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My sport is cycling, when I started on keto my power metrics jumped up, from an FTP of about 220 W in August 2021 to currently 276 W, where it's plateaued for t
by mathieuh 4y ago
My sport is cycling, when I started on keto my power metrics jumped up, from an FTP of about 220 W in August 2021 to currently 276 W, where it's plateaued for the last few months. My legs are also visibly much bigger and harder.
I get the feeling that it is possible to gain muscle on keto, it's just being low-carb doesn't lend itself to high-intensity efforts, so at some point you just can't put out enough effort to damage your muscles any further.
I've recently starting eating carbs on days where I'm doing 80+ km and the difference is astonishing, I've set PRs up hills at the end of 100 km rides and I'm approaching being able to do 100 km solo at 32 km/h, where before on strict keto I'd start getting very lethargic after just 50 km.
- kuhewa 4y agoI imagine there's probably some direct impact to muscle anabolism as well, since the anabolic hormone insulin has a low and stable profile on keto. Really interesting though to hear how your power increased. Taking carbs on big effort days seems like the best of both worlds, fat adapted but able to take advantage of both energy systems. I think on Inigo san Milan's first appearance on Peter Attia's podcast they got into this a bit, also mentioned that high level fat adapted cyclists could do a few hundred grams of carbs in a day and still maintain ketosis