Happy With My Muscle Tone But....

DanaDark

Lifting to maintain is different than lifting to gain.

I will not go into details on lifting to gain as that is covered extensively all over the web.

From my reading, which sadly I do not have the article readily available, to maintain, you can reduce the number of sessions and the number of sets you do at the gym. You cannot reduce the weight however. From my reading, you can reduce to 1/3.

So, if you were going to the gym 6X a week and doing 6 sets, you should be able to maintain with a MINIMUM of 2X a week and 2 sets.

SillyFitMe

Lifting to maintain is different than lifting to gain.

I will not go into details on lifting to gain as that is covered extensively all over the web.

From my reading, which sadly I do not have the article readily available, to maintain, you can reduce the number of sessions and the number of sets you do at the gym. You cannot reduce the weight however. From my reading, you can reduce to 1/3.

So, if you were going to the gym 6X a week and doing 6 sets, you should be able to maintain with a MINIMUM of 2X a week and 2 sets.

Now THIS is what I'm talking about!!! Thank you Dana for the added prespective!

jasonp_ritzert

You could always challenge your body in other ways by trying new exercises if you are bored without worrying about adding more muscle.

HeidiMightyRawr

My question would be, I understand your goal is not to get stronger/bigger, but if the weights are becoming easy, would it not be sensible to up them? You will get stronger through this but you won't put on any noticeable size. I can't see any downsides personally to more strength but the same size.

I think for people who enjoy lifting, getting stronger and upping weights is very exciting and rewarding. Personally... I have sort of loathed every minute of lifting I've ever done. I spend most of the workout cursing in my head "This &$#!ing hurts - my hamstrings are shaking - dammit - ouch! I hate rows... and deadlifts... and squats!" :laugh:

I lift only because it's good for me. I like the physical results - both in terms of health and appearance. But, when I get to a point where I'm happy with my appearance and health (and I'm pretty close right now!), I honestly can't say I will definitely want to continue to challenge myself to get stronger. I might opt to maintain my current level of strength, and focus on improving my speed or my endurance. I might be OK with lifting at the same level, over and over again - because lifting has always been the boring part of fitness for me, even when I see improvement. We'll see... like I said, I'm not quite there yet. Maybe when I get there, I'll change my mind.

I can understand that a person who doesn't like lifting may not want to continue challenging themselves for how it makes them feel. Yet if it's just getting easier and easier, it would IMO be a bit silly not to up them at least a little.You don't even have to up them to challenging levels, just enough so it's not tedious.

SillyFitMe

You could always challenge your body in other ways by trying new exercises if you are bored without worrying about adding more muscle.

That is one of my biggest downfalls. Tedious and boring is my middle name. I am happy eating the exact same foods every day and working out at the same level for months/years on end. New exercises are an option but I've had so much success with P90X, I like to stick to what works well.

towens00

Bump