Can you just maintain muscle mass?

eisterunicorn
eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
edited November 17 in Fitness and Exercise
Helloooo!
I have a dumb question. I understand that for strength training, once weights become too light for a good workout / for challenging the muscles as they get stronger, you must start lifting heavier to feel a challenge again. (or just rep to failure I guess.) But what happens when your muscles adjust to the weights that you have? Do you begin to lose muscle mass if that is all you train with, or do you simply maintain the muscles and the strength that it took to get there?
Thank you! :)
Eister

Replies

  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
    Generally, if you do the same thing, you get the same thing. That is if you’re getting proper nutrition. It is possible that you could lose muscle mass if you’re not eating enough. Eventually, you’ll lose strength as well,
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,989 Member
    You maintain. Granted that as you age, muscle loss is going to happen, but if you're staying consistent with it, it happens much slower. At 51, while I've lost some muscle mass, it's not apparent to anyone but me.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • eisterunicorn
    eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    Generally, if you do the same thing, you get the same thing. That is if you’re getting proper nutrition. It is possible that you could lose muscle mass if you’re not eating enough. Eventually, you’ll lose strength as well,

    Makes sense... so basically, home strength workouts with limited amounts of weight while eating at a 300 calorie deficit can actually bring you to LOSE muscle mass after a while? :O Thanks for your help :) (I'm going to start SS next month, just curiosity for the future as I do prefer to workout at home..)
  • eisterunicorn
    eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    You maintain. Granted that as you age, muscle loss is going to happen, but if you're staying consistent with it, it happens much slower. At 51, while I've lost some muscle mass, it's not apparent to anyone but me.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    Gotcha gotcha. Thank youuuu!!
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
    Is there a reason you don’t want to lift progressively more over time? Muscle mass is such a valuable thing.
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
    eisterunicorn wrote: »
    Helloooo!
    I have a dumb question. I understand that for strength training, once weights become too light for a good workout / for challenging the muscles as they get stronger, you must start lifting heavier to feel a challenge again. (or just rep to failure I guess.) But what happens when your muscles adjust to the weights that you have? Do you begin to lose muscle mass if that is all you train with, or do you simply maintain the muscles and the strength that it took to get there?
    Thank you! :)
    Eister

    I may be alone in my experience but yes you can maintain muscle mass...most certainly.

  • BigLifter10
    BigLifter10 Posts: 1,153 Member
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    Generally, if you do the same thing, you get the same thing. That is if you’re getting proper nutrition. It is possible that you could lose muscle mass if you’re not eating enough. Eventually, you’ll lose strength as well,


    Agree. I have been maintaining for the past six months through higher reps with same amt of weights. I want to maintain current physique level and the hardest part for me is making sure I keep my protein up. If I start to have several days where it's too low, I feel it and start to see it a little bit here and there.
  • eisterunicorn
    eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    Is there a reason you don’t want to lift progressively more over time? Muscle mass is such a valuable thing.

    Never said that!! :) I definitely do. For some reason I've just always been shy of the free weight area and so am stuck with up to 20 lb dumbbells at home and workout videos. Which is great right now! But it's getting too easy so I bought Starting Strength and I'm studying it. I am about to be stationed away from home for 5 months so I will start doing a mix of SS and SL in the gym while I am away.
    And I am investing in heavier dumbbells for home for the future... I really really like workout videos lol..
  • eisterunicorn
    eisterunicorn Posts: 158 Member
    BigLifter10 wrote: »
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    Generally, if you do the same thing, you get the same thing. That is if you’re getting proper nutrition. It is possible that you could lose muscle mass if you’re not eating enough. Eventually, you’ll lose strength as well,


    Agree. I have been maintaining for the past six months through higher reps with same amt of weights. I want to maintain current physique level and the hardest part for me is making sure I keep my protein up. If I start to have several days where it's too low, I feel it and start to see it a little bit here and there.

    Cool! :) Just out of curiosity - Do you plan on keeping this level of maintenance for a long time? (aka for the rest of your life lol) Or do you plan on changing your physique goals as you get bored or whatever with where you are at? Kind of a side question but I've been wondering what happens really once somebody has been at "after" for a while. :P Thank you!
  • BigLifter10
    BigLifter10 Posts: 1,153 Member
    eisterunicorn wrote: »
    BigLifter10 wrote: »
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    Generally, if you do the same thing, you get the same thing. That is if you’re getting proper nutrition. It is possible that you could lose muscle mass if you’re not eating enough. Eventually, you’ll lose strength as well,


    Agree. I have been maintaining for the past six months through higher reps with same amt of weights. I want to maintain current physique level and the hardest part for me is making sure I keep my protein up. If I start to have several days where it's too low, I feel it and start to see it a little bit here and there.

