Endurance Athletes & Muscle Gain

Why do endurance athletes suffer from shrinking arms and legs despite all that training? This is a very common complaint among all athletic types that visit our clinic - loss of muscle.

Now, there’s a lot of reasons why people lose muscle, but there’s a very specific reason in this group of people. After all, you’d think endurance athletes are made out of muscle. Well, yes and no. 

There are several reasons why this group’s muscle mass is ‘at risk’ so to speak:

• We don’t spend as much time in the gym lifting heavy stuff. That’s a no-brainer.
• If we do go to the gym, we don’t lift very heavy, and, we’re tired from all the running, swimming, biking, etc!
• Genetics. No, not everyone has the ability to lay on tons of muscle. And, endurance athletes tend to be leaner, that’s part of why we’re drawn to the sport.

Despite these issues, there’s an important major underlying physiological conflict between strength and endurance training adaptations that limits an athlete’s ability to put on (or hold onto) appreciable amounts of muscle. 

And, that reason has to do with the hormone cortisol. 

Endurance training of course involves tons of cardio training, and relatively little strength training. Add in life, work and the stressors of training, you’ve got chronically elevated cortisol levels.

Because cortisol is a stress hormone, one of its main jobs is to make sure we have energy ready to use. Think back to our ancestors, who probably went days or longer without a meal, yet still had to fight, run and think their way out of problems in order to survive. Where did that energy come from to do these things, if they hadn't had a meal in days?

That energy comes from cortisol. Cortisol makes energy by mobilizing amino acids from the skeletal muscle - those aminos are then delivered to the liver where under the process of gluconeogenesis, sugar is made. 

This is the reason why endurance athlete’s struggle with putting on muscle, and holding onto it. Our ancestor’s stresses were of relatively short duration. We fought or ran, and it was over. Cortisol went up, then it came down when the threat was gone.

Our lives are much different though - we have never-ending daily stressors, our relationships are much more complicated, and we endure training for weeks and months at a time. All of these stressors keep our cortisol higher, and this amounts to a physiological 'push' against muscle building. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone that defies much of the strength training we attempt.

So, how do we fix this?

Here’s a few ideas where you can start:

Shift your training focus: If you want to put some muscle on (that will withstand the rigors of racing season) you need to lift weights - all year long. Go with heavier weights and lower reps in the off season and lighter weights and higher reps during race season. Putting on some muscle in the off season will carry you through race season, and just a bit of strength training sprinkled in during race season will help maintain those off-season gains. 

Increase protein: Most endurance athletes we’ve seen in clinic just don’t get enough protein in. Blame it on restrictive diets, or just lack of a focused nutritional plan, this is how it goes. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the American College of Sports Medicine recommend 0.5 to 0.9 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day for athletes. A 160 pound athlete would need 80-144 grams of protein based on this formula. Start at the lower end and then work up toward the higher end. All of this is covered in more detail in the video above.  

Supplement: Utilizing the following supplements will help you put muscle on, and keep it on as well. 

• Creatine is the undisputed champion of supplements that help build muscle.  It's been studied for over 30 years now and the evidence is undisputed. Using this along with consistent weight training will help you put a few pounds of muscle on. 
• Growth Hormone Support does what it says - it helps build muscle, rebuild trashed muscles, and preps your body to use fat for energy.  Exercise and sleep stimulate growth hormone production in the pituitary gland and the ingredients in this formula work by enhancing your body's own natural production of it. 
• Recovery Charge  provides the right amino acids in the right ratios to help you meet your goals and stay healthy. Amino acids are the building blocks of muscle, and when supplemented post exercise, they help stimulate muscle protein building.
  

Here's a bit more detail on how to put on muscle as an endurance athlete: