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Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, is a natural part of getting older. But after an injury, illness, or any prolonged period of inactivity, muscle loss can occur faster, leading to muscle atrophy. The consequences are greater weakness, poor balance, and even frailty.

Muscle atrophy can occur from a disease that primarily affects the muscles, such as polymyositis an autoimmune inflammatory disease. Diseases that rob the muscles of energy, like cancer and malnutrition, are other causes. Besides an injury or surgery, physiologic atrophy can occur because of osteoarthritis, which makes staying active difficult, or a sedentary lifestyle.

Muscle atrophy does not always happen after a physical setback. How a period of downtime affects you depends on your prior health, activity level, and amount of muscle mass. If you know you will be inactive for a stretch — like from an upcoming surgery — then you can work to prevent muscle atrophy.

If you are not a regular exerciser, use this time to get started. While you can quickly lose muscle because of physiologic atrophy, you also can get it back. He or she can recommend an appropriate program to rebuild your lost muscle.

This often includes physical therapy, strength training, cardio workouts, flexibility exercises, and a nutrition plan that may increase protein and calories. There is also much you can do on your own to increase and maintain muscle mass and strength.

Almost any activity that works the upper and lower body can help you regain what you have lost. Weight training is ideal and can include workouts with dumbbells and resistance bands. Other muscle-building exercises include rowing, swimming, walking, and cycling stationary or regular bike.

Keep in mind that you have to take small steps at first, and it may take time to get back to where you were. Animal sources meat, eggs, and milk are considered the best, as they provide the proper ratios of all the essential amino acids.

Yet, you want to stay away from red and processed meat because of high levels of saturated fat and additives. Instead, opt for healthier choices, such as.

Protein powders can offer about 30 g per scoop and can be added to all kinds of meals like oatmeal, shakes, and yogurt. Also, to maximize muscle growth and improve recovery, he suggests consuming a drink or meal with a carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of about three-to-one or four-to-one within 30 minutes after your workout.

For example, a good choice is 8 ounces of chocolate milk, which has about 22 g of carbs and 8 g of protein. Building muscle is not all about strength, says Dr. You also need power. A good way to improve overall muscle power is with your legs, since they are most responsible for mobility.

For instance, when rising from a seated position, try to do it quickly. When climbing stairs, hold the handrail and push off a step as fast as possible.

To gain more muscle mass, older men need a structured and detailed PRT program, says Dr. Check with your doctor before embarking on any kind of strength-training routine. Then enlist a well-qualified personal trainer to help set up a detailed sequence and supervise your initial workouts to ensure you perform them safely and in the best manner.

As you progress, you can often perform them on your own. After you have established a routine, there are several ways to progress. The easiest is to add a second and then a third set of the exercises. Another way is to decrease the number of reps per set and increase the weight or resistance to the point where you are able to complete at least eight reps, but no more than As you improve, you can increase weight by trial and error, so you stay within the range of eight to 12 reps.

As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.

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Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. I stopped working out near the end of October. Being unable to train is one thing, eating like shit during this time is another.

Do you think your gains after taking several months off could have more to do with the fact that you are now more experienced in working out than you had been previously, or do you think it really is muscle memory?

I think muscle memory is real, but I think the gains you could see after this kind of break may have more to do with the fact that you are an experienced weight lifter. Great article. I have a rare morgagni hernia hernia in the diaphragm where my small intestine has pushed through that is about to keep me out of the gym for about 2 months.

Go in next wed. for surgery. Just the info i needed because not being able to train is stressing to even think about. Gonna be following this to a t. I had gained too much fat during the time off that I needed to lose first, so it was either maintenance or a small deficit.

Was it a shoulder injury that kept you out for 3 months? Mine is taking ages to heal, it sucks. Love this article man. Makes me feel a lot better, especially that regaining that lost muscle fast part when getting back into the swing of things.

But you think you can tell me more of that loss of muscle thing and gaining it back faster than before? I have found it very helpful. I have been told that i will need to have 6 weeks off from working out as i will be having bowel surgery.

The doctor said i can do light walking when i am up for it but no other physical activity. I am really worried about losing my gains and putting on weight but i am also confused as to what my macronutrients should look like.

I was with a personal trainer for 6 months and made great gains but i was in a deficit. I read your recent article about reducing elbow pain which I am going through right now but only in my right arm. I have been adjusting my lifting habits, for example in deadlifts my left hand is over the bar, while my right hand grips underneath, as I found out the when I have both overhand grips it caused pain in my right elbow.

Also, I did take a bit of a break 7 days not by choice. I still notice the pain in the elbow, should I give it a longer rest? Or continue working through it? I am doing the 3 day beginner routine. Which is awesome by the way. I used to be the 5 day a week typical bodybuilding routine guy, when I was single and had no responsibilities.

Incredible timing. Awesome article that hit on every single one of my fears. Thank you for this. Would you rather eat enough bad food to be in a calorie surplus or eat less food and try to cut out all the empty calories?

I have to go to the army for some more weeks and unfortunately this is exactly my situation. I eat significant amounts of white rice every single day.

