Costa Rica: We Have a Problem (Muscle Loss)

Ok, I won’t cry about this but after losing 75 pounds while gaining muscle, I had surgery and now I am losing muscle which is not making me happy.

losing muscle

I am still in the “I can’t go to the gym because… surgery”, but still.

Anyway, I started to look for recommendations and here are a few reasons of why you can’t build muscle. I know my problem is not that I am not gaining muscle and instead it is that I can’t hit the gym, but since I am starting soon I wanted to search for some information:

  1. Diet: Insufficient Protein Key Point: Protein is the building block of muscle tissue. Dr. Mike recommends consuming 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight daily for optimal muscle growth.

Additional Insight: Without sufficient protein, your body won’t have the necessary raw materials to repair and build muscle fibers post-exercise. While 1 gram per pound is a general rule, if you’re very lean or have a high body fat percentage, you might adjust this slightly based on your lean body mass. Opt for high-quality protein sources like chicken, fish, eggs, dairy, and plant-based options like lentils or quinoa.

  1. Diet: Not Enough Calories Key Point: Gaining 0.5-1 lb per week indicates that you’re eating enough calories for muscle growth. If you’re not gaining weight, you’re not in a caloric surplus, which is required for muscle development.

Additional Insight: Muscle growth (hypertrophy) is energy-intensive, so your body needs to be in a caloric surplus. If you’re eating but not gaining weight, you may need to track calories more closely, ensuring you account for all meals, snacks, and drinks. Nutrient-dense foods like nuts, avocados, whole grains, and oils can help you increase caloric intake without feeling excessively full.

  1. Training: Poor Technique Key Point: Bad form can prevent proper muscle engagement, leading to slow or no growth. Good technique ensures that the target muscle is being worked optimally.

Additional Insight: Proper form is crucial for isolating the correct muscle groups and avoiding injury. Dr. Mike stresses that exercises should be done with controlled movements, focusing especially on the eccentric phase (lowering phase) where muscles elongate under tension, which is important for muscle damage and growth. If you’re not sure about your form, consider recording yourself or working with a coach to correct issues.

  1. Training: Lack of Intensity Key Point: Training intensity refers to how hard you push during each set. Dr. Mike emphasizes getting to around 3 reps in reserve (RIR), meaning you stop a set when you can only do 3 more reps before failure.

Additional Insight: Many people stop their sets too early, meaning they don’t get close enough to failure for their muscles to be fully stimulated. You should experience slowing of the rep speed near the end of your sets as an indication that you’re nearing failure. It’s about working hard enough to challenge your muscles without compromising form. Tracking RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) can help you assess effort.

  1. Training: Not Enough Sets Key Point: Dr. Mike suggests doing 5-8 working sets per muscle group in each session. Less than that may be insufficient to trigger growth.

Additional Insight: The number of sets per session depends on your recovery capacity and experience level. Beginners might start on the lower end, while more advanced lifters might require more sets. Ensure that these are quality working sets, meaning they are close to failure and target the right muscles. If you’re not growing, consider gradually increasing your set volume, but make sure your body can recover between sessions.

  1. Training: Low Frequency Key Point: Training a muscle group twice per week yields better growth compared to once a week. This increased frequency allows for more growth opportunities.

Additional Insight: Muscles recover faster than we might think, especially smaller muscle groups like biceps and triceps. Splitting your weekly volume into multiple sessions allows for more frequent muscle stimulation. For example, instead of training chest once with 12 sets, you could split it into two sessions of 6 sets each, allowing for more effective recovery and growth.

  1. Training: Inconsistency Key Point: Consistency in training and nutrition is the foundation of progress. Even the best plan won’t work if you’re not sticking to it regularly.

Additional Insight: Muscle growth is a long-term process. Missing workouts frequently or being inconsistent with your diet will prevent you from accumulating the volume and stimulus needed for growth. Make sure your schedule allows for consistent training and meal planning. Tracking your workouts and meals helps maintain accountability and progress over time.

  1. Training: Doing Too Much (Overtraining) Key Point: Overtraining occurs when you train too much without adequate recovery, leading to fatigue, lack of motivation, and diminished results.

Additional Insight: Symptoms of overtraining include constant soreness, irritability, and declining performance. If you’re always fatigued or seeing no improvements, you might be overdoing it. Dr. Mike recommends incorporating deload weeks where you reduce training volume and intensity to allow your body to fully recover. Balance is key—enough training to challenge your muscles, but not so much that recovery becomes impossible.

  1. Training: Lack of Deloading Key Point: Dr. Mike advises incorporating deload weeks every few months, where you reduce your training volume and intensity to allow full recovery.

Additional Insight: A deload week helps you recover physically and mentally, especially after intense phases of training. During a deload, you might reduce your sets, weights, or even take a full rest week. This recovery period allows your muscles to heal and supercompensate, often leading to stronger performance and growth once you return to regular training. Without deloading, you risk overreaching, where your body can no longer handle the stress, causing stagnation or regression in progress.

  1. Training: Lack of Variation Key Point: Lack of variation in exercises, rep ranges, or techniques can cause stagnation. Dr. Mike recommends experimenting with different exercises, rep ranges, and techniques to continuously challenge your muscles.

Additional Insight: The principle of progressive overload means you should be constantly challenging your muscles in new ways to force adaptation. If you’ve been doing the same routine for months with no changes, try mixing up your rep ranges, tempos, or exercise selection. For instance, if barbell curls aren’t giving you results, switch to dumbbells or cable curls. Changing the stimulus helps avoid plateaus and encourages new muscle growth. This also applies to rep ranges—working in the 6-8 rep range may build strength, but sets of 12-15 or even 20 reps can sometimes stimulate hypertrophy in different ways.

Conclusion Building muscle is a multi-faceted process involving proper nutrition, intense and smart training, and consistent effort. Follow the essential components of growth: ensuring adequate protein and calories, training with proper form and intensity, including enough sets and frequency, and preventing overtraining through deloading and variation. By addressing each of these aspects, you can identify and correct the barriers holding back your muscle growth.

Godspeed to me!

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