    Cool! :) Just out of curiosity - Do you plan on keeping this level of maintenance for a long time? (aka for the rest of your life lol) Or do you plan on changing your physique goals as you get bored or whatever with where you are at? Kind of a side question but I've been wondering what happens really once somebody has been at "after" for a while. :P Thank you!


    I tend to vary it. I'll cut a little bit more for summer, but yes, I find it very easy to maintain what I have now. I like sweets, so I sometimes end up having more than I should at the cost of fitting in proteins. I know pictures can sometimes make a person look 'bulkier', but in real life, it's more of a compact, tighter look. When I get bored, I plan a new approach, but with the goal of keeping up what I have. It's so easy to drop down into 'bikini' shape, but it's also pretty easy for me to go up to 'figure' shape (I gain muscle quickly, but lose it quickly as well).

    As far as "after", basically the big concern is to make sure you don't gain a lot of body fat because it will make you look 'soft' and not well-defined. It's not like muscle turns to flab or anything. Keeping up with muscle, also allows more calorie burn throughout the day (always a good thing). :)
  • rileyes
    rileyes Posts: 1,406 Member
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    Is there a reason you don’t want to lift progressively more over time? Muscle mass is such a valuable thing.

    Sorry about being off topic but I am wondering how sustainable lifting is for older years. I know I can take body weight, stretching and cardio the length...
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
    Unless you have a significant medical issue preventing it, there is no reason you can’t lift weights at any age. I would also preface that with the fact that you do have to train smarter as you age.
  • BigLifter10
    BigLifter10 Posts: 1,153 Member
    rileyes wrote: »
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    Is there a reason you don’t want to lift progressively more over time? Muscle mass is such a valuable thing.

    Sorry about being off topic but I am wondering how sustainable lifting is for older years. I know I can take body weight, stretching and cardio the length...


    From what I know on that: My chiro and doctor both say you can build muscle into your 80s. I do know there are three men and two women at my gym who still lift (they started in their 50s and 60s). They look great. They are 76, 75 69 and the women are late 60s - one is staving off osteopenia, the other does it to manage her diabetes.
  • Talan79
    Talan79 Posts: 782 Member
    In 2005-2006 I was lifting with a trainer. Gave it up, was only doing cardio. Stopped eating meat....9 years later and now in my 30's I've lost 10 pounds of lean body mass. Working hard now to regain some mass. Trying to reverse it is really tough.
  • HappyTrails7
    HappyTrails7 Posts: 878 Member
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    Unless you have a significant medical issue preventing it, there is no reason you can’t lift weights at any age. I would also preface that with the fact that you do have to train smarter as you age.

    Hi Allan, could you please elaborate on what "training smarter as you age" encompasses. Thank you.
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
    When I was 19, I could wake up, walk outside and just run for miles at full bore. No warm up, no stretching, no cool down, nothing. I would recover with little problem and could do it again the next day. At 49, my recovery isn’t anything close to that. So, I warm up, I stretch, I cool down, and I give myself all the necessary care to ensure a proper recovery, including not doing too many metabolically challenging workouts in the same week.

    So, I guess the short answer is making sure you address recovery. An injury will put us down harder and longer than it would have when we were younger.
  • HappyTrails7
    HappyTrails7 Posts: 878 Member
    AllanMisner wrote: »
    When I was 19, I could wake up, walk outside and just run for miles at full bore. No warm up, no stretching, no cool down, nothing. I would recover with little problem and could do it again the next day. At 49, my recovery isn’t anything close to that. So, I warm up, I stretch, I cool down, and I give myself all the necessary care to ensure a proper recovery, including not doing too many metabolically challenging workouts in the same week.

    So, I guess the short answer is making sure you address recovery. An injury will put us down harder and longer than it would have when we were younger.

    Thank you sir, I always enjoy your posts.

  • griffinca2
    griffinca2 Posts: 672 Member
    You may lose some muscle especially if you are older--we lose it as we age if we don't lift weights. According to the guy who runs the gym where I go you can get most of it back but you have to work at it. If you can't lift heavier weights increase your reps/sets with what you can lift. Another trick (I saw in a fitness mag) is to use the heavier weight for as many reps (using good form--no swinging) as you can and finish your set with the lighter weight. More muscle means you will burn more fat. Also, remember that muscle takes up less space and as you increase muscle mass the scale may not move much.
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