How often do you need to lift to maintain?
- Thread starter heycal
- Start date
Once a week does it, huh? Are you old or young? Age might play a factor I guess. I don't know.
I'm 51, 5'10", 150lbs, and maintain what muscles I have going to the gym every 3rd day and lifting for 20 minutes or so. But I'm wondering if I can stretch that to every 4th day without losing any muscle (or gaining any fat).
Tbln is right that it depends on individual and what kind of level you want to maintain. But for average shape of being able to squat about your weight 3 sets of 10 reps, one real heavy lifting or two moderate lifting a week could maintain. But, you want to cover all major muscle groups and small ones in a week. So once a week would be more stressful and risky for injury.
The intensity and frequency can be increased if you want to up the level you want to maintain.
Heycal you seem to be pretty lean and lean person needs more effort to maintain the muscle level.
The intensity and frequency can be increased if you want to up the level you want to maintain.
Heycal you seem to be pretty lean and lean person needs more effort to maintain the muscle level.
Because maintaining much less than normal fat percentage, around 15 for men, is high maintenance. Meaning the amount of exercise and nutrition has to be precisely right. Fat is like a buffer for endurance energy usage and when that is low muscles are converted for energy and building blocks.
If you want to take it easy on lifting you might have to give up on your leanness a bit which is not necessarily a bad thing as long as you don't exceed the recommended level.
If you want to take it easy on lifting you might have to give up on your leanness a bit which is not necessarily a bad thing as long as you don't exceed the recommended level.
Yea, once a week of heavy lifting of the major muscle groups (squats, chest/shoulder press, pull-downs +rows, sit-ups) + a following recovery day (with lots of delayed onset muscle soreness) does it for me to maintain. I'm 30, 170lb with around 15% body fat. I don't make any gains though and, again, its different for everyone.
I'm a 5.5 player, play singles 2-3x/wk + 1 day of weights as above + 1 day of spin class.
I'm not THAT lean. I doubt my body fat percentage is less than 15. I have dessert and a coke every day, and never can quite lose those love handles completely.
chrischris
G.O.A.T.
I update and challenge my brain daily.. it needs stimulation to grow.
as for the bod ,it responds well to every other day.
Foodwise for the brain good healthy unsaturated fatty foods do the job
for the bod veggies, fish , eggs ,nuts , fruit and lean cheese delivers.No corn syrup ,little sugar but lots of honey
as for the bod ,it responds well to every other day.
Foodwise for the brain good healthy unsaturated fatty foods do the job
for the bod veggies, fish , eggs ,nuts , fruit and lean cheese delivers.No corn syrup ,little sugar but lots of honey
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
Once a week is enough for me. I am 40. for some reason, I bulk up really fast, not sure if this is a good thing or not. When I bulk up too much , I lose way too much flexiblility and in tennis, flexibility is even more important than having the right muscles. Just ask Guga Kuerten. Skinny dude but VERY flexible and can hit huge.
and I used to think twice a week was good, but then I started getting more sore and injured from lifting than from playing tennis. that was annoying.
Nostradamus
Bionic Poster
^^^also this is why I think maybe Yoga is just as important as lifting... to maintain that flexibility............
No, I don't have a ton of muscle. I definitely appear slender to others. As for intensity, I usually work with a weight that i can only lift about 8 times, and go to near failure each of the two sets I do when I hit the gym.
This is what I'm afraid of...
I've never gotten sore from lifting, though one can certainly get some nagging injuries. That's one reason I want to lift as little as possible.
torpantennis
Legend
Once a week, 90min full body workout, to keep gym RESULTS the same.
To keep muscle MASS the same, just eat enough proteins, and play tennis or whatever other sport.
To increase muscle mass, workout all body parts twice a weak, and eat HUGE AMOUNT of proteins and calories.
To keep muscle MASS the same, just eat enough proteins, and play tennis or whatever other sport.
