The focus of this blog piece will be around quantifying the
rate of decline in muscle mass resulting from the effects of disuse and time
off from the gym. Whilst not intending to be a fear mongering post, I do feel
it is important that you understand how rapidly the body can change for the
worst during a period of time off. Not only can the body decrease muscle
protein synthesis, it can also become more resistant to building lean tissue
which over all makes it harder to gain back any muscle lost in the first place.
The facts:
Wall et al. (2016) hypothesize that short term periods of immobilisation
leading to disuse of skeletal muscle enhances the rate of sarcopenia over a
person’s life span. The research group assessed the quadriceps cross sectional
area as well as the postabsorptive myofibrillar protein synthesis rates
following a period of 5 days of immobility of the subjects leg (Wall et al.,
2016). The findings of this study were that after just 5 days, the leg cross
sectional area was down 3.9 ± 0.6% and the post absorptive myofibrillar protein
synthesis rates were down 41 ± 13%. The researchers were able to conclude that
just 5 days of disuse was enough to substantially lower protein synthesis rates
and lead to muscle atrophy in disused limbs (Wall et al., 2016). Wall, Morton
and van Loon (2015) suggest that whilst the rate of decline is substantial,
keeping quality protein ingestion high within the diet is a great way to try
and offset the decline in muscle cross sectional area. This is especially
important for athletes who are over coming injury or those on a period of
hiatus from their regular strength training routine (Wall, Morton & van
Loon, 2015).
How to offset the
loss:
There are really only two possible ways to reduce the rate of muscular atrophy
within the body. Number one being highlighted by Wall, Morton and van Loon
(2015), who suggest being mindful of protein intake, timing and quality
throughout your day. Option two being supported by Hume, Cheung, Maxwell and
Weerapong (2004), who propose the repeated bout effect of resistance training.
The authors suggest that a bout of resistance training at least one time per
week provides the stimulus necessary for an increase in muscle protein
synthesis and to offset the rate of muscle protein degradation (Hume, Cheung,
Maxwell & Weerapong, 2004). The authors also highlight a single bout of
resistance training as being enough stimuli to protect the body from the
severity of delayed onset muscle soreness for the next bout of training. This is
something I alluded to within my hypertrophy specific mini-series.
My thoughts on the matter:
For me, I see building muscle tissue within the body as an uphill battle at the
best of times. There are many factors which are at play within the body to
either build us up or tear us down and unfortunately, time away from the gym is
the biggest player in increasing muscle turnover or degradation. There are
neurological and physiological adaptations which happen within the body in the
beginning stages of a resistance training program which tend to slow down over
time, as the rate of return on investment declines. This is not to deter
somebody from continually striving for more within the gym, but it is to be
realistic and say that we will not always improve as fast as we once did. With
this in mind, we must highlight however, that the rate of decline is the same
no matter how trained or untrained we are. What a trained body has though, is a
higher starting point to mitigate the losses seen with de-training or time off
from exercise. The ceiling limit is higher in the well trained person and they
will take longer to end up back at square one than the beginner, however the
rate of decline is the same. We all fall down at the same rate which is why it
is important to understand how to offset the loss, even if it is inevitable
that there will be a loss. As highlighted throughout this post, having good quality
protein ingestion is a good defence against muscle atrophy. Second to this, is
trying to get in at least one training session per week. This does not have to
be from a specific gym work out, and can be from an exercise stimulus you are
not accustomed to such as hiking, swimming or body weight exercises. If on
holiday or injured, something is still better than nothing.
References:
Hume, P.A., Cheung, K., Maxwell, L., & Weerapong, P. (2004). DOMS: an
overview of treatment strategies. International
SportMed Journal, 5(2), 98-118.
Wall, B.T., Dirks, M.L., Snijders, T., van Dijk, J.W., Fritsch, M., Verdijk,
L.B., & van Loon, L.J.C. (2016). Short-term muscle disuse lowers myofibrillar
protein synthesis rates and induces anabolic resistance to protein ingestion. American Journal of Physiology, 310(2),
137.
Wall, B.T., Morton, J.P., & van Loon, L.J.C. (2015). Strategies to maintain
skeletal muscle mass in the injured athlete: nutritional considerations and
exercise mimetics. European Journal of
Sports Science, 15(1), 53-62.