Muscle Atrophy

H

hounddogs

Cathlete
Dear Cathe:

I work in the PE department of the local high school and I was discussing weight training with the dept. head the other day. I mentioned that I knew of people getting really good results working each muscle group once a week. He said that didn't make sense because he had always understood that a muscle will start to atrophy after 72 hours of not being worked. I also remember reading that years ago.

Has that theory been disproven? Does the light work involved in cardio prevent the atrophy? Obviously once per week is working for lots of people. Is it like so many other things and the individual results vary?

Thank you so much for the wonderful new workouts. Since DH had a week off between Christmas and New Years, he watched the tapes with me while I previewed them. He was in awe. He told me he was so proud of me when I was staggering around yesterday after making it through IMAX 2. He does his own lifting routine, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him trying one of your tapes soon.

The creativity, intellifgence, and innovation are so well balanced with humor, fun, and warmth. Even if I say rude things at you at times, I will always know which tape to pull out when I want the most fulfilling workout.

==Ann
 
I'm very interested in the answer to this question. I took nearly a six week break from working out while I was relocating to my new home. Man, coming back was sure tough. I mean I don't know how to describe the "sore".

How long before you lose all your gains?

Donna
 
Another thing you have to remember is that, while you may be working one muscle directly, as the prime mover, (chest, for example), there are other muscles involved in all but isolation moves (agonist muscles such as shoulders and triceps when doing chest presses). So rather than "really" working each body part only once per week, most parts get at least partly worked during other days. The shoulders, for example, are worked when you do chest or back work, as well as during specific shoulder moves.
 
After 72 hours of not being worked hard or not being worked at all (as in the case of a stroke or other incapacitation)?
 
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