I'm a college student, and throughout the school year I have access to the fitness center on campus, which I've used every day for the past year. I always used to work out prior to this, but this was first year really "weight lifting", and body has become very toned because of it. I want to keep lifting, but I can't because I'm home for the summer, and I don't belong to a gym (and really can't afford a membership.) As far as "lifting" goes, I squat pretty heavy, (for me at least... I max out at about 140 Ibs.) I ALWAYS do squats and weighted lunges. I also use the weight machines for arms a lot. I don't typically use weights for ab workouts, but sometimes I like to add in a 15 Ib. These are the things I won't be able to do this summer, and it freaks me out because I feel like I'm going to lose all hard work. It might sound silly, but i'm so happy with the way butt looks, and I know it's a result of all of heavy squatting and lunges. I know that I can still do bodyweight squats, lunges, ect., but it's not the same as with weights. So ultimate question is, Will I lose muscle If I don't lift this summer?
P.S., I'm a cross country runner, and I have a pretty intense training schedule this summer. I will be doing a lot of hard cardio, (7/8 miles EVERY day.) I'm afraid this will deplete muscles even more... Or am I wrong?? Please help. Thanks so much!
Will I lose muscle if I stop lifting weights this summer?
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
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rphilipp78
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Re: Will I lose muscle if I stop lifting weights this summer?
Hi Rphillip, good to talk to you.
In short, yes you will lose muscle, but how much I could not tell you, but it wouldn't be all of it, if you have a solid amount, but if you'd, for example, worked out for a few months and gained 5lbs or less, you might lose the lot based on the layoff period, but if it was quiet a lot more than 5lbs, you might not lose the lot.
Your body has something that people sometimes refer to as muscle memory, but it's not strictly a memory it's a membrane of sorts surrounding individual muscles called a fascia and the fascia of any muscle you bulk up, stretches, but when you lose muscle it stays relatively the same, so when you bulk again your muscle comes back faster than it first happened, as the fascia causes little to no resistance like it did before, so muscle recovery can be quicker, then the fascia comes back into play if you yr to progress beyond previous peak muscle levels.
In your case the best way to limit what your referring to, is to adapt your weights workout(s) for a weight free home workout, or alternatively do the weight free workout and use a couple of large-ish books of equal proportions, to workout with and modify your gym workout accordingly.
If you use either of these training adaptations as frequently as the gym workouts and keep your diet the same you should be able to limit the amount of muscle loss you incur.
In short, yes you will lose muscle, but how much I could not tell you, but it wouldn't be all of it, if you have a solid amount, but if you'd, for example, worked out for a few months and gained 5lbs or less, you might lose the lot based on the layoff period, but if it was quiet a lot more than 5lbs, you might not lose the lot.
Your body has something that people sometimes refer to as muscle memory, but it's not strictly a memory it's a membrane of sorts surrounding individual muscles called a fascia and the fascia of any muscle you bulk up, stretches, but when you lose muscle it stays relatively the same, so when you bulk again your muscle comes back faster than it first happened, as the fascia causes little to no resistance like it did before, so muscle recovery can be quicker, then the fascia comes back into play if you yr to progress beyond previous peak muscle levels.
In your case the best way to limit what your referring to, is to adapt your weights workout(s) for a weight free home workout, or alternatively do the weight free workout and use a couple of large-ish books of equal proportions, to workout with and modify your gym workout accordingly.
If you use either of these training adaptations as frequently as the gym workouts and keep your diet the same you should be able to limit the amount of muscle loss you incur.
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strengthcrate
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- Joined: Sun May 24, 2015 7:23 pm
Re: Will I lose muscle if I stop lifting weights this summer?
The short answer is yes you will lose muscle. It takes a lot of energy to build and maintain muscle mass. This is part of the reason why it is so difficult to put on mass. You body is a very efficient and adaptive machine, it only keeps what it needs to survive. The only reason you are put on muscle in the first place is because you body is responding to stress and it is adapting to that stress. On average it takes about 2 weeks for you body to start breaking down muscle tissue and using it for fuel. This is the average everyone is different. If you have a faster metabolism you can expect to lose you gains quicker.