There is a recent study by Lowery et al where students, who were strength-trained, either went on a keto diet or traditional high carb Western diet and did the same training programme(I think for 10-12 weeks). Both groups gained about the same amount of lean mass. Both also lost fat at the same time, but the keto group lost almost twice that of the other group. The interesting tweak on the experiment was for week 11, carbs were reintroduced to the keto group (and by carbs, I mean very modest amounts gradually increased throughout the week). According to DEXA measurements, the keto group gained a couple of lbs of fat back in this short time. The net result was that there was no significant difference in fat loss between the two groups by the end of the experiment.
Yes, carbs only on lifting days. The idea is to ingest 5-10 CHO pre-workout (a fast acting agent like cyclic dextrin would be useful here). The purpose of this is twofold: it gives you additional energy (arguably more useful than ketones for explosive sessions); and is anti-catabolic. Using more carbs intra-workout is probably overkill (people do not deplete glycogen levels as much they imagine. Further, you will also blunt fat burning by introducing carbs). Post-workout carbs not needed for similar reasons. In fact, there is quite a bit of research now showing keto athletes can restore glycogen levels almost as well as those on normal high carb diets, although the mechanisms responsible are still a bit of a debate.
Please note, I said earlier âthe ideaâ because I havenât done this myself. Iâm sticking to strict keto because I am still experiencing positive re-composition changes as well as improving workouts. Only when this halts do I plan to run TKD as outlined.
Would you have any muscle gaining routines in mind? As I dropped fat I used 3x5 and 5x5 to keep my strength levels up as best I could. Is it possible to have the best of both worlds to try and gain strength on the the big lifts but add in some hypertrophy work to maybe help with the skin issues ??
I donât think I ever followed any specific âprogramâ that I found anywhere, I always just read everything and tried to. Understand what the premise was behind the author thinking they had found something. Worthwhile.
My own opinion is that too many people think they need a magic program. You want to keep strength or size?
-Make sure you leave the gym knowing that you pushed every set until no one else could have possibly worked harder.
-Be smart in your exercise selection. If something doesnât feel right or you donât think itâs working, pick something else
-perform movements so they work the target muscle. Youâre not weight lifting here youâre bodybuilding.
-use thought out rep rAnges for different movements within the same workout
-if you have a certain Weak point, and compounds arenât fixing everything donât be afraid to rely on isolating work. Pre-exhaust or even just proper sequencing to address it.
Plenty of old school powerliftets focused on their big lifts but also threw in some âbodybuildingâ movements. So they were strong as hell but also looked visually impressive. No reason it canât be done.
As far aS skin goes, except in the most extreme cases, I believe itâs a matter of time. Human skin is pretty elastic. You can get crazy stretch marks but in most cases itâll still bounce back.
S
Thanks for the sound advice. I was looking into some upper/lower routine guides as maybe a starting point they seem to fit into a style of lifting I would enjoy. Would it be wise to keep in cardio after lifting or on off days to help make sure fat gains stay to as low a level as possible. Probably beating a dead horse at this point but itâs honestly good to hear that most guys on here think adding lean mass is a good choice finally
You can do either, but Iâm a fan of separate days so I can alter daily numbers.
S