Why do lots of builder cut all these things of their diets? Read this one. Thanks for this article. I have an inflamed disc in may back so I am not able to work out at out.

This is encouraging. Do you have any advice or a previous post more specific to this issue? Or even other sources on working out while pregnant? Thanks for responding anyways.

Great stuff! Nearly all my questions were answered either in the article or through these comments. That is, once returning to the gym, starting with much lighter weights, and slowly getting back to where one was before injury, should one be in surplus, maintenance, or deficit?

I understand being in maintenance DURING healing time so as to maintain as much muscle possible, but should one move to surplus when back in the gym to promote muscle memory regrowth?

If a bunch of fat was gained during the off period or the person was just in the process of losing fat when the off time began and that fat is still there , a deficit would usually be the way to go.

Otherwise, maintenance would be the ideal option to allow a recomp to occur. I am 42 and it has been one week since my first heart attack. I had been working out vigorously for the past two years, so much that it had become a very big part of who I am.

I have been searching the web for the past week, trying to figure out how to minimize the impact of the months of down time I am going to have. Your post was the first article I found that provided some hope. Thank you. Fantastic article. I recently stacked it pretty hardcore during a downhill mountain run and buggered my knee pretty bad.

I was almost instantly depressed with the notion of no more lower body workouts. Good bye running, cycling, legs days and worst of all, good bye progress thus far! A good read for me. Thanks for your advice on the calorie maintaining. I learned a lot from it. I was wondering though for a question, I have had pain starting at my elbow down to my forearm for a few weeks now.

I got it from doing a barbell bicep curl when I felt pain through there. I took a week and a half off and now have been doing light bicep curls and a few other weight exercises I can manage, even in doing them I feel inflammation from my elbow to forearm afterwards.

I was wondering do I need to take more time off? I love your articles. I started weight lifting and body building based on your articles.

I loved them. Everything is was correct and helped me to gain over 20 pounds of muscles, lose 70 pounds of fat, and have 6 packs. People thought I had been working out for years, though it was only 10 months 🙂 they were asking me for advice in front of other trainers, lol.

As you accurately mentioned, I thought these article are not related to me. Now I have to be out if gym for 9 months or more.

It sucks. I started to do some legs but my shoulder began hurting again. It was inflammation around the rotator cuff which was not healing in itself. I thought inflammation heals if you give a week break, but not for thus one. But I will be back again!

Great Article!!! I started weight training a year and a half ago, and over the last 6 months really got into the 5×5 power-lifting exercise routine, this of course led to me using some really heavy weight. Obviously I was beyond discouraged.

Could my frame be the culprit for my injury? Or simply do injuries just happen, and I should have initially listened to my body and rested instead of exasperating the situation by continuing to lift? Thanks again, great read! Recently i have had slowly increasing elbow pain and in trying to flex my affected arm, see little biceps flexion.

As you could probably imagine, because of the running background, the gains after initially of course, have come very slooowwwly , will things like my job and kids slow the healing and should it therefore also slow my return to the gym?

Thanks for the great read and encouraging article! Damn my biceps injury has been haunting me for 3 years because I have been working through it.

I gonna take your advice from now on. Thank you so much! Question : when I am able to train again should and getting the upper body muscle back I might have lost , where should calories be? Note I might have gained a bit of fat in those 4 weeks.

Stay at maintenance, get upper body strength back up to where it was at, and then you can switch over to a short fat loss phase to get rid of whatever fat you may have gained during that period period of time. I wonder because of muscle memory.

Gaining what little I lost back could be done while losing the little fat I gained…maybe a little defecit? Just going through a forearm injury myself. Your article helped me a lot, as usual. I was at the beginning of my bulk and wanted to start lean phase but got an injury in my elbow which made me stop training upper body however should i stay on surplus since i could train lower body?

And should it be the same? Either a much smaller surplus, or maintenance. Thank you for always having the answers I need. I have been lifting 1 year almost on Nov 2nd will be 1 year but I am getting Breast Implants Nov 2nd and I am freaking out because I wont be able to lift for 2 or 4 weeks this made me feel much better..

This article is very helpful. I lost 35 pounds in the last one year, trained for a 5K, did my first 5k, did Crossfit for two months and then continued to run. After about 5 months into weight loss, i started knee pain and continued Crossfit with the pain.

Finally, when the knee pain worsened, I went up to a doctor to be diagnosed a torn meniscus. Your article helps me to continue with the journey I embarked, maybe not with the same rigor. I will definitely continue with upper body workouts, take small walks, leg extensions…but no surgery….

does anyone have any thoughts about torn meniscus surgeries…do they help in the long run? Thank you for this article!

I will adjust course now and trust the process. Happy I found your advice. Question: when you suggest going to maintenance when taking time off to recover from an injury or to deload entirely - is this the maintenance level you would have when training regularly or the maintenance level that you would have when not going to the gym at all?

If I am cutting which I am right now , if I were to deload for a week or two should I stay at , or go higher? If you have a question or comment about this article, or just want to give me your feedback on it, feel free to contact me directly by using the contact form here.

