eli5 Why/how do muscles shrink?

Question

You get sore muscles when you train, because you muscle strings rip and when they heal, your muscles grow. As far as I know. So why and how do they shrink?

In: 213

Answer 1

Your body is like your mom. It doesn’t like anything going to waste.

If something takes energy and your body decides it doesn’t need it, your body shuts it down. This happens in your brain in a process called synaptic pruning and in your muscles in a process called muscle protein breakdown.