You’re Not Maximizing Muscle Growth if You’re on Keto
Here are 3 reasons why you shouldn’t gamble with keto if you want to maximize muscle growth
With all due respect to keto, which is none, it’s not a good diet to maximize muscle growth. And yeah yeah yeah, I know I said that if you’re a beginner lifter, keto isn’t going to ruin your gains. But “make gains” and “maximize gains” are two different things.
So let me give you the scoop on why you shouldn’t gamble with keto if you want to maximize muscle growth.
1. Keto diet can suppress appetite
This one is right at the top of the list of why people tend to glorify keto. Some John goes like…
…and this Jessica the keto lover will agree with…
But that’s not a good thing when it comes to maximizing gains.
Maximizing gains entails calorie surplus. Yes, you can build muscle in a deficit but it’s suboptimal. But if keto has this appetite-suppressive effect, then you’re probably going to struggle to hit your target calorie surplus.
Take me as an example. I’m close to ending my massing phase, weighing 227 pounds now (103 kg), and I’m freakn’ struggling to get in those damn calories. I even resorted to drinking calories (juice), eating hyper-palatable foods (cookies, chocolate, etc.), using lots of oil and the glorious peanut butter. It’s still fugging hard. I’d be so fugging fugged if I ate keto.
2. Keto diet can limit training capacity
A recent systematic review and meta-analysis by King et al. concluded that for workout durations greater than 45 min and consisting of at least 8–10 sets, carbohydrates can improve performance. The researchers added:
