, in practice it doesn't really work out.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Yes the proof is in the pudding: the OP totally ignored what you told him and followed my advice, which was to be more careful about his other macros while making sure he has a good steady supply of protein. And already he has lost some weight. Thank goodness he didn't listen to your silly idiotic advice.

And yes, the proof is also in your incredibly ignorant statements. You have no science to back up what you're saying. You're merely spouting your own opinion which is nothing other than the very definition of broscience: which ironically enough is the very thing you hypocritically claimed others were doing when they cited science.

You don't even know what the term broscience is, yet you claim to be an expert in health and fitness.

Sure I do.

The studies used recreational lifters, not people on steroids. After explaining this to you three times you still don't understand the difference.

Recreational lifters don't achieve the level of fitness I have achieved.

The study's conclusion was very concrete, as the OP's very own experience has shown us all

And the science is very clear: eat a high protein diet that is low in calories, and lift a lot of weights. You're just too ignorant and focused on arguing to use the information to your own benefit.

The science is eat enough protein and lift a lot of weights.

Ok thanks there keyboard bodybuilder. I'm just glad the OP didn't follow your retarded advice so he can now experience some actual gains.

When you can squat twice your body weight for reps at full depth, come and talk to me.

 

[Eternal_water]

There is a lot of arguing about the amount of Carbs and protein you need for your energy and goals. I don't have much to add to that discussion and someone would probably disagree with me anyway.

But in terms of your lack of energy, apart from the obvious of getting 8 or more hours sleep a night, do you have enough iron in your diet? Because a lack of iron will certainly make you tired.

Try adding some leafy greens like spinach to your diet. Spinach is low in calories/fat and rich in iron.
Google foods high in iron and try incorporating some of them in.

 

[Roni_88]

There is a lot of arguing about the amount of Carbs and protein you need for your energy and goals. I don't have much to add to that discussion and someone would probably disagree with me anyway.

But in terms of your lack of energy, apart from the obvious of getting 8 or more hours sleep a night, do you have enough iron in your diet? Because a lack of iron will certainly make you tired.

Try adding some leafy greens like spinach to your diet. Spinach is low in calories/fat and rich in iron.
Google foods high in iron and try incorporating some of them in.

Thanks will try

 

[speed dawg]

I'm either really stupid or just that much smarter than all of you bros in the realm of health and fitness.

It's this, from what I've seen. My evidence:

- Most trainers disagree with you.
- It's pretty much common knowledge that not all calories are created equally.
- You are trying to shame, which shows your weakness.
- Self-proclaiming your dominance, with no evidence, shows more weakness.
- The amount of exercise needed to over-train varies from person to person (hint - many steroids aid recovery, which leads to more working out, which leads to more strength gains).

Don't be a dumbass. Know your limits. Your method will probably work. But what bradd80 and others are proposing will work better. You don't want to count calories? That's fine, but you can't hate on them for going above and beyond. Seriously man, your arrogant tone reminds me of that Vegan Gaines faggot on Youtube. Just because you say something is broscience or wrong doesn't make it wrong. I'm all about going against the grain, but sometimes it's just not needed. Your advice is OK for the common man, but others may want to do it better.

Just trying to be nice here, but in case that doesn't work, hear this. You sound like a blithering idiot.

 

[EyeBRollin]

It's this, from what I've seen. My evidence:

- Most trainers disagree with you.

They have to. They need to keep themselves employed, which means promoting misinformation. Working out six times a week is too much.

- It's pretty much common knowledge that not all calories are created equally.

From a strictly weight gain / loss standpoint, they are. For complete nutritional profile, they are not.

- You are trying to shame, which shows your weakness.
- Self-proclaiming your dominance, with no evidence, shows more weakness.

Okay.

- The amount of exercise needed to over-train varies from person to person (hint - many steroids aid recovery, which leads to more working out, which leads to more strength gains).

Correct. So work out six times per week like all the other people who claim it works. (Hint - you need PEDs to do it regularly)

Don't be a dumbass. Know your limits. Your method will probably work. But what bradd80 and others are proposing will work better.

They're the one's looking for advice, not me.

You don't want to count calories? That's fine, but you can't hate on them for going above and beyond. Seriously man, your arrogant tone reminds me of that Vegan Gaines faggot on Youtube. Just because you say something is broscience or wrong doesn't make it wrong. I'm all about going against the grain, but sometimes it's just not needed. Your advice is OK for the common man, but others may want to do it better.

But I'm not going against the grain. I recommended Starting Strength and Stronglifts for strength and weight loss.

Just trying to be nice here, but in case that doesn't work, hear this. You sound like a blithering idiot.

Thanks for the compliment.

 

[mikhailsadvice]

Just carb up 30-45 minutes before. I always eat some kind of pasta, rice, or potato 'mini meal' as I'm finishing up my work day. By the time I hit the gym it's already in me and I have plenty of energy.

 

[marmel75]

Just carb up 30-45 minutes before. I always eat some kind of pasta, rice, or potato 'mini meal' as I'm finishing up my work day. By the time I hit the gym it's already in me and I have plenty of energy.

Why would you intentionally blunt the release of growth hormone by doing this?

