How Fast Do You Lose Muscle When You Stop Working Out? (& Ways To Avoid It)
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Date: 2020-05-17
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Comments and reviews: 9
Joakim
This video makes me sad and discouraged. It seems that my body doesn t work as it should. I m an ectomorph that have struggled with insomnia for about 8 years (2012) now. Started working out in the start of 2013 to try to combat the insomnia. Had some pretty decent gains, and my insomnia got better. Stopped working out after about 2 years of training (start of 2015. Fast forward 4 years (start of 2019) and my insomnia has been rampant for about 4 years as well. Had lost all my gains from before (of course) but started working out again. Hoped that muscle memory would kick in and get me up to speed relatively quickly. But it did not. Progress have been REALLY slow. I never got back to the strength that I had before. Not even close. Took a break for two months because of flu in february 2020. Lost pretty much all my gains from the last year in that break. And now that I m back in the gym I m actually getting WEAKER each session. I ve decided to quit. It seems that my body can t build itself up. And I m really sad about it.
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This video makes me sad and discouraged. It seems that my body doesn t work as it should. I m an ectomorph that have struggled with insomnia for about 8 years (2012) now. Started working out in the start of 2013 to try to combat the insomnia. Had some pretty decent gains, and my insomnia got better. Stopped working out after about 2 years of training (start of 2015. Fast forward 4 years (start of 2019) and my insomnia has been rampant for about 4 years as well. Had lost all my gains from before (of course) but started working out again. Hoped that muscle memory would kick in and get me up to speed relatively quickly. But it did not. Progress have been REALLY slow. I never got back to the strength that I had before. Not even close. Took a break for two months because of flu in february 2020. Lost pretty much all my gains from the last year in that break. And now that I m back in the gym I m actually getting WEAKER each session. I ve decided to quit. It seems that my body can t build itself up. And I m really sad about it.
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Tviper
I can tell you, After 4 weeks I started noticing being deflated. Those resistance bands helps a little but it doesn t stop the progression. After now at 8 weeks, I have lost about 5lbs of muscle and I can certainly notice it. Think the bands are helping me level off. It so depressing, my legs taking the biggest hit so hard to overload with bands. In the bay area gyms are probably closed for another 3months so finally was able to order 7ft barbell on amazon and so I am on the hunt to get plates, bench etc. They are still scarce and or way over priced. Hopefully to get them soon! Should have jumped all over this in the beginning but hindsight is 20/20. But also encouraged that we can easily gain back what we lost in a short time, just need these gyms to open!
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I can tell you, After 4 weeks I started noticing being deflated. Those resistance bands helps a little but it doesn t stop the progression. After now at 8 weeks, I have lost about 5lbs of muscle and I can certainly notice it. Think the bands are helping me level off. It so depressing, my legs taking the biggest hit so hard to overload with bands. In the bay area gyms are probably closed for another 3months so finally was able to order 7ft barbell on amazon and so I am on the hunt to get plates, bench etc. They are still scarce and or way over priced. Hopefully to get them soon! Should have jumped all over this in the beginning but hindsight is 20/20. But also encouraged that we can easily gain back what we lost in a short time, just need these gyms to open!
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Mark
Honestly I'm a bit sceptical when I hear about Matt, who apparently regained all of his lost muscle mass in just two months. I say this because just like him, I lost all of my gains of 6-7 years of training (natural) within 2-3 months of laying in bed plus wheelchair use. After that I had lost about 30 pounds of muscle mass. It took me almost 3 years to regain all of that despite a lot of hard work. Even though there was a positive influence of muscle memory, muscle protein synthesis could not be sped up that much naturally, even though I was eating well, getting my rest and killing myself in the gym. Maybe I am a slow gainer, but regaining that much mass in just two months of training does not sound natural to me.
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Honestly I'm a bit sceptical when I hear about Matt, who apparently regained all of his lost muscle mass in just two months. I say this because just like him, I lost all of my gains of 6-7 years of training (natural) within 2-3 months of laying in bed plus wheelchair use. After that I had lost about 30 pounds of muscle mass. It took me almost 3 years to regain all of that despite a lot of hard work. Even though there was a positive influence of muscle memory, muscle protein synthesis could not be sped up that much naturally, even though I was eating well, getting my rest and killing myself in the gym. Maybe I am a slow gainer, but regaining that much mass in just two months of training does not sound natural to me.
