I actually don’t eat anything before I lift other than sometimes a BCAA drink and I add salt and potassium citrate for electrolytes to my water. And by “Don’t eat anything” I mean I don’t eat anything that day until after I’m done lifting. Usually not till at least 4 or 5pm. Afterwards though I just make sure to intake a lot of protein. Usually also a double protein shake over the course or 3 or 4 hours. If you chug a protein shake you’ll only absorb maybe 20-30grams of protein if that but if you drink it over several hours you will be able to absorb much more of it. As for food protein you are much more efficient at absorbing that because it takes time to digest food protein vs the protein that’s in a shake.
But then I also usually do a 18 - 20 hour intermittent fasting every day regardless of if I’m working out that day. So my bodies pretty used to this. It takes quite a lot of working to actually deplete the muscles stored glycogen and you body can refuel your muscles energy stores pretty consistently even when in fat burning mode either during a fast or in ketosis. Now I wouldn’t go trying to build muscle on a fast cause you’ll need protein the next few days while you recover but you can do cardio on an extended fast no problem. Being in a fasted state will actually slightly increase your metabolism so long as you have the fat to fuel it.
I actually don’t eat anything before I lift other than sometimes a BCAA drink and I add salt and potassium citrate for electrolytes to my water. And by “Don’t eat anything” I mean I don’t eat anything that day until after I’m done lifting. Usually not till at least 4 or 5pm. Afterwards though I just make sure to intake a lot of protein. Usually also a double protein shake over the course or 3 or 4 hours. If you chug a protein shake you’ll only absorb maybe 20-30grams of protein if that but if you drink it over several hours you will be able to absorb much more of it. As for food protein you are much more efficient at absorbing that because it takes time to digest food protein vs the protein that’s in a shake.
But then I also usually do a 18 - 20 hour intermittent fasting every day regardless of if I’m working out that day. So my bodies pretty used to this. It takes quite a lot of working to actually deplete the muscles stored glycogen and you body can refuel your muscles energy stores pretty consistently even when in fat burning mode either during a fast or in ketosis. Now I wouldn’t go trying to build muscle on a fast cause you’ll need protein the next few days while you recover but you can do cardio on an extended fast no problem. Being in a fasted state will actually slightly increase your metabolism so long as you have the fat to fuel it.