Re: Muscle Deterioration

[Guest guest]

> Does anyone know at the rate your muscles start to deteriorate, if you are not

working out

with weights for awhile, but continuing to do cardio, and also maintaining a

high protein

diet?

I researched this a little while ago -- I think it was 3-4 weeks before muscles

start to

atrophy.

[Guest guest]

You're not going to find a straight answer on this because it varies

so much from person to person, and it depends very heavily on other

factors like your diet and your physical condition when you stop

training. If you continue to eat right and do cardio, you're not going

to have the same sharp drops in conditioning as someone who stops all

exercise and starts eating junk food, which is what most people do.

Everything I've seen says there's a big drop in performance in the

first three weeks and then it levels off, and that has mainly to due

with neurological motor unit recruitment stuff and not muscle tissue

physically disappearing off your body. Actual muscle loss seems to

take 4-6 weeks in people who are not training at all.

Honestly, I think you should be able to maintain just fine and come

back quickly. Most of it is mental. There have even been some studies

showing that people who visualize strength training receive some

benefits from it without actually doing it.

If you believe you're going to atrophy and die and end up back at

square one, that's exactly how it will go. If you believe you're going

to eat clean, train smart, and recover quickly, you can make it

happen.

On 5/30/05, Kerr <alexemmekerr@...> wrote:

> Does anyone know at the rate your muscles start to deteriorate, if you are not

working out with weights for awhile, but continuing to do cardio, and also

maintaining a high protein diet?

> ~

[Guest guest]

I have to agree with Skwigg on the mental rehearsal stuff. I just went

to a course where we talked about stroke recovery and how they've done

studies on the brain (MRI's, etc), and they find that there are parts of

the brain involved in mental practice (receiving )2, burning fat, etc.)

that are unrelated to other parts - it's more complicated than that, but

I know I've seen it work for recovery, so there's no reason for it not

to work on healthy individuals.

Skwigg wrote:

> You're not going to find a straight answer on this because it varies

> so much from person to person, and it depends very heavily on other

> factors like your diet and your physical condition when you stop

> training. If you continue to eat right and do cardio, you're not going

> to have the same sharp drops in conditioning as someone who stops all

> exercise and starts eating junk food, which is what most people do.

>

> Everything I've seen says there's a big drop in performance in the

> first three weeks and then it levels off, and that has mainly to due

> with neurological motor unit recruitment stuff and not muscle tissue

> physically disappearing off your body. Actual muscle loss seems to

> take 4-6 weeks in people who are not training at all.

>

> Honestly, I think you should be able to maintain just fine and come

> back quickly. Most of it is mental. There have even been some studies

> showing that people who visualize strength training receive some

> benefits from it without actually doing it.

>

> If you believe you're going to atrophy and die and end up back at

> square one, that's exactly how it will go. If you believe you're going

> to eat clean, train smart, and recover quickly, you can make it

> happen.

>

>

>

>

>

> On 5/30/05, Kerr <alexemmekerr@...> wrote:

> > Does anyone know at the rate your muscles start to deteriorate, if

> you are not working out with weights for awhile, but continuing to do

> cardio, and also maintaining a high protein diet?

> > ~

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks,

This makes me feel a lot better. I was freaking about losing muscle. I have a

game plan for the diet. So, it sounds like I will be able to maintain during

this recovery period. I guess I just have to think I'm a kick butt body builder

and my muscle will remain....I can do that!! LOL

~

Skwigg <skwigg@...> wrote:

You're not going to find a straight answer on this because it varies

so much from person to person, and it depends very heavily on other

factors like your diet and your physical condition when you stop

training. If you continue to eat right and do cardio, you're not going

to have the same sharp drops in conditioning as someone who stops all

exercise and starts eating junk food, which is what most people do.

Everything I've seen says there's a big drop in performance in the

first three weeks and then it levels off, and that has mainly to due

with neurological motor unit recruitment stuff and not muscle tissue

physically disappearing off your body. Actual muscle loss seems to

take 4-6 weeks in people who are not training at all.

Honestly, I think you should be able to maintain just fine and come

back quickly. Most of it is mental. There have even been some studies

showing that people who visualize strength training receive some

benefits from it without actually doing it.

If you believe you're going to atrophy and die and end up back at

square one, that's exactly how it will go. If you believe you're going

to eat clean, train smart, and recover quickly, you can make it

happen.

On 5/30/05, Kerr <alexemmekerr@...> wrote:

> Does anyone know at the rate your muscles start to deteriorate, if you are not

working out with weights for awhile, but continuing to do cardio, and also

maintaining a high protein diet?

> ~

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