What causes loss of muscle mass – 9 most common causes

loss of muscle mass

When it comes to muscle loss, we know that it means the loss of muscle protein. In muscles, carbohydrate is stored as glycogen, fat stored within and between muscle fibers, and water.

Muscle is our strength. Muscle is what makes you stand up straight, walk, keep the head high, and control your eyes when you are reading this article. For the elderly, especially those, who have problems with depression, muscle loss is the battle they have to face every day.

What Causes Loss Of Muscle Mass – Most Common Causes:

loss of muscle mass

A lot of men in the world are eager to train their body to get strong and healthy muscles. However, many do not pay attention to their exercise plan and training regime, negatively affecting their health as well as leading to the loss of muscle mass. Here are some mistakes in practice that makes you lose your muscle even when you are practicing very hard day by day. Therefore, if you love your body and want to have wonderful physique with strong, powerful, and impressive muscles, you should keep your head on this article and the information I am giving!

1. Do Have A Sufficient Diet With Essential Nutrients: 

loss of muscle mass

This is the first thing among what causes loss of muscle mass that I would like to introduce in this article.

Indeed, adding more calories and energy into the body can make you look fatter, however, if you practice diligently and properly, all the calories will help your muscles grow bigger. The truth is that muscles cannot grow if you do not give them enough calories needed. For those who are thin and skinny, if they want to have more muscle, then they need to consume more than 2,000 calories per day. Moreover, if you eat too little without sufficient amounts of essential nutrients, it will cause the loss of muscle tissue while stimulate the development of fat because at that time, your body will be turned to the “help to survive” mode and this means that the muscles will be used to feed the body. Therefore, the storage of fat in these conditions is obvious and reasonable. So, when you do not eat enough protein, the opportunity to recover your muscle after training will be lower.

2. Training Too Much, Exhausted: 

loss of muscle mass

Often, a huge muscular guy in any gym would say that the best way to build muscle is to practice as much as possible. This may be true for the guys with the gene or those who use steroids (steroids: the group of hormones that help to stimulate the weight of muscles). However, you should know that training with more than 20 sets of exercise for a muscle group or more than 15 times training for a set is too much for muscle growth, although at that moment you can feel your muscles bigger, but this is just a temporary effect and does not really help your muscles grow bigger. The reason is very simple that training your muscle with too many times for one set means you are lifting too light weights.

3. Just Train The Body Areas You Love: 

loss of muscle mass

If you just do exercises to develop your chest, arms, and back while ignoring the other muscle groups, it can actually lead to the loss of muscle mass in many other areas of the body. It is a very old method, but currently, there are still many guys applying this practice method. In fact, it only leads to the imbalance, and consequently, it even can cause injury. Therefore, to developing a comprehensive muscle mass, you should apply the program and the training postures and exercises that can link multiple muscle groups involved in the process of training. Then, you can lift heavier weights, and this helps your muscles grow bigger as desired. This is actually one of what causes loss of muscle mass that people should know and avoid for good!

4. Do Not Stretch The Muscles After Training: 

loss of muscle mass

This is also one of the worst causes of muscle weakness that people should never look down.

Stretching the body after exercise has been proven to help to recover the muscles faster and increase the operating range of the muscles, allowing the muscle tissue has more space to grow. Training with weight will make your muscles bigger, but also increase the potential risks of injury and limit your agility. Thinking about it! If you are big but you are slower than almost everyone in your team, how do you feel about that? Thus, stretching the body after exercise is extremely necessary to eliminate the risk of muscle loss.

5. Do Not Eat Enough 6 Meals Per Day: 

loss of muscle mass

Bodybuilders said that “irregular eating means not eating at all”. When your body goes without food more than 3 hours, the metabolism will slow down immediately. And as I mentioned above, your body will automatically turn into the “help to survive” mode, and right then, if you eat a large amount of food, your body will turn into the fat storage mode. Therefore, you should eat regularly and do not let your body go hungry because this is also one of the most common cause among what causes loss of muscle mass that you should not look down!

6. Do Not Rest And Relax Enough: 

loss of muscle mass

Sleep is the time period for the muscles to recover and grow. Sleep less than 6 hours per day will limit the production of natural chemicals, helping to develop muscles, such as development hormones. When you operate too much like playing sports, enjoying overnight parties, and experiencing stress, then they are the factors that adversely affect the development of the muscles. And if you exercise 7 days per week, then I have a funny surprise for you: Surely you will lose muscle. So take a break properly when your body needs. Lacking sleep is actually one of the worst causes among what causes loss of muscle mass that people should never look down!

7. Do Not Consume More Carbohydrate And Protein After Training: 

loss of muscle mass

The addition of carbohydrates (carbs) and protein immediately after training will you’re your muscle recovery more effectively, preventing the loss of glycogen (energy for the development of the muscles) and moreover, this will provide enough nutrients the body requires to build and develop muscle. If you do not have proper nutrient supplement or supply your body too late, this means that you are ignoring the “call” of your muscle.

8. Just Focus On The Front Side Of Your Body: 

loss of muscle mass

When you are too focused on the muscle groups which are “eye-catching” such as the chest, arms, back, and abdomen, this will make you look more beautiful when looking at yourself in the mirror, but how others think about your look? Focusing and training too much on some muscle groups will lead to the imbalance of the whole body and cause serious injuries. This is also one of the terrible causes of muscle mass loss that I do not want you and my other readers make. Remember this and avoid making mistakes to your own muscle mass and appearance!

9. Do Not Change The Training Program: 

do not change the training program

This is the last but not least cause among what causes loss of muscle mass that I would like to introduce in this article!

If your exercise program does not change from week to week, it will make your muscles stop growing; and sometimes, in the worse cases, you can even lose your muscle mass. Making no challenge to the muscles, such as do not increase the lifting weight, or the number of times for a training set will make your muscles remains their current size. Therefore, you should always challenge yourself and your muscle mass with new, harder levels with different training programs, so your muscle muss will have the opportunity to grow bigger and stronger.

You should know that 70% of the muscle is concentrated in the legs and back, so do not ignore these two important muscle groups.

This is the list of 9 worst causes among what causes loss of muscle mass that people should keep in mind. I personally believe that the information I gave in this article will be actually useful for many readers of VKool.com and other people who are trying to train their body to get in shape and do not want to lose their muscle mass.

If you think that the causes of muscle loss that I – author Lien Nguyen – introduced in the article above can help you and other people you know who also want to develop strong and powerful muscles, and if you want to share this list with them, you should feel free to do what you want. Do not forget to leave your comments and feedbacks below to show me your own opinions. As an author, I always welcome all of my readers’ personal thinking so do not hesitate to let me know what you think about this article!

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