Building Muscle In Ketosis

A friend of mine recently asked me how easy it is to ‘bulk up’ or build muscle, when you’re in nutritional ketosis. If you’re not familiar with this term, it’s when your body transitions to burning ketone bodies derived from fat for energy, instead of glucose from carbohydrates. In simple terms, your body is in fat burning mode, not sugar burning mode. In our modern day diet, we are led to believe that we need high glycemic carbohydrates 3 times a day to give us energy (such as grains in breakfast cereals, bread and pasta, and rice and potatoes), maybe more frequently than that if you’re a regular feeder and like to snack.  The trouble is, that when we consume high glycemic carbs like this three times a day or more, for a long period of time, it leads us to becoming insulin resistant (leading to type-2 diabetes) and that leads to inflammation, particularly if you are inactive. When you train regularly, this can prevent or slow the rate at which your cells can become insensitive to insulin.

Nutritional ketosis is a very cool way of burning fat and also becoming sensitive to insulin again. I believe it’s the best way to get lean and stay lean in combination with intermittent fasting. It’s actually a survival mechanism and is perfectly safe as long as you’re not depriving your body of crucial micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) from plant-based foods and healthy fats and decent sources of protein. Going back to ancestral times, hunter gathers would firstly, not be feeding on any type of grain (which are inflammatory), and secondly, not be consuming 3 large meals at regular intervals throughout the day and a considerable carbohydrate overload. They would go for days without feeding at all and would have a huge meal in one sitting (apparently…I’ve not personally met any but this is what I’ve learned).

Bulking up may be a little more challenging though. The reason for this, is that high glycemic carbs provide you with energy to a) work out hard and b) recover fast. It aids with hypertrophy (the growth of muscle tissue) and therefore helps to increase testosterone (which increases with muscle growth) and when you build muscle, your resting metabolic rate increases too (your metabolism increases).

When we consume high GI carbs our blood sugars spike rapidly like an injection of sugar (glucose) into the blood. Insulin needs to extract the excess glucose from the blood to prevent the blood from becoming toxic. One of insulin’s main functions is to regulate blood sugar levels. The excess glucose is deposited into either your liver, or muscle, or fat stores. If you’re largely sedentary and inactive, your liver and muscle stores will be full and your fat stores will be topped up. You then gain weight. If you’ve just worked out, your muscle glycogen stores will be depleted and will need to be replenished. This is when insulin can be useful in helping with muscle repair and growth.

Having said all that, it is quite possible to build muscle in nutritional ketosis. Here’s what I found on BodyBuilding.com on training in ketosis:

CARBOHYDRATES, PROTEIN, AND INSULIN

Carbohydrates create anabolism largely by setting off a cascade of hormone-driven events. (Just so we’re clear, you also get an insulin response from protein as well.) Chief among these events is secretion of a hormone called insulin from the pancreas. Many people realize that insulin regulates blood glucose levels, but insulin is not a one-trick pony.

CARBOHYDRATES AND THE ENSUING INSULIN RESPONSE HAVE A GREAT DEAL TO DO WITH MUSCLE GROWTH.

It is so multifunctional that many experts believe it to be absolutely integral to muscle synthesis—among other things. For example, one of insulin’s many roles is driving amino acid uptake; in other words, it gets amino acids out of your bloodstream and into your muscles.

Thus, carbohydrates and the ensuing insulin response obviously have a great deal to do with muscle growth.

CARBOHYDRATES AND PROTEIN SYNTHESIS

When looking specifically at protein synthesis, carbohydrates are not required. Leucine—found in egg yolks, for example—is an essential amino acid and is the primary driver of protein synthesis. That means protein synthesis can occur in the absence of carbohydrates^1-3.

So back to the pressing questions at hand: Is insulin anabolic? Does it help build muscle?

First off, anabolism is often incorrectly used as a synonym for muscle protein synthesis. I encourage you to take a broader view of anabolism beyond the mere combination of amino acids for building muscular tissue.

Anabolism encompasses the entire physiological process that supports muscle building! In that sense, yes, insulin is most definitely anabolic.

CARBOHYDRATES, INSULIN, AND RECOVERY

Recovery from muscle breakdown is an oft-overlooked cog in this muscle-building machine. After all, the better you can recover from workouts, the more frequently you can train. Training frequency is a major key player for hypertrophy. Carbohydrates enhance recovery and thus your muscle-building capacity.

