To get in competition condition you need to preserve as much muscle as possible.
Losing muscle is any bodybuilder's worst nightmare. Muscle breaks down naturally during a workout, then grows bigger and stronger as scar tissue forms over the microscopic tears, so some muscle breakdown is needed to get bigger and stronger. Prolonged muscle breakdown leads to muscle loss, though. During a gaining or bulking phase, when you're building muscle and eating more calories, losing muscle won't be an issue. When you're looking to lose fat, you need to do everything in your power to retain mass and prevent long-term muscle breakdown.
Instructions
1. Control your calorie intake. To lose fat you need a calorie deficit, which means consuming fewer calories than you burn. However, the severity of your calorie deficit will determine how much muscle you retain or lose, writes nutritional scientist and bodybuilder Dr. Layne Norton on SimplyShredded.com. Diets with calorie deficits of over 1,000 per day will lead to muscle loss in the long-term, so diet slowly and aim to lose 1 to 1.5 pounds a week at most, adds Norton.
2. Increase your protein intake. Maintaining muscle mass is all about managing your protein turnover, which is the speed at which your muscles break down and rebuild, according to sports nutritionist Dr. John Berardi. An increased protein to carbohydrate ratio leads to a greater protein turnover rate and less muscle loss, as well as aiding with fat loss and increased production of muscle-building hormones. Aim for around 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight from foods like chicken, salmon, tuna, lean red meat, eggs, low-fat cheese and milk, soy and beans.
3. Decrease the number of reps you perform in your training sessions. While the common notion is to lift lighter weights for high-rep sets (15 to 20) to lose fat, this can actually result in muscle loss, writes Christian Thibaudeau in "Theory and Application of Modern Strength and Power Methods." By lowering the reps but increasing the weight, you force your body to hold on to muscle mass and reduce the breakdown caused by extended sets. For compound moves like deadlifts, squats and presses, perform sets of four to six reps. For isolation exercises like dumbell curls and crunches, perform sets of six to 10.
Tags: muscle loss, muscle breakdown, bigger stronger, calorie deficit, lose need