How quickly does muscle loss happen?

stephcalcott
stephcalcott Posts: 84 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I injured my back on Sunday (I have no idea how - just went to sit down and sudden muscle spasms). Went to the doctor on Monday and she said that it seemed to be muscular, gave me muscle relaxers and told me about using ibuprofen, heat and ice. That's all fine and good - but it's Friday and it still hurts to walk around. I spoke with a physical therapist and she said it could last two to three weeks.

So - my question is, how long do I have before I start losing muscle mass? I had really gotten into a great program of full body weight training three days a week and 3 mile walks 3 days a week. Now, I really can't do anything and I don't see picking the weights back up until I know I'm not going to re-injure myself.

I'm lowering my TDEE until I can get back into the swing of things but will still keep my protein up. Any thoughts on what else I can/should be doing to keep from losing too much muscle? Or do I just resign myself to starting over when this gets better?

Replies

  • Ottawa_Randy
    Ottawa_Randy Posts: 42 Member
    I do not know the specific answer on "how fast" just that we do lose it with inactivity.

    When I had a sportsd injury and doing resistance was hard to do, I moved to an inclined workbench to remove the stress and slowly worked the weight back up doing most of the standard sets but in a prone/semiprone position. Not as great a workout but it definitely helped. After a almost full recovery I do both now but still use the bench a lot. You can pick one up on Craigslist/Kijiji for $20 and it quickly becomes a regular piece for working out.
  • Ainar
    Ainar Posts: 858 Member
    A few months of not working out for you to notice anything, if you keep your protein high and ate on maintenance. I was injured and could not work out my whole upper body for little over one month, just worked out my legs with some isolation machines. I lost a lot of strength but not actual muscle mass, at least it wast noticeable with eye. So it doesn't happen that fast, at least not for natural muscle. And I'm heard that what is lost can be gained back way easier than you did first time due to muscle memory. So don't worry, it's all way too exaggerated, all those horror stories you see online.
  • funforsports
    funforsports Posts: 2,656 Member
    Muscle loss really should not happen too much if you keep your protein high and eat around maintenance. You will most certainly lose strength in those muscles but that will come back much quicker once you feel better. If you eat at a big deficit though, you will lose much more muscle.
  • stephcalcott
    stephcalcott Posts: 84 Member
    Thanks! I feel like such an invalid - I was imagining my muscles shrinking before my eyes. I worked hard for the little muscle I got - I was worried that I would have to start from zero again :)

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