The world of fitness is sometimes quite ironic. While hitting the gym regularly, you will see people who work hard to gain muscles and wish to have the ideal masculine structure of the body. But at the same time, there are people who threw out themself to lose muscles, due to many reasons. Either it is because they have issues like unwanted muscle growth in a particular part of their body to make them look awful, or fed up to live like a hulk, feel like they are losing the aesthetic balance of their body, or anything else.
Whatever be the reason, if you are looking for various aspects of losing muscle mass, you have reached the right spot.
Muscle Growth And Losing Muscle Mass
Muscle growth is a complex process that requires strength training and bodybuilding techniques, along with following a protein-rich high-calorie diet. As you follow an intense workout routine in your plan to gain muscles, you will experience a lot of muscle breaks and injuries, which are essential for the growth of your muscles. Then they get repaired, gain strength and become bulkier during rest periods after workout sessions. And this process is greatly supported by the protein that is received from your diet.
How To Lose Muscle Mass?
This idea which you have come up with to lose muscle mass will not be welcomed by most fitness lovers. And I can imagine they would frown as if they were about to rip your tongue out. But, the decision is always yours. It is solely up to you, whether to maintain muscles or let them go.
So, what I was telling you is, the process of losing muscle mass is not as complex as gaining them. If you are truly frustrated to have a bigger body, you need to bring certain changes to your usual routines.
1 Dietary Changes
Aiming to lose muscle mass, you can begin with reducing your daily calorie intake. When you take fewer calories, it will stop providing your muscles with the needed calories. Then it will gradually get loosen up, preparing yourself to lose the mass out. Ensure that you are taking less protein and carbohydrates and following a sufficient portion control.
2 Altering Your Workout plans
Secondly, you have to reduce the intensity of your workout sessions. When you need to train with weights to gain muscle mass, you have to alter the frequency of your training tones and cut down the weight that you are training with. Even though you are aiming to lose muscle mass, you can still maintain a well-toned physique with moves that require not much effort from your side. Besides, it will help you not to fully let go of your endurance.
3 Do More Cardio
Since your aim is shifted to burn calories, from gaining muscle mass, you have to give more priority to cardiovascular exercises. You can also follow marathon cardio, aiming to leave your muscles far behind.
Tips To Lose Muscle Mass
When you aim to lose muscle mass, you need to do almost everything just the opposite. Like a high-calorie diet to a low-calorie diet, or doing more lifts to no more lifts. Here are the other tips you can follow to abandon your muscles easier.
- Do long periods of cardio
- While working out, do fewer numbers of reps
- Expand your rest time to get full recovery
- Eat less fat and sugar
- Eat more veggies and fruits.
How Long Will It Take To Lose Muscle Mass?
If you are an athlete, taking a small break from your usual routine to gain muscle strength will not bring many changes in your muscle mass. But if you give up all the efforts to gain muscle mass for a long period, you are more likely to start losing muscle strength after 3-4 weeks. But remember that it will also reduce the level of your endurance.
If you come under the category of non-athletes, you are more likely to lose the progress of your fitness routine, as well as to experience a significant drop in muscle strength. But, in the case of losing muscle mass, it will take almost a similar time to that of athletes. i.e., three weeks.
Loss Of Muscle Mass In Different Age Groups And Gender
Your age and gender have a direct link to determine how long it would take to lose muscle mass. Since it is not so easy to maintain a muscular body after reaching a certain age, you are more likely to lose your muscle mass quickly then.
On the basis of gender, there is no difference in this among young people. But in elderly adults, women are more likely to lose muscle mass more when compared to men. Just because they lose strength after menopause.
It is not advisable to lose muscle mass whatever your excuse is, except for certain cases like having awkward muscle growth in any part of your body. But you have to seek medical advice before proceeding with any such decisions.