Keto and Crossfit

(Angela Przybylski) #1

Anyone else out there doing Crossfit while being a Keto beast?

(Richard Morris) #2

There is a study on the combination of a low carb ketogenic diet with cross fit

Conclusions: A LCKD combined with 6 weeks of CrossFit training can lead to significant decreases in %BF, FM, weight, and BMI while maintaining LBM. Additionally, significant improvements in total performance time and power can be achieved.

#3

Richard beat me to it again!

Thereā€™s also a podcast by Masterjohn about said study available here:

https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2016/07/25/should-you-do-crossfit-on-a-ketogenic-diet/

(Angela Przybylski) #4

Thank you so much @richard and @carolT!

(Allan Misner) #5

Iā€™ve done crossfit while being in ketosis. I would go to the 5am class, so my training was in a fasted state.

It may have been that I wasnā€™t quite as fat adapted as I needed to be, but I did have some issues with stamina. I started taking some BCAAs and electrolytes beforehand and it helped.

(Mirissa Joy Beavers) #6

Iā€™ve done crossfit for a year. Iā€™m headed into week 3 of keto. Week 1 crossfit was scary. I laid down in fetal position one morning and gave up. Week 2 got better. I was slow and sore. Thursday I woke up and was ready to kick burpee butt. My energy has been so much better these last few days. I canā€™t wait to see how my body reacts to this WOE.

(RamsƩs C.) #7

Hey there!

Not exactly going to any crossfit ā€˜classā€™ but Iā€™m doing Freeletics for almost two years now. It has worked for me and has helped to get more toned. What I really love about Freeletics is that I can do it no matter where I am :smiley:

I always try to do it while being on the fasting window. Youā€™ll slowly get adapted and will feel better.

Greetings,
Ramses.

(Mirissa Joy Beavers) #8

Tell me more about this freeletics :grin:

(Jason) #9

Freeletics is a phone/tablet app. It has a great selection of workouts for free that can be done at home with zero equipment. It is a great way to workout. I do it at home and when in hotels without gym equipment.

(Mirissa Joy Beavers) #10

Awesome!! Iā€™ll look it up!

(Svetla) #11

Iā€™m doing CrossFit 6x per week on Keto. The first time I went keto, a week was hard. This time around only day 2 was kinda hard, now I really love it and sometimes work out twice a day because I have the energy. Being lighter helps too. Canā€™t say Iā€™m seeing any strength downsides. PRed on squat and Fran and got my pull back ups from 0 to 4 in a week which was a big milestone for me. Last keto cycle I improved my filthy fifty time by 15 minutes. Overall, seem to be doing just fine, maybe a bit slower then I was on carbs for now, but thatā€™s not the end of the world.
A wod gets my ketones up by 0.5-1mmol/l and it feels great!

(Liz) #12

Iā€™ve been doing CrossFit on Keto for the past 3 months (been lifting with keto for years but just started CrossFit). I love it. I have continued to see improvements over the three months and am excited to see where it takes me. I tend to go to the 730am class so Iā€™m in a fasted state (well, I do have coffee beforeā€¦cus Iā€™ll be honest, Iā€™m a monster without coffee) and then will break my fast around 10/11am since Iā€™m never very hungry after a strenuous workout. It may be because Iā€™ve always lifted on keto that my body was use to that type of activity but I canā€™t speak more highly of the CrossFit and keto combination. Maybe itā€™s mental, but I think keto gives me an advantage over the carb eaters :slight_smile:

(ryancrawcour) #13

what do you mean by ā€œketo cycleā€?
are you doing Keto for a period, then not, then again, in a cycle?

(Svetla) #14

It wasnā€™t intentional, I slipped out and it took me a while to get back to keto.

I donā€™t think Iā€™ll do anything cyclical, personally, maybe CKD or TKD if I start to hit training blockers, but right now Iā€™m kinda just focusing on making the diet effortless and building an aerobic base. Training seems to be going really well.