 

[mikhailsadvice]

Why would you intentionally blunt the release of growth hormone by doing this?

Why would you intentionally exercise with 0 energy and lift at half your capacity?

 

[marmel75]

Why would you intentionally exercise with 0 energy and lift at half your capacity?

Except this isn't what happens. I've lifted in a fasted state many times before and there isn't much if any of a difference. In some cases, you actually have a better workout.

Read Martin Berkhan leangains.com for an explanation of this..he is a big proponent of working out in a fasted state.

 

[mikhailsadvice]

Except this isn't what happens. I've lifted in a fasted state many times before and there isn't much if any of a difference. In some cases, you actually have a better workout.

Read Martin Berkhan leangains.com for an explanation of this..he is a big proponent of working out in a fasted state.

I'm not sure what there is to read, besides the first law of thermodynamics.

Energy for exercise comes from calories. Deriving energy from fat stores (during an intense workout) is a lot more difficult than deriving it from ATP, then glycogen, then carbs.

 

[mikhailsadvice]

To an extent, it does depend on goals.

If you're trying to burn fat first and foremost, then sure, go on a keto diet (or close to it) and enjoy being pissed at the world 24/7.

If you're already at reasonable bodyfat, why would you?

Put aside any competitors (doubt there are many here) who strive for extremely low bf%.

If you don't have enough glycogen stores, you will not train at full capacity. Period. Carbs are the preferred source of fuel.

There are just as many studies proving that having a carb-loaded workout will in turn yield better training and in turn yield higher metabolism and in turn yield higher fat burn the other 23 hours/day.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'best' training (felt good?), but I find it logically hard to believe that you can possibly lift more weight and or volume on a fasted state vs. not, all else being equal.

Generally speaking when you perform any exercise, based on time the energy sources are ATP-CP > anaerobic > aerobic.

Preferred energy source for aerobic exercise (assuming moderate intensity or higher, which is what 'working out' is for most people) is glycogen followed by carbs.

There's no point in debating. If you are circumventing the laws of physics and claiming to have more intense workouts on a fasted state (low glycogen) vs. not, more power to you.

 

[mrgoodstuff]

To an extent, it does depend on goals.

If you're trying to burn fat first and foremost, then sure, go on a keto diet (or close to it) and enjoy being pissed at the world 24/7.

If you're already at reasonable bodyfat, why would you?

Put aside any competitors (doubt there are many here) who strive for extremely low bf%.

If you don't have enough glycogen stores, you will not train at full capacity. Period. Carbs are the preferred source of fuel.

There are just as many studies proving that having a carb-loaded workout will in turn yield better training and in turn yield higher metabolism and in turn yield higher fat burn the other 23 hours/day.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'best' training (felt good?), but I find it logically hard to believe that you can possibly lift more weight and or volume on a fasted state vs. not, all else being equal.

Generally speaking when you perform any exercise, based on time the energy sources are ATP-CP > anaerobic > aerobic.

Preferred energy source for aerobic exercise (assuming moderate intensity or higher, which is what 'working out' is for most people) is glycogen followed by carbs.

There's no point in debating. If you are circumventing the laws of physics and claiming to have more intense workouts on a fasted state (low glycogen) vs. not, more power to you.

Everyone is different. Having fasted more than once, I can attest that carbs as a fuel source produce more POWER than burning on fats. It's even in the physics and chemistry, I looked it up, carbs make something around 40% more power than burning on fats. Also different carbs have different responses on performance.

The ketogenic diet and other low carb variations is for those people who tend to gain fat when they eat carbs, there are lot of people like this.

So for them to lower their body fat, they will have to lower the carbs a lot, and upping the workout to an impossible level just to burn enough is just a waste of time.

So you WILL be pissed, and angry, and under discipline to get your body fat down.

To keep it down you will have to manage your diet and excersize indefinitely, you may not have to stay low carb, but you will be lower carb and you won't be loading like several slices of cake and ice cream on multiple days, you will get fat.

 

[mrgoodstuff]

What you don't understand is that

(1) no one here is advocating a chronically low carb ketogenic diet to maintain health and
(2) increased power is not always a desirable trait for those seeking health and muscularity. For example, fat looking powerlifters are much more powerful than ripped muscular 100 meter sprinters but take a guess as to who most men would prefer to look like.

That would be debateable. The strength weight ratio of those 100m sprinters is very high, these are very powerful and explosive men. Also they tend to be at those "stripper" body weights I told you about.

 

[GoodOne123]

From what I read you're looking for something to boost your energy levels before a workout. You say you want a natural source, which suggests you care about your health and probably already have a healthy diet. If not, the guys already posted good diet tips above.

Now as for the natural energy boost. I like two things mainly when I'm in a rush and want to get fast energy:

Dates
Bananas

They digest easily, very high calorie, natural, and replenish the electrolytes you sweat out during workouts. The potassium also prevents muscle cramp.

Other options I like to have, but don't digest so quickly are white rice, pasta, and white potatoes. Personally I feel strong and full if energy when I'm running on these, which are mostly starchy carbs. They are very versatile used in your cooking too. These ones are my personal preference.

 

[EugeneLee]

Great. Anything else with all this?