Cardio to maintain muscle

JamesBurkes

The adaptive response to your training routine will be dependent on the activities. Training results are very specific. If you "gain muscle" following a specific program, that muscle developed as an adaptation to the specific activity you were doing.

If you change the workout routine, the adaptation will change as well.

Yep, what he said. Just a personal anecdote. When I started P90X's Plyometrics DVD (basically, lots of squats, jumps and lunges) I was so sore I had trouble getting up stairs or sitting down. Over the weeks my body adapted and I got stronger. I then laid off the DVD as the weather was nice so I focussed more on cycling - fairly fast and with a LOT of hills. This kept my legs nice and strong. However, when I returned to the Plyo, while my legs were strong I was terribly sore again the next day. The reason? Because while cycling had maintained a certain strength in my legs the movement of hill climbing etc was too dissimilar to deep squats and squat jumps etc for my body to remain adapted. My glutes in particular were very sore.

However, back to you - swimming is a good all-round muscle activity which should help maintain to a certain extent. But you should still continue to do what you have been doing at least once a week, and when doing it, strive to increase your reps and weights, otherwise you will slip back. If you've been doing 30DS maybe you could do Levels 1 and 2 in one workout, then the next week do levels 2 and 3, then repeat 1 and 2 the next week etc? Just so your body doesn't forget what got you that mass in the first place.

KavemanKarg

Your body burns CARBS, THEN FAT, THEN MUSCLE. You need to eat enough protien to sustain muscle, but you won't lose muscle unless you deprive the body of the of the other two (carbs & fat).

Actually your body will naturally burn muscle before fat unless you deter it too.

Um, really?