(RĆ³isĆ­n ) #15

Freeletics is great, thanks. I had never heard of it before your post

(Kirk) #16

I just found this forum and was wondering how many other ketoā€™ers do crossfit. This thread is old but its the only crossfit one I see so I will post my experience here. I have been doing crossfit with keto for almost 3 years now. I started keto first and a few months later knew I needed exercise so I decided on crossfit. I knew nothing about becoming fat adapted or how my workouts would be affected. At first everything hurtā€¦that is how crossfit is for everyone, keto and carb eater alike. As I began to get in shape I was still hitting a wall mid-WOD as my engine ran out of gas. Now that I understand the science I realize I was not fully adapted yet.

I had 60 pounds to lose and this weight began to come off over about 6 months. During this time, I may have been more adapted but I was still struggling when compared to the carb eaters in similar physical condition. It wasnā€™t until I hit my ā€œnaturalā€ weight, the weight I have stayed at for the past year with little variation, before I noticed better workout performance. So it took me around 6-8 months for this, which is longer than most people say it should take. During this time I also learned about the need for more salt and other electrolytes so I added a cup of broth to my pre-worlout regimen. This really helped and may have been the key to hitting the sweet spot.

Now I train at 5 am in a fasted state from a natural 16-8 IF. I do drink bulletproof coffee and the broth as a pre-workout but no food until around noon. I have seen my performance improve greatly and I can hang with most of the carb eaters at the box, some of whom are 20 years younger. The only serious issue I have is that my top end strength in things like squats, clean and jerk or snatches is not as high (compared to other similar athletes) as I would like but that could just be the limits of my genetic potential and not keto. While it did take a lot of time for me, likely due to my terrible insulin resistance, there is no question that keto and crossfit go together very well. I was happy to be able to combine the health benefits of keto with the body composition changing power of crossfit.

The one area Iā€™ve wanted to ask is if anyone has used exogenous ketones prior to a WOD and if it gave them any extra boost? That is the only reason I would ever use them.

(Julia Wilson) #17

I do take exogenous ketones if I am preparing for a long, endurance based crossfit exercise. I took them before I did Murph this year and they really helped.

I have noticed a significant improvement in my cardiovascular integrity since becoming ketogenic over a year ago; however, I have noticed that my brute strength has some what tapered off. A year and a half ago I could pretty easily pull 168 lb in a clean but now I struggle with getting just 153. Iā€™ve read that this can be a side effect of ketosis because those quick are better fueled by quick-burning glucose.

I would be curious to see if other people have experienced this as well. I love being strong so this is somewhat of a problem for me, but not enough that I would quit my ketogenic lifestyle.

(Kirk) #18

Thanks Julia, that was just the input I was interested in! Iā€™m with you, I do keto for the long term health benefits more than anything else so I wonā€™t trade missing out on cancer or Alzheimerā€™s for a few PRā€™s on my lifts. Last year I did Murph without the vest and beat most of the carb eaters and I felt pretty good after. This year I wore a vest and it was really tough so maybe some extra ketones would have helped.

Its interesting that most of the cfā€™ers I know that do anything close to low carb are mostly Paleo. They just canā€™t accept that you can do this without carbs. It does seem to work for many but it just seems like I would constantly be in that middle space of trying to adapt to fat but always have enough carbs to keep it from happening. That is the worst of both worlds so if EKs would replicate a pre-workout carb load then that would be fantastic.

Iā€™ll give it a try, thanks again!

(Katie) #19

I have been doing keto and CrossFit for a few months now. I do a lot of CrossFit as well as my own lifting routine. I feel better when I have exogenous ketones. For me it is not a feeling of quick energy like caffeine provides, rather it is just an overall state of feeling good and ready to go.

I have not been seeing a lot of muscle gains. I am not sure if 1) my protein numbers are too low, 2) keto is not good for muscle growing, or 3) I am overtraining.

(Kirk) #20

In my experience, I donā€™t think you need to worry about #2 as I have added muscle. I think the protein sparing characteristics are one of the biggest benefits of this woe for those that workout. I eat a lot less than I did in my 20ā€™s when I was trying to build muscle through the traditional high carb, 6 meals a day typical recommendation but Iā€™ve had more success with keto.

Iā€™ve actually wondered if I am getting too much protein because I canā€™t get quite as lean as some of the shredded guys I see in the keto fitness world. Iā€™m still leaner than at any time in my life though so I am not complaining too hard.

Do you time your EKā€™s with your workouts or does it matter when you take them during the day?