Logan Steele
Losing muscle mass is typically not recommended as it is not a healthy goal for most people. However, there are several reasons why someone may want to lose muscle mass, such as improving performance in aerobic-based sports, improving aesthetics, or fitting into clothing. To lose muscle mass, one must do the opposite of what would be done to increase muscle mass. This includes reducing caloric intake, decreasing protein consumption, and altering workouts to incorporate more cardio-based activities and less resistance training.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Diet | Consume fewer calories, eat a lower percentage of foods high in protein and carbohydrates, and avoid fats |
| Weight training | Use lighter weights and reduce weight training frequency |
| Cardio | Focus on long periods of cardiovascular exercise, also known as marathon cardio |
| Muscle groups | Focus on decreasing the size of all or most muscle groups, or just some in particular |
| Calorie deficit | Adjust your calorie intake to a slight deficit, ensuring a balanced diet |
| Fasting | Extended water fasts of up to 40 days (but work your way up) |
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What You'll Learn
Reduce resistance training
Resistance training is a form of exercise that involves working against a weight or force to build muscle strength, anaerobic endurance, and the size of skeletal muscles. It includes exercises such as using free weights, weight machines, resistance bands, or one's own body weight.
To reduce resistance training, you can start by decreasing the frequency of your training sessions. If you currently train three times a week, reduce it to twice a week, and then eventually to once a week or less. This reduction in training frequency will hinder the progression of muscle growth and strength.
Additionally, avoid increasing the intensity of your workouts. Typically, to gain the most from resistance training, you would progressively challenge your muscles by increasing the weight, duration, or volume of training. To reduce resistance training, maintain the same weight and avoid pushing for longer durations or more repetitions. This will prevent your muscles from adapting and growing stronger.
You can also consider changing your resistance training routine altogether. Instead of focusing on exercises that target specific muscle groups, opt for cardio-based activities that engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. This shift will help you maintain overall fitness while reducing the targeted muscle growth associated with resistance training.
Finally, ensure that your diet supports your goal of reducing resistance training. Adjust your calorie intake to a slight deficit, as consuming fewer calories will hinder your body's ability to build new muscle tissue. Additionally, reduce your protein intake, as protein is crucial for muscle growth and repair. By lowering your protein consumption, you will contribute to muscle loss over time.
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Increase cardio-based activities
To reduce muscle mass, one effective approach is to increase cardio-based activities. Cardio exercises, also known as aerobic exercises, are an essential component of a well-rounded fitness routine and offer numerous benefits for heart health. Engaging in cardio activities can help you reduce muscle and achieve your desired physique.
When aiming to reduce muscle, it is beneficial to incorporate a variety of cardio exercises into your routine. Some effective cardio exercises that can be performed at home or in a gym include:
- Brisk walking
- Running
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Jumping rope
- Using a stationary bike
- Taking the stairs
- Squats
- Shuffles
It is recommended to perform at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio activity per week. You can also increase the intensity of your workouts by incorporating intervals, such as sprinting or faster jumping jacks. Additionally, you can include bodyweight or resistance training in your routine, focusing on exercises that target multiple muscle groups.
To further promote muscle reduction, it is important to ensure a calorie deficit in your diet. This means consuming fewer calories than you expend, allowing your body to utilize stored energy sources and leading to a reduction in muscle mass. However, it is crucial to maintain a balanced diet and ensure proper nutrition while reducing calories.
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Lower calorie intake
Lowering your calorie intake is a key component of losing weight and reducing muscle mass. This is known as a calorie deficit, which means consuming fewer calories than you burn each day.
To lose weight safely and effectively, it is recommended to aim for a daily calorie deficit of 500 to 750 calories. It is important to avoid very low-calorie diets, which may involve consuming only 1,000 to 1,500 calories per day. While these diets may lead to rapid weight loss, they are more likely to result in muscle mass and water weight loss rather than fat mass reduction.
There are several ways to reduce your calorie intake:
- Counting calories: Utilize modern apps to quickly and easily track your calorie intake and set daily goals.
- Drink water: Drinking two cups (500 ml) of water before a meal can lower your calorie intake by making you feel fuller.
- Low-calorie starters: Opt for light soups or salads as starters to prevent overeating during the main course.
- Slow eating: Take your time and chew slowly to feel full faster and eat less.
- Sauces and dressings: Avoid or reduce high-calorie sauces and dressings, as they can add significant calories to your meal.
- Pizza choices: When eating pizza, choose a thinner crust and lower-calorie toppings like vegetables.
- Intermittent fasting: Try this popular method by alternating between periods of fasting and eating to reduce overall calorie intake.
- Alcohol choices: If you drink alcohol, choose clear liquors with low-calorie mixers instead of beer, wine, or cocktails.
- Portion control: Opt for regular-sized meals and avoid oversized portions.
- Sandwiches: Try open-faced sandwiches or remove one slice of bread to reduce calories.
- Exercise: Incorporate strength training and resistance training into your routine to build muscle and burn calories.
While lowering your calorie intake, it is important to ensure adequate protein intake. Protein helps promote muscle growth and recovery. Aim for 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, and distribute your protein intake evenly throughout the day.
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Lower protein intake
Lowering your protein intake is one way to reduce muscle mass. Protein is a critical building block for muscle growth and maintenance, but this doesn't mean that eating more protein will help you preserve muscle if your body already has enough. Research suggests that muscle protein synthesis peaks at about 30 grams of protein per meal, and anything above that is largely wasted in terms of its muscle-building benefits.
To lose muscle, you can reduce your protein intake and replace those calories with carbohydrates and fats, which will be better for fuelling endurance performance. A balanced diet with a lower protein intake can contribute to muscle loss over time. You can also try extended water fasts, but it is important to work your way up, as muscle loss slows down with prolonged fasting. After a fast, you should refuel with low-calorie, plant-based foods with minimal protein.
It is important to note that the quality of the protein you consume matters. Animal proteins tend to have higher leucine and methionine content, which are important for triggering muscle synthesis and growth. However, plant-based proteins have a much lower acid load and can improve the alkalinity of your diet. A 3-year study on elderly adults found that individuals with above-average potassium intake had significantly more muscle mass than those with half that amount.
Additionally, it is worth mentioning that most workout programs are designed for building muscle, so if you want to lose muscle mass, you should do the opposite of what these programs suggest. This includes reducing resistance training and engaging in more cardio-based activities.
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Focus on specific muscle groups
To reduce muscles, you must do the opposite of what you would do to increase muscle mass. Before setting a goal for your body and changing your exercise routine and diet, consult a doctor to make sure that you stay within the limits that are appropriate for your age, sex, and physical condition.
The human body has 650+ distinct muscles, but you don’t need to memorize them all to master weight training. There are 11 major muscle groups that you can focus on. These are: glutes, back, chest, shoulders, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, triceps, biceps, abs, and forearms.
The chest isn’t a very complicated muscle group, so your best bet is to train it the simple way with movements like push-ups and dips. These work well with bodyweight only and may be more “functional” for real-life since they are closed-chain movements. They also activate stabilizers like your serratus that can reduce your injury risk. The bench press is another great exercise for the chest, but it also works the shoulders and triceps.
The legs tend to get their own day for targeted practice. Various workouts will target one or more muscles during the exercise, and a good workout will include exercises to train all areas of the leg. Some of the muscles targeted in leg exercises include the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. Deadlifts, rows, extensions, and squats are all suitable exercises for the legs.
If you’re continuing to train with weights, use lighter weights and reduce weight training frequency to no more than twice per week to maintain tone. Focus your workouts on long periods of cardiovascular exercise, known as marathon cardio, to burn calories.
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