Introduction
As ketogenic diets have become big news among ‘civilians’, cyclical ketogenic diets (CKDs) are big news among athletes. Ketogenic diets offer remarkably rapid fat loss with superior muscle retention compared to carbohydrate or gluconeogenic (high protein) diets. Done right, ketogenic diets are absolutely the best diets for fat loss and high, stable energy. Read what we have to say about them here.

There is already much information available about basic CKD and its rationale that is beyond the scope of this article. http://www.ckd.com is a great place to start if you are interested. What interests us here is how to improve CKD.

CKD Overview
CKDs are based on a period of ketosis followed by a period of “loading” carbohydrates. The theory behind CKD is to break ketosis every 5 to 10 days for 1 to 3 days of high carb intake:
Restore muscle glycogen
Restore gym performance
Rebuild any lost muscle (and hopefully add some new muscle)

As a bonus, by loading carbs from a depleted base it is possible to super-saturate our muscles with glycogen. That is (in layman’s terms) muscles nearly devoid of glycogen (and water) are so hungry for glucose that they can be “trickled” into taking up to 50% more glycogen (and water) before they realize it. what happened. In this super-glycogenated state, our muscles look and feel perpetually ‘pumped’ and swollen. And inflating a muscle cell to the limit is a powerful stimulus for muscle growth.

CKD problems
While the original 5-Day/2-Carb Ketogenic CKD works well for fat loss, only the genetically gifted few can gain muscle on it; and even they would have been better off on another diet. The problems are that, even using glucose disposal ‘supplements’:
The zero carb period before reaching ketosis is quite catabolic
It takes most dieters 2-3 catabolic days to achieve ketosis, leaving only 2-3 days of rapid fat loss
Few people can achieve glycogen supercompensation in just 2 days and without excess carbohydrates ‘spilling over’ into fat stores
Protein synthesis takes time, and the few hours of muscle cell hyperexpansion do not take sufficient advantage of this powerful mechanism.

Would not it be nice…?
While the above issues can be partially addressed with longer CKD cycles, say 7-11 days keto with 3 days of carb loading, periods of anabolism are still too short to gain significant muscle but long enough to regain a significant amount of fat. We really want some way to exploit the full carb load condition for a few more days without getting fat.

Continuing to carb load is redundant when the muscles have already overcompensated: excess carbs are converted to fat. Increasing calories in the early days of ketosis is anti-catabolic but it doesn’t exploit the unique anabolic environment we create with carbohydrates.

Fortunately, the metabolic swings of CKD create another natural opportunity for muscle growth.

protein intake
The ketogenic phase requires 70-80% fat intake (otherwise the diet will be gluconeogenic) and carb loading requires 60-75% carb intake; therefore, protein intake throughout CKD is only moderate to low (