The very low carb, high fat, modest protein ketogenic diet has been linked to many possible health benefits, such as better control of blood sugar and less hunger.


However, its impact on athletic success is still up for debate.

Some people say that keto can help you burn more fat and have more stamina, but others say that it could drain your energy and make it harder to build muscle.

This piece talks about some of the ways that the ketogenic diet might change the way you work out.


Benefits

Studies have shown that the ketogenic diet may help athletes in a number of ways.

May improve endurance

Some studies have shown that the ketogenic diet may help endurance athletes do better, but it may not be good for short bursts of intense exercise.

One study of 39 athletes, for example, found that being in a metabolic state called ketosis made them more durable because their bodies could use fat as an additional source of energy.

This was seen, though, when ketone pills were given, not when people followed the ketogenic diet.

Another study with 20 endurance athletes found the same thing: that following a ketogenic diet for 12 weeks improved their fitness, body composition, and ability to burn fat while they were exercising.

Also, one study found that supplements with higher amounts of ketone bodies may help muscles heal faster and stop protein from being broken down after endurance exercise.

On the other hand, some studies have shown that it might hurt endurance athletes' performance by making it harder for them to use energy and speeding up the time it takes to get tired.

Because of this, more research is needed to find out if the ketogenic diet is better for endurance sports than other diets.


May boost fat burning

Some studies show that a ketogenic diet may help your body burn more fat while you work out.

In fact, a small study of elite race walkers found that the diet made it easier for the body to burn fat while working out, even when the workouts were different levels of hard.

But in the end, the ketogenic diet made it harder for these players to exercise.

In another study of 22 athletes, moving to a ketogenic diet made them burn more fat over the course of 4 weeks.


Though, remember that the ketogenic diet is mostly made up of fat, which could explain why you burn more fat when you work out.

It's also important to remember that fat has a lot more calories per gram than carbs or protein.

If you want to lose weight on the ketogenic diet, you still need to make a calorie loss by changing how many calories you eat so that you consume fewer calories than you burn.



Can help muscles heal faster

A lot of research has shown that the ketogenic diet might help muscles heal faster after a workout.

For example, five athletes in a small study said that the ketogenic diet helped them heal faster and reduce inflammation after exercise.

But it's important to remember that they did worse on other performance tests as well, and there wasn't a control group, which could have skewed the results.

Creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase levels dropped in off-road riders who were on the ketogenic diet. These are two enzymes that are used to measure muscle damage.

A study with mice also showed that a ketogenic diet for 8 weeks helped muscles heal faster after hard exercise.



Potential drawbacks

There are some possible benefits to the ketogenic diet for exercise ability, but there are also some problems to think about.




Best exercises on the ketogenic diet

When you do high-intensity sports like sprinting, boxing, swimming laps, or jumping rope, you need carbs to keep you going.

So, a low-carb ketogenic diet might not be the best choice for these kinds of activities.

Instead, to get the most out of the ketogenic diet, try mixing up your workouts with a range of steady-state, low-intensity exercises.

Some sports that may be especially good for you while you're on keto are jogging, biking, and swimming.