Contest prep unfortunately creates an environment that is not ideal for muscle growth. Less food, poor sleep, and more cardio can lead to subpar training and training is the key stimulus to keep muscle. The #1 strategy to uphold muscle on prep is managing your prep timeline. Not enough time, means more aggressive calorie deficit, more fatigue, and sleep disturbance. This quickly makes training harder to uphold. I usually recommend a more aggressive start to prep when fatigue is low and body fat