First off, I have never taken KIQ, but only because it is priced higher than I can afford. I just find it interesting that it is now being advertised an ‘ozempic’ substitute, and no longer as the ‘legal superfuel’ that it was a few months ago. Their marketing budget is massive, as they are paying tons of fitess influencers to peddle this stuff like it’s candy. Just sharing to say it’s weird for them to make such a drastic shift in the benefits of drinking their liquid. Seems like a snake oil approach.
FWIW it is a snake oil supplement and unless someone can educate me otherwise from what I’ve seen it’s a solution in search of a problem.
I listened to a podcast with the founder of Ketone IQ and couldn’t have been less impressed. I’ve also seen people self-test how much impact Ketone IQ has on their ketone levels and it’s impact was pretty small, such that the ‘expensive’ ketones were actually cheaper to raise yourself to any given level.
All these supplements are always snake oil, but I was even more convinced of that after Sam Long mentioned the product like 30 times in one of his race recaps lol.
I went deep and decided to ask chat GPT the important questions about Ketone-IQ. Answer posted verbatim below…
“Taking Ketone-IQ does not shrink your penis. If you have concerns about the effects of any supplement, it is best to consult with a healthcare professional for personalized advice.”
I’ve posted in other threads but over a period of about 2 months leading into 70.3 worlds last year I used 12 bottles of the stuff. One of them was in the days before the race. I always used it after training during recovery because at least from the limited studies I reviewed that evidence was more compelling of a potential EPO boost when taken during recovery. Although, I realize the data was for BDO not BHB if I remember my acronyms right, I got the stuff on sale with a credit on top of it so I figured I’d give it a try.
I also hit the 6x before Lahti as well… Hah. But I had my fastest time ever compared to other races/courses of a similar difficulty. The only race I’ve done faster was Salem, with a river swim. So anyway, I have no idea to know if it made a difference. I certainly didn’t feel like superman or anything after taking it.
I am as much skeptical of the results as I am the long term health impacts of taking something like that regularly.
But in my case, my n=1 could be spun to be positive or could be spun to be any number of things. For whatever it’s worth, I would think travelling to Finland from west coast USA would tend to cause me to have a worse race, and the course wasn’t flat and easy by any means and it was my best ever. So that’s something.
Of course, I also train. And that adds up too.
That’s the great thing about snake oil, it cures just about everything.
I like the German approach to products like these. If it’s marketed that heavily it must either be: lousy (why else would they need to push it so hard), or vastly overpriced (to pay for all those ads).
I just find it interesting that it is now being advertised an ‘ozempic’ substitute,
Don’t forget it cures ADHD too, or so one might be led to believe if they listen to any of the Lance Armstrong family of podcast products.
Their marketing budget is massive, as they are paying tons of fitess influencers to peddle this stuff like it’s candy.
They’ve been in contact with me / my company to promote this. I was very skeptical. They sent over a few boxes of it. It didn’t do a thing for me. Nothing at all. i upped the dose using two bottles (AUD$14 each!). Still nothing. The best I can describe the taste is “used ashtray water”. It’s one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever tasted.
Thankfully I’m in a position that I can turn down having to promote things that don’t work (for me) and that I’d be uncomfortable “promoting” based on my own experience.
Thanks for chiming in. In terms of wild speculation, how much do you think Sebi Kienle could be getting for his promotional activities? I just hope it’s worthwhile for him because the slide in credibility of the promoter is quite dramatic.
Thanks for chiming in. In terms of wild speculation, how much do you think Sebi Kienle could be getting for his promotional activities? I just hope it’s worthwhile for him because the slide in credibility of the promoter is quite dramatic.
Gerard ‘G’ Thomas from Grenadiers heavily promotes them too on his podcast too.
that’s an amazing description of the taste. I haven’t tried it, but always assumed it was the AG1 of the endurance world. massive marketing budget driving it but it’s fool’s gold in a plastic bottle. I suspect the riders huffing carbon monoxide is the real cheat code, though, we hear very little about it. Though, I suspect that will change soon.
99.98% pure bottled carbon monoxide from burning sustainably grown biomass. I hope that whoever does it first will pay you a royalty for the idea 😂