We show you how to maintain muscle without access to the gym
With gyms closed down due to the recent worldwide pandemic and just 1 hour a day allocated to exercise, you may be worried about how to maintain muscle mass at home during these uncertain times. We all know that in order to maintain gained muscle mass, you need to use it otherwise it can disappear pretty quickly. But how do we keep our muscles looking mega when pumping iron isn’t an option?
No weights? No problem!
With the gym being closed for the foreseeable and with the majority of us without access to a gym in our garage/basement/spare room, lifting weights to maintain muscle can seem tricky, but all is not lost.
You don't need fancy equipment to workout at home, so dig out those hardly-used dumbbells from the spare room and get lifting heavy bags and bottles of water to keep those muscles ticking over!
Pack that protein
The foundation of building muscle doesn’t just lie with weight lifting, diet plays a big part too. So to ensure your muscles don’t melt away, make sure to eat right and get plenty of protein into your diet, roughly 0.8 grams per kg of body weight. Greek yoghurt, chicken breast and eggs are all high in protein and easy, everyday foods to eat.
Don’t forget about creatine
Found in red meat, creatine provides fuel for muscles and is said to maintain muscle strength and size when we’re at rest, so sink your teeth into a steak or tuck into a hearty burger to keep your strength up while in lockdown.
Get enough sleep
It’s a proven fact that when we sleep better, we eat better. Sleep is also important not just for our diets, but it also helps aid hormones to recover and repair the body while we sleep. Not only that, but when our bodies relax like they do when we are snoozing, catabolic stress hormones that damage muscle are less likely to be induced as the body isn’t in a state of stress.
Limit your alcohol intake
As well as all the obvious side effects of alcohol, drinking too much can raise estrogen levels and play havoc with testosterone levels, which can cause muscle loss. Although tempting during lockdown, increased drinking due to boredom is no good for the body or the mind, so best to stick to water and other low calorie liquids for maximum hydration.