[johnbozzz]

Hey guys. How do you maintain your muscle mass when you're not working out at the gym? I've found that I can put on muscle with ease, but I also lose it at a faster rate when not working out. Given the nature of my work, I can sometimes work out 5 days a week one week, perhaps only two 30 minute wokouts a week the following week.

[NewMeta]

3 solid meals a day, a banana for breakfast is ok. Turn off the air conditioning and central heating, it will seem like a hard change to make but you must pull through. Also 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats and a 10km run.

[RexImperator]

I don't think you'll lose muscle in a week unless you're starving yourself. It takes much longer.

[Captain Gh]

It's all about your nutrition my friend. If you're willing to invest the $$$ for it, I've found that keeping your protein intake around 1g/Lbs of bodyweight really helps, alongside making sure that you're eating enough on your maintenance phase to keep your mass as well.

[Fisherman]

Delete

[CaptainChardonnay]

Keep eating your required maintenance calories. Sip on BCAAs throughout the day. 10 to 20grams

[Hannibal]

Don't be scared to do some bodyweight stuff. Reps done to failure will maintain what you have. With some creativity or a book on gymnastic exercises, you can get a lot stronger with very little equipment.

You could do convict conditioning very easily with onlya set of homemade doorway pullup handles. I've bashed on convict conditioning in the past, but honestly, perfect is the enemy of good. For what it is, convict conditioning is good. It's simple, you only require a pullup bar and some floorspace, and you can get plenty big and strong off it. An adequate program with great effort beats a great program with half assed effort.

Unless you happen to be an astronaut, there is gravity and a floor where you're at. If you travel a lot for work, you're likely staying at places with solid doors. As far as very portable equipment, you can get a lot done with doorway pullup handles, an ab wheel, and a decent sized kettlebell if you have room for it.

Ross Enamait Wrote:

If you can find 4 hours to play with your phone, you have more than enough time to exercise. If you don’t believe me, drop down right now and perform 20 pushups. I’m guessing it will take you 30 seconds or less. Imagine if you did that five times each day. That would be 100 pushups in less than 3 minutes of your 1440 minute day.

Imagine if you did the same with an exercise such as squats or lunges. And if you really want to get wild, you could knock off a few sets of pull-ups from a door-way pull-up bar. What if everyone in the world did 100 pushups, 100 squats or lunges, and a few sets of pull-ups a few days per week? Call it a hunch, but I’m guessing we would have a lot more healthy and active people.

But Ross…
Let me guess, you are busy. You have kids. You work long hours. Blah, blah, blah…

Guess what? I do too. I work six or seven days a week. I work long hours. I have kids. I have a dog. I volunteer in the community. Leisure time is virtually non-existent.

I can never find time for exercise. I gave up on that notion a long time ago. Instead, I make time. I prioritize it. I plan for it in advance. If it means I need to wake up earlier, I wake up earlier. If it means I need to go to bed later, I will go to bed later. If I need to drop down and perform pushups at random times, I’ll drop down and perform pushups. I find a way to exercise no matter how busy I am.

The Lack of Time Excuse