The ‘invisible killer’ in fitness: Five bad habits leading to muscle loss.
The first bad habit is frequently exercising the same muscle group.
To increase muscle size, strength training is needed. However, rest time is the golden period for muscle growth and repair. After each strength training session, the target muscle group needs 2-3 days of rest before starting the next round of training. If you exercise the same muscle group every day, it will prevent muscles from being repaired in time, which is not conducive to muscle growth and greatly reduces the efficiency of muscle building.
The second bad habit is loving junk food, such as fried foods and high-sugar foods.
Various fried chicken, French fries, cakes, egg tarts, and doughnuts are all junk foods with high oil and salt and high sugar content. When we frequently consume these junk foods, the body will prioritize converting them into fat for storage rather than using them to maintain and increase muscle. Especially those deeply fried foods contain a large amount of trans fatty acids, which will not only increase inflammation in the body but also interfere with the normal metabolic process, thereby affecting muscle synthesis and repair. High-sugar foods will cause a sharp rise in blood sugar levels and prompt the body to secrete a large amount of insulin. While this hormone regulates blood sugar, it will also inhibit the uptake and utilization of amino acids by muscles, thus accelerating muscle breakdown and loss.
The third bad habit is insufficient sleep.
Sleep is the golden period for the body to recover and synthesize muscles. During sleep, growth hormone is secreted in large quantities, dedicated to repairing damaged muscle tissue and promoting the synthesis of new muscles. However, if you stay up late and have insufficient sleep for a long time, the body cannot get sufficient rest and recovery, and the secretion of growth hormone will also be affected. This will undoubtedly slow down or even hinder the muscle growth process.
The fourth bad habit is being inconsistent.
Muscle growth requires continuous stimulation and adaptation. If you only exercise occasionally and then stop for a long time, the body cannot form a stable metabolic and adaptation mechanism. For example, a fitness enthusiast plans to do strength training three times a week, but in reality, they exercise twice this week and don’t exercise at all next week. Being so erratic, muscles cannot get enough stimulation. Not only is it difficult to grow, but they will gradually be lost.
The last bad habit is not paying attention to proper movement techniques.
During fitness training, the load level is secondary, and movement quality is the most crucial. Improper movements not only cannot effectively stimulate the target muscle group but also increase the risk of injury, thereby affecting the normal development of muscles. For example, when doing squat exercises, if the knees are excessively inwardly rotated or if you slouch, the force that should originally be borne by the leg muscles will be transferred to the joints and other parts. The leg muscles cannot be fully exercised and may even cause joint injuries. Once injured, the body will automatically enter the repair mode and reduce the energy supply to muscles, thereby accelerating muscle loss.
