Learn how to maintain muscle mass during a long sports season using DEXA Scan data to prevent performance decline.
Many athletes start the season strong, fast, powerful, and resilient, only to feel weaker, flatter, and more fatigued as the season progresses. Performance may hold up temporarily, but muscle mass often declines quietly in the background.
This is one of the most common and overlooked issues in competitive sport. At Kalos, we use DEXA Scan body composition data to help athletes identify muscle loss early and adjust training, nutrition, and recovery before performance drops.
Here is how to maintain muscle mass during a long sports season and why most athletes unintentionally lose it.
Muscle loss during a season is rarely caused by lack of effort. It usually comes from accumulated stress.
Common contributors include:
Over time, the body prioritises survival and endurance over muscle maintenance.
Even small losses of muscle mass can significantly affect performance.
Consequences include:
DEXA scans often reveal muscle loss weeks before athletes feel a noticeable drop in performance.
During the season, many athletes replace strength training with conditioning and sport specific work.
While conditioning is important, removing strength work entirely leads to:
Strength training volume may decrease in season, but it should never disappear.
Maintaining muscle requires far less volume than building it.
For most athletes:
This sends a clear signal to maintain muscle without excessive fatigue.
Protein requirements often increase during a long season due to higher physical stress.
Insufficient protein leads to:
Many athletes unintentionally under eat protein during travel or congested schedules. DEXA scans frequently show muscle loss even when body weight remains stable.
Trying to stay lean throughout a long season often backfires.
Low energy availability leads to:
Maintaining muscle requires adequate calories to support training and competition demands.
Recovery is not optional during a long season.
Key recovery factors include:
When recovery is insufficient, the body sacrifices muscle to cope with ongoing stress.
Long seasons often include travel, irregular meals, and disrupted sleep.
These factors:
DEXA tracking helps athletes see the impact of scheduling stress and respond before losses compound.
A DEXA Scan allows athletes to:
Without body composition data, muscle loss often goes unnoticed until performance declines.
For long competitive seasons:
This cadence allows timely adjustments without over monitoring.
Muscle loss during a long sports season is common but not inevitable. It happens when strength training, nutrition, and recovery are deprioritised in favour of volume and competition stress.
Maintaining muscle requires consistent strength stimulus, sufficient fuel, high protein intake, and adequate recovery. With DEXA Scan tracking at Kalos, athletes can protect muscle mass, sustain performance, and reduce injury risk across the entire season.
If you want to maintain muscle mass, protect performance, and stay durable throughout a long sports season, it is time to book your DEXA scan at Kalos. Whether your goal is to perform consistently, recover better, or extend your competitive lifespan, our advanced technology and expert guidance will help you train smarter with confidence.
Schedule your scan today at Kalos, your journey to data-driven fitness starts now.
Bay Area residents trust KALKalosOS to deliver results. We proudly serve the entire Bay Area including the following locations:
