Muscle mass regain

MrsA2 said:

He's putting this down to being too low carb

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Seriously? I’d ask for evidence to support that. The higher protein is a good suggestion.

Body weight exercises will be good if you’re at home rather than a gym, with or without a resistance band. I’ll tag @NicoleC1971 and @Mbaker but also suggest you look at Ted Naiman’s body weight work outs - can start where you are and build up the difficulty level.


Edited for typos.

I will start by saying I am not an expert, but have reviewed the tools open to diabetics and non-diabetics for circa 6 years, with research via podcasts, studies and the like around 95% of this time, essentially everyday. So at worst I am an echo chamber for people that I have evidently seen be successful on themselves and clients / patients.

I have never heard of low carb reducing strength at a "normal" level in the context of exercise; yes at first their is an adaptation phase, but after that you can even train fasted. If this were true by coincidence today I matched my pre-covid bench press of 130 kg (yesss, I was so pleased). Utter nonsense and not just in my case. I will rattle off a few names that do very low carb / keto / carnivore :

Dr. Anthony Chaffee
Dr Jamie Seaman
Dr Shawn Baker
Robert Sykes (keto savage)
Dr. Nick (TheFittestDoc)

It is potentially true for body building mass monsters, the types who look as big as the hulk, carbs do have there place, but then you see someone like Jon Anderson (Episode 543 Mark Bells Power Project) who is extremely low carb and hugely muscled. If you have never had diabetes and were in your 20's avoiding processed foods, I believe the advice could work, as most of us have braved the high carb "normal" diets for decades and seen the results of that, I would stick with the protein part mostly. After all what we are looking for is "muscle protein synthesis", which clues us as to what macro nutrient we need for the leucine content in particular.

The reps in the 8 range to be challenging is actually really good advice, but not initially for weight training. The 8 reps at say two thirds of your max for say 3 to 5 sets (after some warm ups) would be really good hard work to build up to, and would be geared towards hypertrophy (muscle building), lower reps lean towards a strength protocol. Specifically push, pull squat, along with your dancing and walking should produce good overall conditioning.

Push ups are great, as these can start standing at a comfortable incline to a wall, then from the knees, full push ups, close grip, incline, spider man (I do 100 when I go for a walk). Body weight squats can be progressed from holding onto a chair, to full deep squats, pulse squats, jump squats, lunges (back forward), switch jump, The pull can be done with some cheap bands. If you do this regularly with progressive overload you will definitely see muscle and strength improvements. Great results can be had by improving form, efficiency and working to minimal rest, and when it becomes too easy, throwing in some to failure occasionally. As @Goonergal says Dr Ted Naiman advocates body weight exercises to make prescribing to his patients no to minimal barriers / cost, with attainable results.

MrsA2 said:

build muscle in my legs and lower back

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Hi MrsA2, your more active than me but years of ill health and inactivity have left me weak and a bit scrawny looking after loosing 5 stone so after a bit of looking around found this video with very basic resistance band training as i got to build muscle before i move onto other exercises


I got resistance bands from amazon for £10 and i am using the yellow heavy duty band now and feeling stonger than when i started . Hope this is a little bit of help but i am no expert and not sure if these exercises will help your lower back but the ones for the legs are good

MrsA2 said:

I saw a physio today who I last saw just under a year ago as I've had a reoccurrence of sciatica.
He told me my leg and back muscles (especially on my problem right) are weaker that they were last year. He's putting this down to being too low carb and he suggested reintroducing some sweet potato or brown rice, and increasing my protein.
I'm reluctant to do this as my sugar levels are difficult to keep in my comfort range of 5-8 unless I stay very low carb.
He also mentioned resistance training but never going above 8 repitions of anything. If more than 8 are possible he says that means its too easy.

So, exercise buddies, what regime can I follow, at home (not wanting to go to a gym) that will build muscle in my legs and lower back?

I am active, dancing and walking most days. Am healthy weight ( have been the same for over a year now)

Suggestions? Comments? Help?

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Maxing out weights trying to do only eight reps sounds like a recipe for injury. Don't try to max out like this unless you are truly ready. One bad move and you may not be able to exercise again for weeks.

For home workout, one thing I'd recommend is getting some ankle weights and doing leg lifts. You can do them with your foot at different angles to target different areas in your legs.

MrsA2 said:

I saw a physio today who I last saw just under a year ago as I've had a reoccurrence of sciatica.
He told me my leg and back muscles (especially on my problem right) are weaker that they were last year. He's putting this down to being too low carb and he suggested reintroducing some sweet potato or brown rice, and increasing my protein.
I'm reluctant to do this as my sugar levels are difficult to keep in my comfort range of 5-8 unless I stay very low carb.
He also mentioned resistance training but never going above 8 repitions of anything. If more than 8 are possible he says that means its too easy.

So, exercise buddies, what regime can I follow, at home (not wanting to go to a gym) that will build muscle in my legs and lower back?

I am active, dancing and walking most days. Am healthy weight ( have been the same for over a year now)

Suggestions? Comments? Help?

Click to expand...

have a look on instagram for united health education or Dr Andrew lock for rehabbing of backs or glutes, very informative for a range of exercises to help with getting the back in a place to exercise pain free. they also do strength exercises that you perform on a daily basis. they are well worth a look. you can also look for squat university, which again is Doctor led to rehab bad backs.

I have more muscle now than ever but I put it down to cycling 3 times a week, weights and yoga. I have lost calf muscle in my left leg for some reason, perhaps a past injury. The whole right side of my body does seem bulkier/stronger than the left for some un know reason, perhaps the left is more dominant. Would love to know.

Lainie71 said:

I have more muscle now than ever but I put it down to cycling 3 times a week, weights and yoga. I have lost calf muscle in my left leg for some reason, perhaps a past injury. The whole right side of my body does seem bulkier/stronger than the left for some un know reason, perhaps the left is more dominant. Would love to know.

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Are you right handed?
Not sure about the bulk but I find I’m stronger on my right side than my left too. But since I’ve started going to the gym I realise because I am right handed I tend to use that side more, so carrying shopping bags etc. that is meaning I tend to focus subconsciously on that side

but then going to the gym also made me learn I’m slightly double jointed with extra mobility in areas too

I am having to retrain my trainer slightly as he is a bit more of the carbs for exercise and I do find if I have increased my carbs I do find training a bit easier to be honest, but it is doable without.

My trainer is brilliant (ex Gb triathlete)
He says to preserve muscle mass you need to eat roughly 1g of protein to 11b body weight, but body can only process 20-25g at a time, I weigh 105llbs & eat protein 5 times a day, blood sugar & weight stable & never been fitter, lifting heavier weights & running, cycling & swimming faster & easier than ever

Andydragon said:

Are you right handed?
Not sure about the bulk but I find I’m stronger on my right side than my left too. But since I’ve started going to the gym I realise because I am right handed I tend to use that side more, so carrying shopping bags etc. that is meaning I tend to focus subconsciously on that side

but then going to the gym also made me learn I’m slightly double jointed with extra mobility in areas too

I am having to retrain my trainer slightly as he is a bit more of the carbs for exercise and I do find if I have increased my carbs I do find training a bit easier to be honest, but it is doable without.

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Hi yes I am right handed and I am having to push the left side more to gain more definition on those muscles. The really strange one is the left calf muscle, absolutely no muscle definition in it compared to the right calf.