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[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

Question:

I have been asked by a lady at my club about reducing muscle size. During training, significant gains in muscle have been noted, which is against the client's goals. Is there a specific way of training we could do to give total muscle atrophy?


Answer:
As long as your client is using lighter weights and higher repetitions during weight lifting, she should not be putting on a lot of bulk. Lean muscle takes up less space than body fat, so if your client sticks to a low weight, high repetition routine, her muscles will eventually have a lean, toned appearance. When first starting a weight program, a woman will often feel as if her muscles are getting bigger, and they may slightly at first. This is because muscle mass gains often occur more quickly than body fat losses initially in people who are not accustomed to a regular exercise-training program. If she sticks with the program, however, her muscles will soon appear smaller as they become leaner and more toned. This occurs when a greater tolerance to exercise is developed, and body fat losses occur at a faster rate.

I would recommend using weights your client is able to lift 20 times in a row and doing two to three sets for each exercise. The weights should still be heavy enough, though, that she starts to fatigue by 20 repetitions. Also, make sure that adequate cardiovascular exercise is taking place (at least 20 minutes three days per week in the client’s target heart rate range) and that an appropriate nutrition plan is being followed. Increasing the cardio length or frequency is another step you can take. You could bump the cardio up to 30 to 45 minutes at a time or add one or two extra days per week.

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Thoughts?

[riverbender]

I'm no expert but since no one else has answered and I've wondered this myself since guys keep noting how "huge" my "guns" are. I'm a girl. This is not a compliment. They are calling me fat lol....

Are you sure these are actual muscle gains and not fluid/carbs? Have you actually measured girth? Or does she just look "buff" due to fat loss?

Any newbie to training will experience LBM gain but it's not going to be all that noticeable visually unless she's juicing and/or in a calorie surplus. Even then I can't imagine what would qualify as a "significant" gain for a female. How old is she? Was was her activity level prior? What "look" is she after?

I've lost 75lbs. My arms started at around 14" or more - pre any resistance training or fat loss. They are now 10.25". The appearance to the casual observer is that I've bulked up. I assume I've gained some LBM in my arms but I stopped doing direct bicep work at the first "huge" comment months ago. The are still defined and have not shrunk any since I stopped curling myself fat.

Ironically, it's the fat loss that makes me appear larger, not any significant muscle gain.

I just did a few weeks of Ultimate Diet 2.0. Kind of an extreme carb cycling thing. During low carb days workouts are high rep - 45 to 60 second sets. 10-12 sets per body part. The goal being to deplete the muscles of glycogen via diet (low carb) and work. And yes, this does work to flatten or deflate the muscle somewhat. Though personally I think I looked like crap.

The only way I know to reduce muscle tissue long term is to stop using it and stop feeding it. Oh yeah, and get old.

So I suppose if she kept carbs moderate and did high reps for the body parts she feels are too big might be something to try.

Over doing the cardio? Well, I suppose that could work for someone who is already lean. For a female above 20%ish body fat it seems like would simply burn fat and she'd end up with the huge "buff" appearance.

Excess cardio might burn up some LBM but results might also be dependent on diet and nutrient timing. It just seems silly to me to do any resistance work if the goal is to decrease muscle tissue.

[Kevin59]

So was the rep range the only thing that changed with nothing else being altered?