To increase muscle mass, workout all body parts twice a weak, and eat HUGE AMOUNT of proteins and calories.
tennytive
Hall of Fame
I only lift when it snows. With over 70 inches and counting, that's been more than enough. Actually, that's not true. I moved recently, so there was a lot of lifting and stair climbing to boot.
I used to lift 2 to 3 times a week, but like some others have said, was constantly sore. When my shoulders starting continuously bothering me I decided to take the summer off and just play tennis period.
My game didn't suffer and the nagging soreness went away in time. That was 2 years ago. I haven't lifted with any regularity since, and prefer to hit the wall during the off season. I'm 64.
I used to lift 2 to 3 times a week, but like some others have said, was constantly sore. When my shoulders starting continuously bothering me I decided to take the summer off and just play tennis period.
My game didn't suffer and the nagging soreness went away in time. That was 2 years ago. I haven't lifted with any regularity since, and prefer to hit the wall during the off season. I'm 64.
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
(Assuming you mean slim people and not lean as-in have deliberate body-building/beach body type leanness)
Generally a person's size has a natural ceiling zone which is dictated by genetics and which their eating efforts struggles to defeat. This often changes over the court of their life (a middle-age spread is common when people's metabolisms start to allow for weigh to be stacked on more easily) but people who are generally thin their bodies will always tend towards that state and people who are larger will do likewise (etc).
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Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
Back to the OP's question. For most people lifting once a week will easily maintain your strength.
It does depend somewhat on what sort of lifting you do though. You say you've never had muscle soreness after lifting - to me that's an indication you probably never push yourself past your comfort zone so noticeable strength gains are unlikely even if you're staying fit and helping keep the reaper at bay.
It does depend somewhat on what sort of lifting you do though. You say you've never had muscle soreness after lifting - to me that's an indication you probably never push yourself past your comfort zone so noticeable strength gains are unlikely even if you're staying fit and helping keep the reaper at bay.
So do you appear less muscular looking than you did two years ago when you lifted?
I lift to near failure every set, and have made muscle gains this way. I can't recall reading anywhere that feeling sore after lifting is either necessary or desirable for achieving gains. (I do realize that there is some delayed soreness when trying a new exercise, but that's different.)
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
I didn't mean feeling sore/tenderness was needed, just that if you're training hard it's unavoidable to some extent/level. People who don't get it are usually not pushing themselves past their comfort point as much as they think they are.
Everyone has a different ability to push past their zone and different idea of what that even means. IMO, if you're not pushing past and feeling the effects afterwards (the next day) to some level you're probably not going to see much gain either.
Wrong. Do some research, and you'll see that any sort of pain/soreness is not required to see meaningful muscle gains.
Bobby Jr
G.O.A.T.
You said "I lift to near failure every set, and have made muscle gains this way" but your original post was about maintaining, not gaining.
Soreness isn't necessarily an indicator of a good workout - just to be clear - but if you're not getting it ever your routine has become far too predictable for your body so the gains will be immeasurably small if improving strength or endurance is the goal.
If you actually do lift to failure as you say, you're possibly failing too early or in such a metronomic routine you're not going to see gains even if you are maintaining what you've got (ref to op again). Most people think they're lifting to failure but aren't - they just have low expectations of their failure point (or can't be arsed).
The evidence of a varied and challenging workout is generally some mild soreness - same with playing too much tennis or going on a long bush-walk etc - you'll feel it in some way if you pushed it past a point of easiness.
Rarely do you achieve anything with workouts in terms of noticeable improvements without pushing past the point of comfort - and with that must come some level of exhaustion which requires recovery. Ask anyone who's ever anything in an athletic sense.
Your original post said the goal was to maintain what you've got. The answer to that is you don't have to work out that often really.
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Okay, to clarify and simplify here: 1) I'm interested in maintaining what I have, and you and others have provided answers which I appreciate. 2) On another issue, what is needed to gain muscle, you claim you need to feel some sort of soreness or ache or something. This is false. If you don't believe me and my own experiences in gaining muscle without soreness, simply google to find out for yourself.
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