Maintenance

[nowayman]

Okay, so I finally finished my building phase (gained around 15 pounds) and now I'm switching into the cutting and maintenance phase.

So here's my question, what is the recommended amount of lift periods per muscle group per month that is needed to maintain muscle strength? I've heard anywhere from once a month to once a week, so I'm a bit confused. At the moment I have been doing once a week because I don't want to risk losing any of the gains I've made by attempting to maintain via once a month.

As an additional question- Does leg intensive cardio count as leg maintenance or is lifting required to keep legs at maximum strength? I ask because my legs are always sore and as such wouldn't lifting be counter productive because the muscles are already trying to rebuild?

Anyways, thanks in advance.

[Lou Schuler]

Bunch of questions here.

Last first:

Soreness doesn't affect anything. You can lift with sore muscles and create more damage.

However, I think you need to be clear on what you're trying to accomplish.

Strength and muscle mass can be maintained with a single workout a week, according to Bill Kraemer of UConn. (I'm not sure about the specific studies he's referring to, but I've heard him say it in lectures several times.)

I don't know what happens when you lift less than once a week--I'd assume you'll start losing strength and size quickly if you gained it quickly; if you built up over a longer period of time, I think you'd hold onto it longer.

Endurance exercise won't help you maintain muscle strength, to the best of my knowledge.

But the bigger question is, what are you trying to do right now? I couldn't tell from your post if you're in a transition period in which you're trying to give your body a break from training, or if you've launched into a fat-loss stage.

[nowayman]

I tend to ramble and talk in circles, heh.

I'm begining my fat-loss stage, at least attempting to do so. I've never really tried it before.

[Lou Schuler]

In that case, I think you have to accept you're going to lose a little strength. You should be able to hold onto most of your muscle size, however, with this caveat:

If you're cutting calories, I wouldn't depend on once-a-week workouts to maintain your muscle size. With a caloric deficit, that may not be enough.

But that's just a guess--there's no research examining all the possibilities, so we have to go on experience for questions like this.

[nowayman]

Thanks for the responses Lou, but just for the sake of clarity- When I say once a week I mean every muscle group (major) at least once a week, i.e. chest- shoulder on thurs, legs on fri, ect.
Is that not enough for maintenance?