While in the middle of a global pandemic , many questions race to mind, when will I get back to

work? When will toilet paper be back in stock? When will lysol wipes get back to under 15$?
WHEN WILL THE GYM OPEN AGAIN?!!!! With this question comes another set of questions,
how much will this stump my progress? How much weight will I gain back? What can I do to
stay active during the pandemic ? HOW MUCH MUSCLE MASS AM I LOSING?!!?? Luckily for
you, Astrofit is here to answer all your questions and concerns!

Before we get into all the specifics of muscle loss and how to prevent it, it is important to note
that even just 1/9 of the amount of activity you did to gain your muscle, is enough to keep and
maintain your gains. In other words, all it takes to keep your gains is 11% of the work it took to
get them in the first place!

Pandemic or not complete bed rest is the number one cause of muscle loss, in examples of
people who build up a very good physique over years of training , and then suddenly get
hospitalized , it does not take very long for them to experience muscle atrophy(loss). Taking our
current situation as a society into account, muscle loss becomes far less likely, assuming
everyone is capable of getting out of bed in the morning. Because yes, even just getting out of
bed is already better for muscle retention than bed rest.

What can we do to keep muscle mass ?

So, now that you're out of bed, what can you do to maintain as much muscle mass as possible?
Well for starters let's look at the different levels of activity our population is doing during the
pandemic. Assuming no one is staying in bed for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, our first level
of activity is just the normal daily activities and tasks someone does in a day. This has proven to
be better for muscle retention than loafing around all day seeing as on an everyday walk the
majority of the muscles in our body get activated to some capacity. Our second level would be
high rep bodyweight home workouts, this is one step higher and better for muscle retention than
just our daily activities, with this being said, studies show that even reducing training volume(the
amount of hard sets in a workout) down to 1/9, will still maintain muscle mass for up to 7
months! This means that even when training “sub optimally” we are still able to keep the muscle
we worked so hard for, for upto 7 months. With this being said , home workouts will be
significantly better for muscle retention than just daily activities, but the same can not be said
when comparing home workouts with normal weight training, the difference in muscle retention
is significantly lower in that regard.

How can diet affect muscle retention/loss?

When on the topic of dieting to decrease muscle loss potential, the science behind it is about
encouraging muscle protein synthesis(growth) and discouraging muscle protein
breakdown(loss). As far as diet is concerned the best environment for muscle retention is for
you to be eating at maintenance calories or in a slight surplus( maintenance calories + 250
calories )
* depending on activity level, you can find your maintenance calories by multiplying your current
weight by 15(low activity) or 16(high activity) *

The reason why we do not want to be in a caloric deficit (burning more calories than you
consume) especially when trying to maintain as much muscle as possible is because a
sustained caloric deficit compromises muscular growth rate as well as muscular potential by
interfering with muscle protein synthesis.

When minimizing muscle loss we will want to be in a caloric SURPLUS, this will provide the
ideal setting for muscle growth to occur. All in all, the main thing to remember is that protein
intake is most important for muscle retention, for non dieting natural trainees you will want to
stick in the 0.7-1g/lb of bodyweight range, however it is suggested that you stick to the higher
end of the range as much as possible, in order to ensure an optimal environment for muscle
retention and even growth.

The important thing to take away from all of this is to apply some tension to the muscles( by
using the methods discussed above), eat enough protein and to eat at maintenance calories or
slightly more(slight surplus).