Recomp and maintenance

nichell88

I've posted so many times in the past couple days, probably anxious about transitioning into maintenance (im about 5 lbs away) but I want to be as prepared as possible. So right now in weight loss, I do HIIT and hills on the bike 3x a week, then strength training and steady state cardio 3x a week with one rest day. I'm having some trouble with toning, particularly in my lower abdomen. So I want to recomp, but I'm wondering how to alter my current routine. I'll eat probably 200 more calories a day to start mostly with fruit and protein, but should I increase my weight training and/or cut back on some of the cardio? Right now I do drop sets on opposite muscle groups, usually four or five exercises. And I do three sets. Any advice would be welcome

nowine4me

If you enjoy what you're doing, feel like you can continue it and are getting stronger/fitter, keep doing it and up your calories to get that dialed in. If you feel you are doing too much HIIT or cardio, cut back and keep your calorie intake the same. Don't cut both at the same time. No matter what, keep doing the weight training.

sijomial

You don't have to change your exercise routine just because you want to maintain your weight.
Change your routine if your goals and priorities change - or if you don't get the results you expect.

Muscle growth / recomp is primarily going to come from your weight training stimulus. If that's now your main goal I would work on optimising that with a thorough overhaul of your weights routine. That might lead to reducing or dropping your HIIT training as they can cause recovery and performance conflicts.

But that's a bit of guesswork as all you have said is "Right now I do drop sets on opposite muscle groups, usually four or five exercises. And I do three sets."

Is that's the entirety of your weights regime would suggest researching either a properly structured off the shelf routine or get a knowledgable PT to set up a routine in line with your goals.