I got a good question from one of my readers that I think you should check out:
Question: “How to stop muscle atrophy when you either stop gyming and dont have access to home gym or when you take a short brake from gym (say 2-3 weeks) Thanks, Ben"
To answer this question let's take a look at how your body views muscle.
And the truth is your body doesn't care for big muscles and would rather get rid of it which is why a lot of guys experienced atrophy (muscle breakdown) when they stop going to the gym or take a short break.
Why?
Because your body knows that your muscles are an expensive body tissue. Your body has to dedicate protein, calories and other nutrients to maintain muscle tissue. And the more muscle tissue you have, the more protein calories and other nutrients your body needs to dedicate just to maintain it.
Your body views large amounts of muscle as an expensive luxury car. Sure it’s nice to have but not necessary for survival.
So now that you know how your body views large amounts of muscle. Let's take a look at muscle atrophy. And this basically occurs when your body begins to get rid of (break down) your muscle tissue.
Muscle Atrophy (muscle breakdown) Happens For Basically 2 Key Reasons:
Muscle Atrophy Reason #1: You’re Not Consuming Enough Calories to Keep Your Muscle
Remember your body thinks of your muscle like a brand new luxury car which comes with high monthly payments and the currency is (calories).
So in order to keep your muscles you have to be able to afford your muscles. What do I mean by that?
Example: Let’s say you owned a car. And it cost $300 / month to maintain it (gas, maintenance and insurance), if you can’t afford to pay that $300 a month all of a sudden you’d have to get rid of the car, right??
Your body does the same thing with your muscles.
If you don’t consume enough carbs and protein to maintain your muscles your body will get rid of it (by breaking it down for energy)
Remember your muscles consume calories. And if your muscles are demanding more calories than you consume YOUR BODY WILL GET RID OF IT
Muscle Atrophy Reason #2: You’re Not Using Those Muscles
Your body also views your muscles like a mom looking at their lazy 26 year old son still living in the house. Your body basically says "If he doesn't pull his weight around here, then he's gone!"
If your body sees your muscles just sitting there and not contributing (working out) then your body says “It's time to go!”
Remember your body would love to do other things with the nutrients it provides to your big muscles and the first chance it gets (if you don’t work them out), it WILL look to get rid of your muscles.
If you stop "gyming" and take a short break like 2 - 3 weeks and you want to still keep your heard earned muscles:
- Ensure you're still consuming a high calorie diet AND you're keeping your muscles engaged (it doesn't have to be intense training like Heavy weight lifting, you can do body weight exercises.
Just make sure your body doesn't see your muscles like a mom sees her lazy 26 year old son still in the house sucking up all the resources.
Train hard,
Rich