How light could one go w/o experiencing muscle atrophy?

[cranny]

My friends both of my shoulders are giving me a fit as of late. I can perform most exercises for shoulders, chest, and back but they are starting to really bother me. So I'm thinking of reducing the poundage for a while. I've even considered giving the muscle a complete break for 4-6 wks. If I were to do strength training at 50-60% of normal intensity could I still hold onto what muscle I do have?

[sassy69]

Even if you did lose a little muscle, it would come back fast. I have a friend who was out this time last year w/ a torn tricep (not torn... ripped out) - he's 7 weeks out from a major Cali show and is fuller & bigger than I've ever seen him and yes, symmetrical. The time off he spent focusing on his legs, which were a lagging body part, and he's looking fantastic.

I'd also venture - I lost a lot of leg mass last year dieting for so long - since New Years, I feel I've gained back most of it.

There's a lot to be said for down time to allow repair (as is obviously needed if it hurts that much to use), allowing you to come back strong. And muscle maturity also dictates what your body is used to supporting, so that established environment, IMO would be welcoming back any atrophied muscle mass very quickly.

Everyone worries about a little time off & losing muscle - the body is always changing & never static. I'd venture that you'd end up screwing up yourself even worse if you continued, potentially tearign soemthing and having much more extensive forced downtime. You'll come back like a champ and be able to build more / better / faster once you're recuperated as well

[Lumberjack5.0]

A lil time with sub-max effort/load on the shoulders will not set ya back much in my opinion. It may end up being a step forward in the long run if you're able to get rid of the pain.

[AWR]

^ Completely agree with Lumberjack, even if you were to lose some strength or size, I think the shoulder health would be more important.

[GTLifter]

I'd take a few weeks off from any upper body stuff and talk to your doc about a prescription strengh NSAID. I've had good luck with piroxicam.

You wont lose that much muscle in a few weeks as long as you are eating enough and if you do you'll gain it back so quick you wont notice.

[G-REX]

Agree with above. You won't loose that much in that short amount if time off and getting your shoulders to settle down could actually lead to gains in the future. You're probably not able to make a lot of gains right now trying to train around a bum shoulder, so why prolong the inevitable? Shoulders affect every lift your going to do. Squats, deads and of course benching and overhead presses. If your shoulders are bothering you and you're trying to work around it, you may actually be recruiting muscles from different places or worse yet, placing more of the load on other smaller joints. Give it a rest, get to a doc as Drew said and get it under control before it becomes something that requires more than just a few days/weeks off.

[GND123]

deloading for a few weeks you will not lose that much muscle at all my friend. If u concentrate in a higher rep range 12-15 and go faster paced 15-30sec rest, and just get your correct post workout nutrition in, it wont hurt you at all. often in summers i have a very laboring job so i stop lifting heavy because i am too tired and sweating all day and such. and i dont lose muscle at all really. examples i use are

for chest, superset bench and incline bench. light weight
incline cable flys
fly machine
hammer press
etc.
shoulders.
light presses working gradually up add 10lbs each set.
side lat raises
front lat raises
upright row
u get the picture, but the important part is to set a fast pace so you are really getting a good burn. if you have never worked out like this before it will get you good.