AVOID LOSING MUSCLE MASS YOU PUT ON DURING BULKING SEASON

YOU’VE WORKED HARD TO BUILD STRENGTH; TIME TO GUARD AGAINST MUSCLE LOSS

For many athletes the off-season is about relaxing your nutrition focus and encouraging muscle growth and strength gain. Yet once it’s time to cut or get more sport-specific with training, how do you maintain the muscle gained? For some athletes, the fear of muscle loss stems from being sidelined due to injury. No matter why your training has changed or stopped, both exercise and nutrition must play a role for you to successfully avoid muscle loss.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO LOSE MUSCLE MASS?

Let’s start from the beginning. What happens when we completely stop exercising?

Our initial perception of muscle loss is from our muscles simply “looking” smaller. Interestingly, this may not be muscle loss at all, but rather loss of water and glycogen from within the muscle. Glycogen is the stored form of carbs and with it we always store about 3 grams water, so there is quite a bit of muscle size lost simply due to the shedding of these nutrients.^1, 2, 3

So what about actual muscle? How long does it take to lose it?

“That’s a bit of a tough question to give an exact answer to, because it’s not like if Ronnie Coleman doesn’t lift for two weeks, he’s going to look like Steve Urkel all of a sudden, right?” jokes Doug MacLean, USA Triathlon Level 2 Coach, CSCS—a former professional triathlete and current coach with QT2 Systems in Boston, MA. “I’d say that an athlete will start to notice decreased strength after four to five days, but that’s mostly due to the neuromuscular system losing some of its ‘sharpness.’”

MacLean goes on to say that losing muscle is actually a very gradual process and—in fact—strength and muscle mass come back much quicker once you start to train again.

In fact, studies indicate that even with 2 to 3 weeks of detraining, muscle strength and adaptations are mostly retained.^4, 5 Some studies also suggest that taking a couple weeks off completely from a long-term exercise program allows for similar gains in strength when compared to groups who exercised continuously without the break.⁵

In a review of evidence-based recommendations for muscle hypertrophy, researchers indicate that people may start noticing a drop off in their strength after about 3 weeks.

WORKING OUT TO MAINTAIN MUSCLE MASS

MacLean says that often the muscle you want to maintain is “largely dependent upon what sport you’re participating in. In long-distance racing sports such as marathon running, too much muscle mass can be a detriment, and so the athlete is going to really just focus on exercises related to injury prevention. In a ‘quick twitch sport’ such as football or hockey, I’d recommend maintaining a similar lifting program to what was done in the offseason, but with reduced frequency.”

Studies back this up. Research suggests that muscle strength can be mostly maintained while working out less frequently. In one study, people who resistance trained 2 days per week had about 80% of the strength gains accomplished by people who trained 3 days per week.⁸

Another study looked at training frequency and volume. It indicated that people who trained two days per week and performed 3 sets of 10 repetitions had similar strength gains as people who trained three times per week and performed 2 sets of 10 repetitions. The study authors suggest that volume of exercise (total time) may be more important than frequency (how many times per week).⁹

If you’re coming into an endurance sport after a building phase or bulking season, there’s good news. It may be possible to maintain muscle mass and strength by doing just one or two resistance workouts per week in addition to continued endurance training.^, 11

“I’m a big fan of using body-weight exercises to maintain muscle mass while also keeping in-season injury risk at a lower level,” MacLean adds. “My favorites are oldies but goodies: pull-ups, push-ups, one-leg squats, one-leg calf raises, leg levers and glute bridges. I’ll also incorporate a lot of high-rep resistance band work.”

SIDELINED DUE TO INJURY

Muscle loss while injured is sometimes unavoidable—particularly in the site of the injury. Yet “overall muscle mass can generally be maintained by focusing on what you CAN do and engaging in exercises that 1) don’t cause pain at the injury site and 2) don’t put the injury site at risk of further injury,” MacLean cautions. “It can help to look at injuries as opportunities, not just as bummers.”

But what’s exciting is that new research may indicate that muscle loss may be curbed in an immobilized limb (such as an arm or leg in a cast) by exercising the opposite limb. A study published in 2020 had three groups, all with one arm in a sling to immobilize it for 8 hours per day. One group did no exercises while two others performed exercises 3 times per week with the non-immobilized arm. The results demonstrated that decreases in muscle size and strength in the immobilized arm were lessened in both exercise groups, with eccentric exercises (those that lengthen a muscle, such as lowering your arm after a bicep curl) showing the most promising results.

BOTTOM LINE

1. You could potentially skip about 2 weeks of working out and not lose too much muscle mass.

2. You may not need to work out as frequently to prevent muscle loss.

3. If injured, safely exercise uninjured body parts with the permission from your health care provider.

NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENT TIPS TO HELP PREVENT MUSCLE LOSS

When it comes to preserving muscle, a few nutritional strategies may help you meet your goals as well.

Meet Your Protein Needs: According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, athletes need about 1.2 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. A lack of protein can lead to excessive protein catabolism, or breakdown—not something we want when the goal is muscle maintenance. While it is possible for most athletes to get their protein through a well-balanced diet, adding in a protein supplement may be a practical and easy way to ensure protein needs are met.

According to Beth Peterson RD, CSSD, LDN, sports dietitian and operations director of The Run Formula and Core Diet, “Having some protein before bed may actually encourage muscle repair and rebuilding. I recommend about 20 grams of protein powder to my athletes within 30 minutes or so before bedtime.”

Studies support this recommendation. Research on protein before bed is fairly extensive and has suggested that consuming a protein supplement before bed may impact recovery and muscle protein synthesis.^{14, 15, 16, 17}

HMB: Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) is formed when the amino acid leucine breaks down. Studies show this metabolite may both improve protein synthesis as well as play a role in decreasing protein breakdown when combined with resistance training.^18, 19, 20

Eat Enough Calories: Especially if you are completely out of the game due to an injury, eating to maintain weight is important. Taking in too few calories leads the body to break down stored carbs, fat and protein for energy, which may affect your muscle mass.^21, 22 To help preserve muscle mass, keep an eye on your weight and continue to eat a varied, balanced diet.