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While building muscle mass is a common goal for many people, some may want to lose muscle for various reasons, such as achieving a certain physique or reducing bulkiness in specific areas. Losing muscle mass can be done by reducing your caloric intake, decreasing protein and carbohydrate consumption, and altering your workouts to incorporate lighter weights and more cardiovascular exercises. It's important to note that losing muscle mass is generally not recommended as it can have negative health consequences. Before making any significant changes to your diet or exercise routine, consulting a doctor is essential to ensure you're making safe and informed decisions regarding your health.
How to Kill Muscles
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Diet | Consume fewer calories, reduce protein and carbohydrate intake |
| Weight Training | Use lighter weights, reduce frequency to no more than twice a week |
| Cardiovascular Exercise | Focus on long periods of cardio, also known as "marathon cardio" |
| Training Style | Stop training muscle groups you want to trim, avoid compound movements |
| Age | Muscle loss is a natural part of aging, known as "sarcopenia" |
| Testosterone | Natural decline contributes to muscle loss, particularly in older men |
| Anabolic Resistance | Older men may experience a reduced ability to break down and synthesize protein |
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What You'll Learn
Reduce your caloric intake
Reducing your caloric intake is a key factor in losing muscle mass. This is because when your body has a surplus of calories, it stores the excess as fat, which can then be used to rebuild muscle. By reducing your caloric intake, you ensure that your body does not have this excess, and thus it cannot store as much fat. This, in turn, means there is less fuel available for rebuilding muscle.
To effectively lose muscle, it is important to combine a reduction in caloric intake with a change in your workouts. Focus on long periods of cardiovascular exercise, also known as marathon cardio, which will help you burn calories. In addition, if you are continuing to train with weights, use lighter weights and reduce weight training frequency to no more than twice a week to maintain tone.
It is worth noting that losing muscle mass is not a healthy goal for most people, and it is always recommended to consult a doctor or work with a registered nutritionist or dietitian before beginning any new diet or exercise program. They can help you set goals that are appropriate for your age, sex, and physical condition.
While reducing your caloric intake, it is important to ensure you are still consuming adequate protein. Research has shown that during an energy deficit, a diet containing 2.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight was more effective at promoting muscle gain and fat loss than a diet with 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. This is because protein is critical for building muscle, and ensuring you are consuming enough can help preserve muscle mass while in a caloric deficit.
In addition to protein, your diet should also include other nutrient-dense and filling foods. This will help you feel more satisfied while in a caloric deficit. Focus on foods that are high in essential macronutrients such as proteins, fiber, and healthy fats, as well as micronutrients like vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, which have anti-inflammatory properties and improve gut health.
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Stop strength training
Stopping strength training will lead to a loss of muscle strength and mass, with the rate of decline depending on factors such as lifestyle, previous training history, age, and muscle composition. Research has shown that people who stop strength training will start to lose significant muscular strength within three weeks, with older individuals suffering greater losses. Specifically, a study found that younger men lost around 30% of their strength after two weeks without strength training, compared to a 25% loss in older men.
The effects of stopping strength training can also be seen in the decline of attributes like blood volume and energy production. Additionally, the higher the training status, the faster the decline in strength due to a lack of stimulus. For example, elite athletes will lose strength faster than non-athletes as it is harder to maintain higher levels of strength without continued training.
However, it is important to note that the decline in strength and muscle mass is not permanent. When individuals resume strength training, they will be able to regain their previous level of fitness faster than when they first started training. This is due to muscle memory, where the genes in the affected muscles "remember" muscle growth and respond more quickly when training resumes.
Furthermore, tapering, or gradually reducing the training volume before an important competition, is a common practice. Tapering can help boost muscle power and performance on race day. A recommended approach is to reduce the training volume by 40 to 60 percent over a two-week period without changing the frequency or intensity of workouts.
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Focus on cardio
Cardio is an important part of a well-rounded fitness routine, offering benefits such as increased endurance, expanded lung capacity, and improved cardiovascular health. However, there is a persistent belief in the fitness community that cardio workouts inhibit muscle growth. This belief is largely unfounded, as research suggests that aerobic activity enhances muscle protein synthesis and increases the size of muscles and muscle fibres.
That being said, the relationship between cardio and muscle growth is complex and dependent on various factors, including the type, intensity, and timing of cardio workouts, as well as individual goals and body composition. For example, lower-impact forms of cardio, such as swimming or cycling, are generally better for maintaining muscle mass than high-impact activities like running or jump rope, which can cause significant muscle damage and hinder performance during strength training.
