Strength gains at maintenance

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shmerek
shmerek Posts: 963 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Just curious for if anyone has made any significant strength gains on a maintenance level of calories? And to be clear I am not talking about gaining muscle mass just strength. Thanks!

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  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member
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    Anyone?
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    Yeah... but.

    I stopped lifting for around 10 years, gained some weight, dropped weight, restarted a progressive lifting routine, and saw significant strength gains while at maintenance for a bit.

    And the "but", is at "advanced" lifting levels the progress when I'm not in a surplus is pretty sad. Maybe partially mental, but gains are a lot more reliable above maintenance calories for me.
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
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    I have seen some strength gains at a tiny bit below maintenance, but they have been very gradual. However, Stronglifts have recently made the strength increase much faster for me. I have been attempting to create a body recomp type of situation.
  • gary241069
    gary241069 Posts: 255 Member
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    Surely if you are weight training. You should be concentrating more on your protein, rather than your calories.
    Protein is the scientific name for strength. The more protein you have, the stronger you feel.
  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member
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    I am just curious because of my scheduling I might not be able to go into a bulk for quite some time and I don't want to stagnate too much.
  • JazmineYoli
    JazmineYoli Posts: 547 Member
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    I have seen some strength gains at a tiny bit below maintenance, but they have been very gradual. However, Stronglifts have recently made the strength increase much faster for me. I have been attempting to create a body recomp type of situation.

    I am also doing Stronglifts 5x5 and am also gaining strength each session while on a deficit.
  • mayfrayy
    mayfrayy Posts: 198 Member
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    yes, but it depends on your current stats
  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member
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    Do you mean if I am a newbie or not etc?
  • shrcpr
    shrcpr Posts: 885 Member
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    I have made a lot of strength gains over the past several months, even while losing. I'm losing slowly but really concentrating on strength training with weights and body weight exercises.
  • suremeansyes
    suremeansyes Posts: 962 Member
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    I'm eating at maintenance and have made gains in strength doing SL5x5. Have stalled here and there, but fairly normal stalls, OHP!!!!, once on squats, once on DL, slowing down on bench gains (over 100+lbs now).
  • steve0820
    steve0820 Posts: 510 Member
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    Do you mean if I am a newbie or not etc?

    Being a newbie or not, will make a difference. I make no strength gains at maintenance or cutting. But that's my experience.
  • tycho_mx
    tycho_mx Posts: 426 Member
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    Totally doable. A lot of the physiological adaptations to exercise are weight-independent.

    To begin with, at maintenance there can still be some body recomposition (less fat, more muscle) over long periods. But beyond this, there are also other aspects like muscle fibre synthesis and conversion, neuromuscular adaptation (basically, your brain can now connect with more nerve terminals for muscle so you can recruit more) and increased muscular endurance.

    Especially for newbies or those trying new exercises the neuromuscular connection effect is very noticeable.
  • shmerek
    shmerek Posts: 963 Member
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    ^ Awesome good to hear. Not a total newb so I am glad to hear this.

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