If only the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León had known that the true Fountain of Youth was muscle mass! Muscle tissue is one of the body’s most precious resources. Those vibrant & calorie-hungry muscle fibers support our metabolism, hormone levels, strength, endurance, posture & so much more. Simply put, muscle mass – both building it & keeping it – is the key to being successful at both athletics & aging. Yet many of us endurance athletes unknowingly sabotage our ability to grow & hold onto that precious muscle mass. So, let’s take a look at a few things that can cause your body to eat away (pun totally intended!) at your muscle stores.
#1: Not Enough Protein
If you’re serious about building (and maintaining muscle) then you just gotta eat enough protein. Protein provides the building material for our muscles…and if you’re in short supply…there just ain’t gonna be much construction going on! Here’s the recommended range: 0.5 – 1 g/lb/day. Endurance athletes should shoot for the middle of those rec’s & if you’re older, then shoot for the higher end. For more info on protein amounts, read Are You Getting Enough Protein? – Performance High.
Solution: Track your protein levels for 1 wk. See where you are & make necessary adjustments.
#2: Calorie Levels Too Low
Protein aside, many endurance athletes simply don’t eat enough. Sometimes athletes restrict their calories in attempts to lose weight or lean up. But by doing so they unknowingly sabotage their muscle mass stores. They might very well lose weight…but losing muscle weight is not preferable. It’s critical to remember that muscles only grow when there’s a calorie surplus. If you’re only giving your body just what it needs to survive…well…you won’t be very successful in getting stronger or adding muscle mass. For more info on plumping up to get stronger, read 5 Tips to Shove Your Fitness Forward – Performance High.
Solution: Eat just a bit more…see how you feel! Then eat more yet! Often when cal’s increase folks feel stronger, faster, calmer, yet more energetic.
#3: Chronic Levels of Cortisol
Cortisol is complicated hormone. It is a stress hormone essential to our fight-or-flight response (if you have a saber tooth tiger chasing you, you absolutely NEED cortisol!). Stress hormones are catabolic meaning that they break things down. In small doses (like strength training and/or high-intensity training), the breakdown process caused by cortisol release actually encourages the body to build muscle. But instead of small acute doses, our modern daily lives are often full of chronic cortisol levels. Things like lack of sleep, challenging work/family issues, a packed daily schedule & long bouts of endurance training all increase & hold cortisol levels high. The upshot is that, when cortisol is in our systems too much & too long, then our muscle tissue degrades without any opportunity to rebuild. Over the long term this constant degradation spells disaster for maintaining muscle mass.
Solutions: Get plenty of sleep. Try meditation to help calm your mind. Keep long, slow endurance training to bare minimum.
#4: Not Enough Rest
A key take-away from #3 is that, in order to build and/or maintain muscle, we must regularly decrease cortisol levels. Rest days are the absolute best way to do that! I’m stating the obvious…but it’s worth repeating that all of the exercise we do (cardio, HIIT, strength, intervals, etc, etc, etc) BREAKS DOWN muscle tissue. The rest days are for BUILDING that tissue back up. I totally get it. I love to exercise & could do it every day. But I love my muscle mass more. And that means that after a hard weight workout, I take 3-4 rest days. After a hard interval cardio workout, I take 3-4 rest days. Only by giving my body that downtime am I able, as a 56-yr old postmenopausal woman, to continue to gain strength, increase muscle mass & improve bone density. You can’t argue with results!!
KEY Take-Away:
We don’t get stronger from exercise.
We get stronger from the rest following the exercise.
Solution: Identify your key hard workouts & then take 2-3 rest days afterwards. If you get weaker or slower, I’ll eat my socks!! 😉
And there you go, athletes! I encourage you to make your muscle mass the highest priority. There’s nothing better than a strong, tall, lithe, supple older athlete! So, please, please, please…hold onto that precious muscle mass like your life depends on it. Because…in actuality…it does!
Happy Training!
Coach Michelle