How much working out do I need to do to prevent muscle loss?

B

biggestloser105

New member
What is the minimum amount of exercise that will prevent muscle loss? I don't have access to a gym, and all I do is 3x a week 30 minute sessions of things like sit ups, push ups and 7-10lb free weights.

I'll do each exercise in 3 sets of 10 repetitions. I am wondering if this will be enough or if I should be doing more. (Though it would be very inconvenient for me to attend a gym, in part because I have asthma and gyms are frequently sprayed with cleanser.)
 
Supposedly, just through adequate protein and moderate exercise you can prevent and even build muscle. Everybody is different though, so no one can determine that for you. If you are not constantly getting stronger every week, then you're either over-training or losing muscle mass.
 
The rule of thumb I've heard is to maintain strength you need to work out at least once every five days.

You should be able to cover just about your full body with the following:
Lower body, such as squats or lunges (lunges if squats get easier).
Upper body push - push-ups work fine here.
Upper body pull - bent over rows with your 10lb weights, milk jugs full of water, or if you have a bar, pull-ups.
Core work - such as planks, bridges etc. (You can do sit-ups, but planks are probably better from a functional perspective.)

3 sets of 10 should work fine.

Here's a link to some other body weight exercises if you're interested in expanding your options -
 
If you want to look at it from a scientific/mathmatical approach then this is a very good read.



It seems there are some assumptions in his research, and of course everyone is different, but i think this can give you a good general idea of how many calories you require to not lose lean muscle mass.
 
So I went to a nutritionist today to take a body fat reading, it's weird because according to my home scale I went down by 3.5% body fat (not for my whole weight loss, but for the last 25 pounds), but on her machine it was 9% body fat % change. The initial values of the scale and the machine were the same, but the final values differ a lot.

Maybe it's because I went to her in the evening, and my skin was somewhat damp and I had about 2 pounds of water retention in me, and I take my own reading in the morning when I'm dry. Still, the difference was so huge. It makes me worry that my scale is not accurate.

According to her machine I lost 25 lbs of fat and gained 2 lbs of lean mass. But according to my machine I lost lean mass. Hm.

(If anyone is curious, on my machine I went from 43.5 to 40%, and on hers from 43 to 34.)
 
Last edited:
biggestloser105 said:
So I went to a nutritionist today to take a body fat reading, it's weird because according to my home scale I went down by 3.5% body fat (not for my whole weight loss, but for the last 25 pounds), but on her machine it was 9% body fat % change. The initial values of the scale and the machine were the same, but the final values differ a lot.

Maybe it's because I went to her in the evening, and my skin was somewhat damp and I had about 2 pounds of water retention in me, and I take my own reading in the morning when I'm dry. Still, the difference was so huge. It makes me worry that my scale is not accurate.

According to her machine I lost 25 lbs of fat and gained 2 lbs of lean mass. But according to my machine I lost lean mass. Hm.

(If anyone is curious, on my machine I went from 43.5 to 40%, and on hers from 43 to 34.)
Click to expand...

Fat % machines vary alot to put it midly. They work via a current which runs through your body and the speed at which it does gives you your fat% reading. But its designed to give a result if your perfectly hydrated, not overly hydrated or dehydrated. Its rare that anyone is hydrated to exactly the same degree throughout the day, this will mess with the measurements given.

Then there are the variations in machines, there are theories that certain machines inflate measurements to promote gym useage or deter bad habits, there are machines that may be more or less accurate then the other, there are broken machines, better versions of machines...the list is endless! At least save yourself the stress of machine variation, stick to one machine, one day of the week, one time of the day and watch how much or little you drink 24 hours beforehand.
 
scales suck ass... calipers aren't much better. expect to be a few to 10% off depending on a varity of factors..

hydrostatic or MRI, those are the only ones that are worth anything when talking body fat %...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top