How can I maintain muscle mass while off traning?

Your ability to maintain muscle mass is determined by many factors, including: how long you've been training for, your genetics and as you imply, your diet.

You can't do anything about the first two but as far as diet, the three best things you can do are: 1) eat a lot of calories (you may gain weight but you are unlikely to lose much muscle) 2) Not surprisingly, a high-protein diet (1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight) and 3) Omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Two other things - I often recommend taking a few weeks off every 8 to 12 weeks of intense training as a strategy to decrease injuries and improve long-term gains in strength and muscle mass. Secondly, you can usually do some kind of exercise that doesn't affect your injury but of course only your doctor should make that decision.

Hi Mark, thanks for the reply. I will put that into practice!