So Tell Me About These "Newbie Gains"...
nothingwithoutHim
Posts: 140 Member
Strength training. Do the newbie gains just up and vanish? Is bulking the only way to go, or could someone consistently weight train forever if they don't want an enormous amount of muscle but still want to look "toned"? Hit me with anything and everything you know about these mysterious newbie gains and how to keep/maintain a nice amount of muscle...
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Strength training. Do the newbie gains just up and vanish? Is bulking the only way to go, or could someone consistently weight train forever if they don't want an enormous amount of muscle but still want to look "toned"? Hit me with anything and everything you know about these mysterious newbie gains and how to keep/maintain a nice amount of muscle...
Do you mean strength gains, or muscle gains?
No, they don't vanish, unless you stop putting a load on the muscle at all and they go away.
But indeed, you don't always have to be increasing the load. You just won't get stronger, you'll keep what ya got, at the strength you are at.
You can go look at people in the gym right now doing the same workout they've done for years. Sadly for most of them probably, they never increased much in the first place, just did what they could then, or perhaps a tad heavier, and are not at plateau, which may be fine for them.0 -
Do you mean strength gains, or muscle gains?
No, they don't vanish, unless you stop putting a load on the muscle at all and they go away.
But indeed, you don't always have to be increasing the load. You just won't get stronger, you'll keep what ya got, at the strength you are at.
You can go look at people in the gym right now doing the same workout they've done for years. Sadly for most of them probably, they never increased much in the first place, just did what they could then, or perhaps a tad heavier, and are not at plateau, which may be fine for them.
Talkin' about muscle gain. I don't have a problem w/increasing load and getting stronger, but I guess I've heard a lot about how new people to weightlifting get all this great muscle...but it doesn't last. Just trying to understand where/how/if it goes?...0 -
As I understand it when you first start weight training your muscles are put under stress that is unknown to them. As your body adapts to this it will lead to some gains in strength and possibly even a little mass. However maintaining muscle uses a lot of energy and to build it uses even more. To some extent once the newbie gains have plateaued it can be possible to see more progress by eating at maintenance , especially in someone who is overfat as the energy stored in the fat reserves can be used to help build muscle, and as such eating at maintenance while strength training can result in decreased BF%. However, if further considerable gains in muscle/strength are required then eating at a surplus (bulking) is necessary in order to give the body enough energy and nutrients to build new tissue.0
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Talkin' about muscle gain. I don't have a problem w/increasing load and getting stronger, but I guess I've heard a lot about how new people to weightlifting get all this great muscle...but it doesn't last. Just trying to understand where/how/if it goes?...
If by all this great muscle you mean about 1 lb in 2 months that might be possible, sure it lasts. Not sure why it would be thought it goes away. If you keep a load on it, it doesn't atrophy. Don't even need much of a load at that point to just keep it.
All the people that say "your weight gain or lack of loss while dropping fat is because of gaining muscle" are so far off. They are indeed gaining LBM, but muscle is just part of LBM, but so is water and glucose stores, everything non-fat. Blood volume, bone density if previously very weak, ect.0
