Brief Summary
This video is about building muscle on a ketogenic diet. It addresses the misconception that it's impossible to gain muscle on keto and outlines a detailed plan for achieving this goal. The key points include:
- Debunking the myth that muscle building is impossible on keto.
- Sharing the exact diet and training strategies.
- Emphasizing the importance of progressive overload.
- Providing a downloadable training split template.
- Stressing the importance of a caloric surplus with clean, high-quality foods.
Intro
The video introduces a new series focused on building muscle on a ketogenic diet. The creator addresses a common misconception that building muscle on keto is impossible, which was reinforced by a video featuring doctors and a pro physique competitor. The creator, having six years of strict keto experience and twelve years of bodybuilding, aims to prove that muscle, size, strength, stamina, endurance, and overall lifestyle can be improved with a ketogenic approach. He highlights the lack of documentation on building muscle with keto due to the focus on fat loss and commits to documenting his journey over the next year.
Starting the Day: Coffee and Macros
The creator begins by detailing his morning routine, which includes a cup of coffee with one scoop of Keto Brains (a nootropic creamer containing C8 MCT, Alpha GPC, Lion's Mane, and L-Theanine) and four tablespoons of heavy cream. This totals 5.6 grams of carbs and 30 grams of fat, amounting to 296 calories. He uses the Macros Plus app to track his macros. Before discussing his macros and meals for the day, he includes updated posing footage from January 1, 2021, where he weighed 177.9 lbs. and estimated his body fat to be around 12% (caliper test result was 9.35%, but he believes it's a little inaccurate).
Meal One: Sardines, Liverwurst, and Keto Brick
The first meal consists of 3 ounces of Wild Planet sardines in extra virgin olive oil with lemon, 112 grams of US Wellness Meats liverwurst, and a chocolate peanut butter cup Keto Brick (a limited edition flavor with 9 grams of total carbs for a 1,000 calorie brick). He adds promo kitchen buffalo sauce (1 tablespoon is 35 calories, 3.5 grams of fat, 1 gram of carbs, and less than 1 gram of protein) to the sardines and liverwurst for flavor. This meal totals 67 grams of protein, 12 grams of carbs, and 112 grams of fat, amounting to 1348 calories. He typically consumes this meal within two hours after his training session and plans to start with two meals a day during this building phase.
Training and Progressive Overload
The creator discusses his training approach, noting he doesn't drastically alter his training style when switching to keto. He emphasizes that while there's an adaptation period when transitioning from a carb-dependent state, performance often improves due to reduced inflammation and better recovery once fully fat-adapted. Progressive overload is key, requiring the body to adapt to increasing stimuli to elicit muscle growth. This can include more weight, frequency, time under tension, or advanced techniques like drop sets and supersets. He will track his primary compound movements (squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead press) to monitor progress and will also track measurements and lean tissue via DEXA scans.
Eight-Day Rotational Split
The creator details his training split, which involves an eight-day rotational schedule with six training days and two active rest days. Each muscle group is hit twice during the eight-day block, with one session focused on heavy weight and lower reps, and the other on hypertrophy with higher reps and lower weight. Squats have their own standalone day with 15 sets, while another leg day focuses on high-volume hypertrophy with supersets. He has created a downloadable Excel/Google spreadsheet template of this split, which he will link in the video description.
Meal Two: Ground Beef and Eggs
The final meal consists of a pound of 75/25 ground beef scrambled with six whole eggs and some sauce for flavor, seasoned with red and real salt. While he's more relaxed with tracking sauces during the off-season, he still focuses on eating high-quality foods. He emphasizes the importance of being in a caloric surplus to build muscle, but aims to mitigate unnecessary fat gain by eating clean, healthy foods. He notes that ketone levels may be lower during a surplus, but this doesn't mean one isn't keto-adapted.
Macros and Conclusion
The macros for the ground beef and eggs meal are 108 grams of protein, zero grams of carbs, and 124 grams of fat, totaling 1680 calories. For the day, this yields a total of 3,324 calories, 266 grams of fat, 15 grams of total carbs, and 175 grams of protein. This equates to about a pound of protein per pound of body weight, with 75% of calories coming from fat. He plans to increase the caloric load bi-weekly as training intensity increases and will document all changes.
