5 Mistakes In Sports That Make You Lose Your Muscle Mass

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JAKARTA - Increasing exercise intensity and decreasing calorie intake can help the body become healthier. Especially if you have excess weight. But, did you know that doing it too much can actually have a negative impact? One of them is losing muscle mass.

Here are five sporting errors that will make you lose muscle mass, instead of building muscles.

For people with problems with overweight, choosing to reduce calorie intake is considered a shortcut. However, food is a fuel for muscles and lack of calorie intake that will force your body to work extra hard. If you reduce calories accompanied by intensive cardio exercises, then you tend to lose muscle over time. Make sure your body gets the right fuel before intense cardio exercise. The reason is, in addition to calories and cardio fat, you will also burn your muscles once other energy sources run out.

Exercise consistency is needed to build muscles. However, anything excessive, even in exercise, can bring bad results. It would be nice to give the body a rest after a heavy training session. In addition to losing muscle mass, overtraining can also cause fatigue, poor sleep quality, energy deficiency, muscle aches, and mood swings.

To build and maintain muscle mass, adequate protein intake is indispensable. Make sure you get protein from a whole food source and if you eat protein powder, make sure the quality is high. For a diet, the amount of protein that must be consumed per day is 0.8 grams per kilogram of your weight. As for those of you who aim to increase muscle mass, The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends the amount between 1.2 or 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of your weight.

Paying attention to sleep is also a top priority to help you maintain and increase muscle mass. Muscles improve and develop while you sleep. So experts recommend sleeping for about eight hours every night. According to research, not getting good quality sleep or getting enough sleep can increase the risk of losing muscle mass.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that healthy adults do at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise with moderate intensity per week. However, those who go beyond this threshold. Along with the lack of calorie intake can make it difficult for the body to maintain or regain muscle mass. For muscle growth, it is important to find a good balance between cardio and strength exercises.