How fast can you burn muscle???

[7evens]

Lately I've been having sharp pains in my elbows when doing certain tricep excercises as well as pain in betwen my inner forearm and bicep when doing bicep excercises. I want to give my body a break for a few weeks but I'm so scared of losing muscle since I'm currently on a cut. I currently eat around 2500 cals a day, workout 4-5 times a week, and do cardio 30-45 min 4-5 times a week. If I stop lifting for two weeks will I lose size.

[Andrew.Cook]

Yes, you will lose size. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (growth in the muscle cell that isn't fibrous growth) is fairly fleeting. In addition if you are very used to looking at yourself "pumped" after a workout, you will note that your muscles will not appear as swollen. In a two week time period I would wager that you would see very little actual muscle loss, and very little strength loss. Anything you think you are missing at the end of that two weeks would return within a week or two most likely. The alternative is that you push on and force yourself to take a month or more off to recover from connective tissue damage or joint injury. I think you are on the right track by taking a little time off now.

In addition I would maybe be tempted to speed up your recovery by eating more for a while. I understand that you are on a cut, are you entering a show, or just interested in being leaner? If you are entering a show then I understand that you are somewhat restricted. If you are cutting for fun, I'd say toss that crap and eat. Without the resources to recover you are just prolonging the issue. For that matter, if your fat intake is too low now, this could also be causing some issues for you.