Weight Loss Muscle WastingThe scare of "weight loss muscle wasting" has gone on long enough now, and there are still no clear answers. Basically, there is a group of experts who think that weight loss methods such as aerobics can cause muscle wasting. In short, they mean to say that if you are trying to shed your body weight, you are going to lose muscle weight too. It is quite an interesting debate, one that has changed the whole perspective about weight loss and bodybuilding. But is there any truth in that? Let's find out here. We shall take a look at the different related aspects one by one to see if there is any truth in the "weight loss muscle wasting" issue. Secretion of Cortisol Perhaps the starting point of this debate is with the involvement of the stress hormone, cortisol. In small amounts, cortisol can act as a stress-buster. It is called as the stress hormone for that reason. In reasonable amounts, this drug is quite recommended for a healthy lifestyle. But as the person performs more and more exercising techniques that involve more of cardio, the level of cortisol in the body increases. This is when the substance will interfere in the muscle content of the body. Cortisol is known to wear down muscle when it is present in the body in high amounts, such as when the patient is exercising too much. Contrary Practices Weight loss methods such as aerobics and muscle building techniques have different effects on the muscles. With weight loss techniques, the muscles try to increase in their energy while muscle building helps in increasing the bulk of the tissue. When a person does both these techniques in a single workout, the muscles get confused about what they should actually do. The muscle gets confounded between increasing for energy and increasing for mass and this will definitely impede any attempt at muscle improvement. Here, you can see the fault does not lie with the aerobics method itself, but it lies in the muscle's failure to adapt to the changes quickly enough. Priorities There is the factor of time too. If a person focuses too much on weight loss techniques, there will be that much reduced time for them to practice with their free weights. Also, they will be too tired to workout with strength training exercises after spending a lot of time performing weight loss exercises. These people will find the soreness in the muscles and even pain in them after the workout because they do not get as much used as they would in a complete strength training workout. Because of the body's decreased functioning, recovery from diseases may also become difficult. When we were boys, we were told that drinking milk is one of the most important things if we wanted to build muscle. But it is not that simple. The concept of "weight loss muscle wasting" has made a lot of difference to the way people are now approaching this topic. Make sure you find out all the relevant information you can before adopting any technique for decreasing flab and increasing muscle in your body. |