To optimize muscle growth while incorporating cardio, it is recommended to separate cardio and strength training sessions by at least six hours, with 24 hours being the ideal gap. This allows the body sufficient time to recover and ensures that fatigue from cardio workouts does not carry over into strength training, potentially impacting form and performance. Additionally, when combining the two types of training in a single session, it is generally advised to prioritize strength training first to ensure that fatigue does not hinder muscle-building efforts.
Furthermore, the amount of cardio incorporated into a fitness routine should be balanced with resistance training. Excessive cardio can deplete energy stores and hinder the ability to maintain the necessary intensity during strength training, which is crucial for stimulating muscle growth. Therefore, it is important to monitor energy levels and adjust the cardio workload accordingly to ensure it does not negatively impact muscle-building efforts.
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Avoid protein-rich foods
To lose muscle mass, it is important to understand how muscles grow in the first place. Muscle growth, or hypertrophy, is typically achieved through a consistent weightlifting program combined with a high-calorie, high-protein diet. Therefore, to lose muscle mass, you must reduce your caloric intake and consume a lower percentage of protein-rich foods.
Protein-rich foods are a priority for building lean muscle. Eating more protein-rich foods, like fish, chicken, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, tempeh, and lentils, can help you maximize your muscle gains. Greek yogurt, for example, contains more than twice the amount of protein in regular yogurt, making it a better choice for building muscle. An 8-ounce serving of Greek yogurt provides 22.7 grams of protein, while the same serving of regular yogurt contains just 11.9 grams.
If you are trying to lose muscle mass, it is best to avoid these protein-rich foods. Instead, consider a deficit diet, lowering the number of calories you eat in a day to below your daily caloric burn. Research suggests eating 1.4–2 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day to help maximize muscle mass. Therefore, reducing protein-rich foods can help you achieve a lower protein intake and lose muscle mass.
Additionally, consider reducing your weight training frequency and focusing on long periods of cardiovascular exercise, also known as marathon cardio, to burn calories and promote muscle loss. It is important to note that losing muscle mass is not a healthy goal for most people, and consulting a doctor before making any significant changes to your diet or exercise routine is recommended.
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Target specific muscle groups
The human body has 650+ distinct muscles, but you don't need to memorise all of them to design an effective workout routine. Fitness trainers often refer to 11 major muscle groups, which can be simplified even further by grouping muscles together based on their location (e.g. chest, leg, and back muscles) or the type of movement they perform (e.g. abductors, flexors, or extensors).
Compound exercises, or multi-joint exercises (MJE), work several muscle groups at once and require movement in more than one joint to complete an action. Examples include squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and shoulder presses. These exercises are highly effective for muscle growth and can be incorporated into a full-body workout.
Isolation exercises, or single-joint exercises (SJE), target a specific muscle within a muscle group. For example, a bicep curl targets the bicep muscles, but several other muscles also work together to perform the movement, including the brachialis and brachioradialis, as well as stabiliser muscles in the shoulders and core.
If you're looking to target specific muscle groups, it's important to allow your muscles to recover between workouts. Research suggests that it can take up to 48 hours for muscles to fully recover after resistance training. To prevent injury and maintain balance, it's recommended to have at least two strength-training sessions per week. If you're resistance training twice a week, you can incorporate full-body workouts with compound exercises. If you're training three to four days a week, you can be more specific about the muscle groups you target.
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Frequently asked questions
Losing muscle mass is generally not recommended as it can be unhealthy. However, if you are looking to lose muscle mass, you can do so by reducing your caloric intake and altering your workouts. Eat fewer calories and reduce your protein and carbohydrate intake. If you are weight training, use lighter weights and reduce weight training frequency. Focus on cardiovascular exercises to burn calories.
The fastest way to lose muscle is to stop working out altogether. A 2013 study showed that athletes start to lose muscle strength after about 3 weeks of stopping their workouts.
Losing muscle in targeted areas can be possible without harming your health. To do so, you need to stop training the muscle groups you want to trim. For example, if you want smaller quadriceps, avoid exercises like squats and lunges.
If you want to lose muscle without losing strength, progressive resistance training (PRT) can help build and maintain muscle mass. With PRT, you gradually increase your workout volume—weight, reps, and sets—as your strength and endurance improve.
To lose muscle, consume fewer calories and lower your protein and carbohydrate intake. Focus on foods that are low in calories and high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, such as tart cherries or red raspberries.