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dmora
I've experienced very little muscle mass at all. only thing that really changed is my got fatter(damn you genetics, but then again, 4-5 days a week I do pullups, inverted rows, close and wide pushups, and dips, no weight other than body weight(which again, rose probably 15lbs. I also run eod and bike 7-11miles EoD day. Actually I think my shoulders got wider. for some unknown reason, you can see above I'm only indirectly training shoulders. I think its age though. I tend to just hold mass, no idea why(probably bc i freaking eat too gdamn much: -/) Edit: I probably should have watched the whole vid before typing lul
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I've experienced very little muscle mass at all. only thing that really changed is my got fatter(damn you genetics, but then again, 4-5 days a week I do pullups, inverted rows, close and wide pushups, and dips, no weight other than body weight(which again, rose probably 15lbs. I also run eod and bike 7-11miles EoD day. Actually I think my shoulders got wider. for some unknown reason, you can see above I'm only indirectly training shoulders. I think its age though. I tend to just hold mass, no idea why(probably bc i freaking eat too gdamn much: -/) Edit: I probably should have watched the whole vid before typing lul
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Bartimaeus18
I think this is really important, and it's great to remind everyone it's okay to lose muscle, it's okay to gain fat, and it's okay to not be training AT ALL if you're sick or in an otherwise difficult quarantine environment. Lots of people are not just stuck at home in a nice apartment, but either have increased family responsibilities, or are themselves really unwell, so I really hope everyone allows themselves to not work out and to not feel guilty if they need to take a training break for however long this pandemic lasts.
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I think this is really important, and it's great to remind everyone it's okay to lose muscle, it's okay to gain fat, and it's okay to not be training AT ALL if you're sick or in an otherwise difficult quarantine environment. Lots of people are not just stuck at home in a nice apartment, but either have increased family responsibilities, or are themselves really unwell, so I really hope everyone allows themselves to not work out and to not feel guilty if they need to take a training break for however long this pandemic lasts.
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Chris
Jeff. Your videos are amazing and I've been seeing gains myself with your help. On the technical side one of the best parts about them is how simple they feel and how easy they are to follow visually. I'd love it if you'd do a video on or share some of the software and hardware you use. For example, when you're quoting peer-reviewed papers the zoom and the moving highlights are fantastic. Would you please shed some light on your video-making process? Please please pretty please. Thank you!
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Jeff. Your videos are amazing and I've been seeing gains myself with your help. On the technical side one of the best parts about them is how simple they feel and how easy they are to follow visually. I'd love it if you'd do a video on or share some of the software and hardware you use. For example, when you're quoting peer-reviewed papers the zoom and the moving highlights are fantastic. Would you please shed some light on your video-making process? Please please pretty please. Thank you!
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Matthew
Jeff, another great video! I've been curious about muscle memory. As we see, muscle lost through de-training can be regained (under certain circumstances. My question is if this holds true for muscle lost through dieting. Let's say you diet hard for under 1 year and lose 5lbs of muscle, will you be able to gain that 5lbs of muscle back in the same way as somehow who lost 5lbs of muscle through detraining? I would love to hear if you have any input or knowledge on this! Thanks.
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Jeff, another great video! I've been curious about muscle memory. As we see, muscle lost through de-training can be regained (under certain circumstances. My question is if this holds true for muscle lost through dieting. Let's say you diet hard for under 1 year and lose 5lbs of muscle, will you be able to gain that 5lbs of muscle back in the same way as somehow who lost 5lbs of muscle through detraining? I would love to hear if you have any input or knowledge on this! Thanks.
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Rosina
You have no idea how much comfort this video gives me! I ve been training 6 day per week 2+ hours a day for more than two years - no miss despite holidays, illness etc. I ve been petrified since the gym closed that all my hard work will go down the drain. I bought an elliptical and use weights up to 30kg and bands with various resistance up to 60kg. Still petrified I won t keep my muscle. This has helped so much to put my mind at ease! Eternally grateful!
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You have no idea how much comfort this video gives me! I ve been training 6 day per week 2+ hours a day for more than two years - no miss despite holidays, illness etc. I ve been petrified since the gym closed that all my hard work will go down the drain. I bought an elliptical and use weights up to 30kg and bands with various resistance up to 60kg. Still petrified I won t keep my muscle. This has helped so much to put my mind at ease! Eternally grateful!
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DazedVornado
I thought I had packed on a decent amount of fat during the past two months. I weighed myself and I was the same weight as pre-rona. My next thought was that I had lost some muscle and gained some fat. I have been training but all light higher volume dumbbell work. So maybe Ive kept the muscle I had. I think it will be interesting to see how much strength I've lost when I finally can get back in the gym and how quickly it comes back. Great Video!
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I thought I had packed on a decent amount of fat during the past two months. I weighed myself and I was the same weight as pre-rona. My next thought was that I had lost some muscle and gained some fat. I have been training but all light higher volume dumbbell work. So maybe Ive kept the muscle I had. I think it will be interesting to see how much strength I've lost when I finally can get back in the gym and how quickly it comes back. Great Video!
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