Losing Muscle

SAFC CLUD

Central Defender
Haven’t been training consistently since mid November time and have noticed significant changes in how much I can lift, is this just a case of dusting off the cobwebs or back to square one?
 


If you were learning French and you hadn’t studied or practiced for 2 months I would expect you to be tres merde at speaking the lingo.
 
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If you've not been seriously training consistently then naturally your strength will deplete and your body will have broken down a fair whack of muscle mass. It's just natural. I often find even after a couple of days on the lash or a week of bad habits, my usual sets are a lot harder than usual.

Easy enough to correct and I usually bounce back quicker than it took to progress to that level. I think muscle memory plays a big part in it
 
If you were learning French and you hadn’t studied or practiced for 2 months I would expect you to be tres merde at speaking the lingo.
Cheers mate, very helpful, think could possibly be a case of trying too much too soon as was farely happy until the last 20mins
 
Bad news - You've lost muscle and strength.

Good news - Most likely significantly less than it appears. Intramuscular glycogen/water changes and down regulating of the positive neural adaptations will account for more than actual contractile tissue losses.
 
Related query. Been doing strong lifts 5 x 5 for about nine months, pleased with the results for strength/muscle growth (yay newbie gains) but still carrying too much fat for my liking.

Thinking I need some calorie deficit but how worried do I need to be about losing muscle as well as fat if I go into deficit for an extended time? I assume I can do damage limitation with a high protein % of my calories in but I'm not sure how protective that will be.
 
Related query. Been doing strong lifts 5 x 5 for about nine months, pleased with the results for strength/muscle growth (yay newbie gains) but still carrying too much fat for my liking.

Thinking I need some calorie deficit but how worried do I need to be about losing muscle as well as fat if I go into deficit for an extended time? I assume I can do damage limitation with a high protein % of my calories in but I'm not sure how protective that will be.

I've been on a calorie deficit since February 2019, eating maintenence from beginning of this week and I've piled on muscle mass. Obviously newbie gains, but for that first six months all I did was cardio.

A high protein, low carb low fat cut seemed to spur on my fat loss as well.
 
Related query. Been doing strong lifts 5 x 5 for about nine months, pleased with the results for strength/muscle growth (yay newbie gains) but still carrying too much fat for my liking.

Thinking I need some calorie deficit but how worried do I need to be about losing muscle as well as fat if I go into deficit for an extended time? I assume I can do damage limitation with a high protein % of my calories in but I'm not sure how protective that will be.
You will lose both but if you're training you'll help the ratio. Bear in mind if you choose to go with low carb, you won't have the glycogen to lift as much. I've found skipping meals has really helped me lose weight. Down about 18 pounds from a year ago.
 
That’s encouraging, cheers.

Should mention I haven't piled on muscle mass this week from eating maintenence. My comment could be clearer.

I was severely overweight and haven't been in a surplus or regular level intake til Monday, and I've managed to gain muscle mass quite well.

My mate dropped the weight before lifting weights and is struggling to gain meaningful mass as he's not eating in a big enough surplus.

Might just be different people have a different dispensation to gaining muscle, but from my experience if you're overweight and carrying high body fat, you can realistically still build muscle on a deficit, thus also dropping the fat.
 
Thanks, I‘m carrying too much body fat for sure, hopefully the newbie gains continue for a bit.

As long as you progressively overload during your weight training and continue in a mild calorie deficit you'll be alright I think. The high protein cut I did which I mentioned in another thread really seemed to boost my weigh loss, with most of the weight dropped coming from fat. I went from 18-22% body fat to around the 15% mark in the month I was cutting. 2 weeks of that most of my intake was a split of 60/25/15 protein, carbs, fat.
 
Just FYI for anyone interested, I've been in calorie deficit for a few weeks now. I may have lost muscle mass, but not visually (more definition as fat come off possibly) and still able to slowly progress on what I'm lifting.

Eating wise I've been going with a lot of protein in the 24hrs after lifting/near break even calories in and out that day. In the 24hrs up to a gym session I have a more significant caloric deficit.

Weight loss is gradual, seems to be working ok.
 

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