ketogenic for cycling

Is it possible to go on a ketogenic diet and do well in competitive cycling?

 

didn't you ask this in a different thread a few months back?

Ric

 

ah yes i did and the answer was negative right ? I was just wondering about the increases in stamina goin about in this diet.. although sprint performances were not as good as on a high carb diet but i notce that stamina is greatly improved goin keto.. never bonked on keto before but goin high carb the bonk came for the same long distance.. is there any explanation for this benefit in stamina?

 

a ketogenic diet will have an adverse affect on your cycling performance, whether you do endurance or sprint work. only very low intensity training (i.e., recovery) is predominantly fuelled by fat oxidation (but the absolute amount is very low, i.e., at higher intensities although the relative amount of fat oxidation decreases, the absolute amount increases).

It's difficult to know if your performance is better with keto -- you'd have to know if your power output was the same or whether it was decreasing on keto.

ric

 

hmm but what if the power putput increased with high carbs but decreased upon long distance as compared to keto which is perhaps lower at first but maintained for a longer period of time averaging beter? is that possible?