What Can You Do To Prevent It? And that brings us to the almighty question of the day… Is there anything you can do about it? Here now are my 7 recommendations… NOTE: A significant amount of the info that follows also applies just the same to people looking to maintain muscle while out of the gym for a variety of other reasons… not just injuries.

Set Calories At Maintenance Or Maybe A Surplus There are 3 things you can do with your calorie intake during this time or really any time. You can either be in a: Caloric Deficit the cause of weight loss. Caloric Surplus the cause of weight gain.

Maintenance Level the cause of… well… weight maintenance. When To Use A Caloric Deficit Honestly? Meaning, maintenance or a surplus depending on the specifics explained above. Keep Your Protein Intake High The single biggest dietary factor for maintaining muscle while losing fat is eating a sufficient amount of protein each day.

Protein is THE dietary difference maker between losing muscle and maintaining muscle. STOP Trying To Train Through It You Idiot!!! STOP Trying To Come Back Too Soon You Idiot!!!

Keep Doing Everything Else Right Keep getting plenty of sleep details here: How To Sleep Better.

If you ever want to be back to full strength, you need to rest up properly. After the initial first aid, the journal ISRN Orthopaedics recommends at least 3 to 7 days of proper rest to allow the muscle to repair itself.

Unfortunately, the most dramatic muscle decrease is during the first week of immobilisation, so stave this off by moving the muscle without load, staying in your pain-free range.

Popping pills can help protect your gains, according to a study published in the International Journal for Sports Medicine, whcih looked at the effects of vitamin E supplements on the muscle atrophy of mammals.

Stock up on avocados, sunflower seeds, peanuts and asparagus to boost your Vitamin E intake. Pass the guac. It's time to move it or lose it. If your doctor gives you the go-ahead, swimming is a great way to ease yourself back into training, acting as light resistance exercise while supporting your body horizontally in the water.

This eliminates any strain from impact. No cannonballing though. Head there straight from the pool to break a sweat without moving a muscle.

The danger of full-body moves like squats and deads is the risk of pushing a minor injury toward something more serious. Bad shoulder? Therefore, the best means to build muscle mass, no matter your age, is progressive resistance training PRT , says Dr. With PRT, you gradually amp up your workout volume—weight, reps, and sets—as your strength and endurance improve.

This constant challenging builds muscle and keeps you away from plateaus where you stop making gains. See "Working on a PRT program. Your diet also plays a role in building muscle mass.

Protein is the king of muscle food. The body breaks it down into amino acids, which it uses to build muscle. However, older men often experience a phenomenon called anabolic resistance, which lowers their bodies' ability to break down and synthesize protein.

Therefore, as with PRT, if you are older, you need more. A recent study in the journal Nutrients suggests a daily intake of 1 to 1. For example, a pound man would need about 79 g to g a day. If possible, divide your protein equally among your daily meals to maximize muscle protein synthesis.

This is a high amount compared with the average diet, but there are many ways to get the extra protein you need. Animal sources meat, eggs, and milk are considered the best, as they provide the proper ratios of all the essential amino acids. Yet, you want to stay away from red and processed meat because of high levels of saturated fat and additives.

Instead, opt for healthier choices, such as. Protein powders can offer about 30 g per scoop and can be added to all kinds of meals like oatmeal, shakes, and yogurt. Also, to maximize muscle growth and improve recovery, he suggests consuming a drink or meal with a carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of about three-to-one or four-to-one within 30 minutes after your workout.

For example, a good choice is 8 ounces of chocolate milk, which has about 22 g of carbs and 8 g of protein. Building muscle is not all about strength, says Dr.

You also need power. A good way to improve overall muscle power is with your legs, since they are most responsible for mobility. For instance, when rising from a seated position, try to do it quickly. When climbing stairs, hold the handrail and push off a step as fast as possible.

To gain more muscle mass, older men need a structured and detailed PRT program, says Dr. Check with your doctor before embarking on any kind of strength-training routine.

Then enlist a well-qualified personal trainer to help set up a detailed sequence and supervise your initial workouts to ensure you perform them safely and in the best manner.

As you progress, you can often perform them on your own. Dietary needs should be considered when someone is going to be immobilized for a period of time.

Eating the proper types of food can help to reduce the negative effects of immobilization. An increase in protein can provide the foundation for muscle development. Amino acid protein levels need to be at an adequate level for muscle tissue development.

In the early phase of immobilization the body does not use the available protein in the system and the lack of protein use is most likely the reason the muscle loses so much size and strength almost immediately when it is immobile.

Taking supplements such as easily digestible protein powder with leucine is recommended. Utilizing therapeutic neuromuscular electrical stimulation NMES has been shown to help reduce the loss of muscle tissue.

The muscles of the body have two primary types of cells, fast twitch and slow twitch. Fast twitch are most affected by immobility and will lose size and strength before the slow twitch fibers.

Cross training can help maintain overall fitness during a period of immobilization. The results indicate less of a loss of size and strength of the muscles in the immobilized joint.

Immobilization is required in many instances to allow the healing process to occur, but it can have detrimental effects on the body. Preparing for the immobilization properly can help reduce muscle loss and other negative effects.