HIIT, a good alternative in keto

HIIT – High Intensity Interval Training – allows you to work your muscles, aerobic capacity, and has many benefits, especially if you follow a ketogenic diet.

Keto sport

If you have already started your ketogenic diet, and you are an athlete, you have surely heard that the first few weeks you should not train, or that endurance will decrease, because the body is changing its energy source, going from glucose to ketone bodies. This is true for the vast majority of people: we go through the ketogenic flu phenomenon and before feeling an increase in energy levels, we can experience strong fatigue. However, some people who have been training for years and take the relevant measures to avoid the keto flu (supplements and foods rich in magnesium, more salt in dishes, water with lemon) can continue to practice sports without lowering the intensity.

Training too much

Overtraining affects blood levels of neurotransmitters such as glutamine, dopamine, and 5-HT; this can lead to feelings of depression and chronic fatigue. Stress caused by intense and excessive exercise can also negatively affect the hypothalamic-pituitary axis,

Why do sports?

Exercise has many benefits beyond weight loss: it improves insulin sensitivity (up to 58% increase), has anti-aging effects, boosts the immune system, helps with cardiovascular and brain health, and bone mineral density.

HIIT

High-intensity training in short intervals, several times a week, gives excellent results. Intensive and too prolonged cardio increases cortisol, which causes resistance to leptin, the hormone that regulates appetite and weight.

Strength training exercises, such as lifting weights and working out with machines, as well as HIIT (high intensity interval training) styles are much more effective for helping with weight loss and body shaping. Protocols vary, but typically consist of short, repeated sprints at full intensity followed immediately by low-intensity exercise. The duration of the sprint and recovery periods can range from 6 seconds to 4 minutes.

And in keto?

The ketogenic diet preserves muscle mass, so this type of exercise does not cause muscle loss provided that you get the right amount of protein. The more you exercise, the more protein you consume. Protein provides us with the essential amino acids for life, and in the case of exercise, leucine, which triggers protein synthesis for muscles. In keto, leucine levels increase.

What about carbohydrates?

It has always been heard that to increase muscle mass and athletic performance you need carbohydrates. Indeed, carbohydrates provide immediate energy to the muscles and can be used in some cases to increase performance (by elite athletes or in certain “explosive” workouts). A ketogenic diet can be useful for athletes: for example, over the course of 30 days, athletes were fed a strict diet of green vegetables, olive oil and high-quality proteins (fish and meat). In all their physical tests, they performed the same as before going keto, and each athlete decreased their body weight, body fat and maintained their muscle mass. None of them had any negative effects on their strength performance during the study. Other studies show that low-carb, high-fat diets increase athletes’ performance and endurance.

Fasting

Finally, many people who eat keto do intermittent fasting. Can you exercise on an empty stomach? Not only can you exercise on an empty stomach once you are keto-adapted, but exercising on an empty stomach actually increases the benefits of fasting and training. During a fast, stored carbohydrates—glycogen stores—are most likely depleted, so you burn more fat. Combining the two, exercise and fasting, increases human growth hormone (HGH) production, and therefore insulin sensitivity.

Conclusion

Exercise has benefits for everyone. However, not all sports are the same and the benefits of HIIT are proven to be more effective for building muscle. The ketogenic diet helps to avoid “eating muscle” while losing weight. Combining a low-carb diet, HIIT and, if possible, intermittent fasting, is a winning combo for building muscle and losing fat.