While the carbohydrate-mediated stimulation of insulin does not lead to protein synthesis per se, it does reduce muscle breakdown⁴. In essence, the anti-catabolic nature of carbohydrates in turn makes them anabolic. Whaaaat?Remember, you’re working to divorce your association of anabolism from protein synthesis.

In that light, carbohydrate indeed is anabolic; it contributes to the whole muscle-building process. The addition of insulin exerts beneficial effects on the dance between protein synthesis and breakdown, called nitrogen balance^5,6.

TO MAKE STRENGTH INCREASES TO EXERCISES LIKE THE DEADLIFT, YOU TYPICALLY NEED TO EAT LIKE A POWERLIFTER, BUT WITH HARD WORK, GAINS ARE POSSIBLE ON A KETOGENIC DIET.

Carbohydrates also enhance the speed of recovery. During intense exercise, the strength of your immune system is temporarily compromised, but carbohydrates reduce the impact of this immunosuppressive effect⁷ and help restore depleted glycogen stores. Whether you should immediately shove a sweet potato down your gullet after training depends on the type of training you’re doing, training frequency, and your overall goals.

If you train only three days per week, cramming carbohydrates into your muscles immediately following a workout isn’t a priority; your regular carbohydrate consumption throughout the day will help with glycogen replenishment. If you’re trying to gain a ton of muscle mass, it probably doesn’t hurt to inhale a couple of bananas post-training, independent of nutrient timing.

CREATINE TRANSPORT

In my opinion, creatine is a must-use supplement. Whether it is due to its well-known ability to increase strength⁹ or its lesser-known ability to potentially improve cognitive function¹⁰ and insulin sensitivity¹¹, I recommend you use it every day.

It’s known that taking creatine along with carbohydrates increases intramuscular creatine levels due to insulin’s effects on creatine transport^12,13 and enhances muscle’s creatine storage capacity¹³.

In addition, insulin can enhance electrolyte build-up in cells which, like over-packing the muscle’s creatine stores, increases cell volume¹⁴. Increased cellular hydration and volume both facilitate the kickstart of anabolism¹⁵.

ANABOLISM WITHOUT CARBOHYDRATES?

After all I’ve discussed here, it’s clear that carbohydrates are anabolic. It’s time to circle back to my original deadlift conquest. Was building strength and muscle possible while on a ketogenic diet? Dowdell’s sigh notwithstanding, I found that the answer is an emphatic yes!

Don’t get me wrong, being ketogenic while training hard was no cakewalk. In three and a half months, I packed 80 pounds into my deadlift and pulled a new PR of 500 pounds on my first attempt.

It turns out that while carbohydrates are anabolic, I am still able to achieve an anabolic feat in the nearly complete absence of carbohydrates. The human body is an amazing machine, possessing the ability to make intelligent adaptations to a variety of situations.

CARBS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO FLIP THE PROTEIN SYNTHESIS SWITCH, BUT PERHAPS THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO MAKE THE OVERALL ANABOLIC PROCESS MORE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE.

In a chronically low-carb environment, the body doesn’t follow the normal biochemical rules because it has to change. It becomes much more efficient with muscle glycogen, it up-regulates gene expression of certain enzymatic machinery needed for maximum performance, and it adapts as needed to excel in the presence of far fewer carbohydrates and much less insulin.

Quite simply, my adventure in carbohydrate-less anabolism was to prove that you can perform at a high level on minimal carbohydrate—at least in the short term. Carbohydrates are not required to flip the protein synthesis switch, but perhaps there are other ways to make the overall anabolic process more efficient and effective.

Does that mean everyone should adopt a ketogenic diet? I don’t think it is for everyone (and perhaps not for the long-term), but it’s still interesting to see what your body can achieve through thick and thin. Read full article on BodyBuilding.com

All of our bodies are different. I tend to consume more carbs when I lift weights and do high intensity workouts. And when I say more, I mean a banana after my workout with my plant-based protein shake and/or eggs. I’ll rarely eat grains. My go-to carb choice is normally quinoa or sweet potatoes but I rarely feel the need to have these.

Have you ever cut out grains from your diet? What would you find most challenging about doing so?  My latest book, The Vitality Secret, explains how inflammation affects our bodies and how to reverse it. Grains is a culprit for inflammation. Unfortunately, this is a staple food in our Western world. If you’d like to learn more about inflammation, which is behind many common illnesses including eczema, asthma, psoriasis, Crohn’s Disease, IBS and even allergies, you can purchase this book for just $0.99 right now on Amazon during the review phase. It’s currently at position no. 9 in immune systems on the US side. Quick, before the price goes up! Click this link to purchase on Amazon.