Will aerobic exercise cause muscle loss

The answer is not necessarily. Whether or not you can lose muscle mass is never determined by "doing aerobics or not." It must be considered comprehensively based on your aerobic schedule, dietary intake, and strength training frequency.

I met a young man at the gym who had just practiced for half a year. I heard on the Internet that aerobic exercise is the natural enemy of muscles, let alone running. When I get home from work, I have to wait for the elevator on the third floor for fear of losing muscle by taking two more steps. As a result, my body fat has increased all the way to 22%. The outline of my abdominal muscles that I have finally developed is buried directly in the fat, which makes me tangled.

Of course, the saying that "aerobic muscle loss" is not completely groundless, if you start to do it vigorously - for example, do high-intensity interval running for 2 hours on an empty stomach every day, the daily caloric deficit will be 500 to 600 calories, and you will also complete all the original strength training. If it stops, then when the body is short of energy, it will definitely decompose part of the muscles to supply energy. To put it bluntly, it is like your family has not stocked up enough rations, and you still have workers go out to do heavy physical work every day, but you have to dismantle the building materials you have stored to build a house and use them as firewood.

But as long as you arrange it properly, aerobic can actually help you improve your cardiorespiratory capacity, allowing you to hold higher sets and larger volumes during strength training, which can actually help build muscle. Look at those professional marathon runners who run hundreds of kilometers a week and have not lost any muscle. On the contrary, the muscle mass of their lower limbs and core is much higher than that of many ordinary people who do not train. During their preparation period, they intersperse aerobic and strength. They also supplement protein as required, and their muscle mass is basically stable.

Many people say that they lose strength as soon as they do aerobics. In fact, most of them do not really lose muscles. Either the aerobic schedule is too dense and does not leave enough recovery time for the muscles, or they go to aerobics right after practicing heavy weights. The muscle fatigue has not yet recovered, so naturally they can’t squat or push. After two or three days of rest, they can replenish enough protein and then take the test. The strength will basically come back. You can’t kill aerobics just because of this.

When I was cleaning fat last year, I added 25 minutes of low-to-medium-intensity elliptical training after strength training three times a week. My heart rate was controlled at about 65% of my maximum heart rate. I also rode a shared bicycle for one hour on weekends to go to the park. I ate 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every day, and the calorie gap was controlled at 200-300 calories. In two months, I lost 3.8 points of body fat, and my arm circumference increased by 0.4 centimeters. I didn't encounter the so-called "muscle loss" at all.

To put it bluntly, there is no need to regard aerobic as the enemy of muscles, nor do you need to ignore muscle loss at all. Control the intensity and duration, and match the diet and strength well. Aerobics can coexist peacefully with muscle gain.