Is once a week lifting better than nothing?

BusyRaeNOTBusty
BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
edited February 8 in Fitness and Exercise
In terms of maintaining muscle while eating at a small calorie deficit?

If I'm not seeing any drop in strength, does that mean anything?

Replies

  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
    Once per week is definitely fine, but expect at least a small drop in strength from the deficit.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    something > nothing

    ALWAYS.

    But don't expect anything really to come of it- you will lose strength over a period of time- but if you are off for a few weeks and only get one session a week in- because of holidays or travel- you'll be fine.

    Maybe supplement with some HIIT- not sure of context so I don't want to get crazy with suggestions.
    That's what I do- I'm happy if I'm 'away' and I can get in 1 lift session then supplement with body weight HIIT workouts- I'm happy.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    The weight is coming off due to the calorie deficit.

    I'm not terribly worried about losing strength I just don't want to lose lean mass.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Better than nothing, yes. But I've found twice a week to be about the minimum for retention. Once per week and I've lost both mass and strength after an extended period. Maintained more than if I did nothing, of course, but less than ideal
  • BossLadyDSimp
    BossLadyDSimp Posts: 257 Member
    bump

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  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
    This thread is pertinent to my needs.

    I'm in the same boat as OP. I can only get workouts done on the weekends. And with that you can only work out each body part once a week. I've only been doing it for a couple weeks so far, but I'm pushing it so hard on the weekend that I'm feeling like I'll be able to get some slow gains. It will be nothing like I was getting when I was getting in three solid lift days a week though.

    I'm contemplating tying in some convict conditioning stuff on my work breaks, but I'm really not able to do much more than burpees and such. I'd bring a dumbbell to work, but I don't want to look like a total "bro"...I still might though.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    better than nothing but less than ideal...you'll probably retain, but I doubt you will have much in the way of actual strength gains. IMHO, twice per week full body is about as little as I would do, barring something coming up of course...but even when I cut back on lifting and bump my cycling in the spring and summer I still lift twice per week.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    Better than nothing, yes. But I've found twice a week to be about the minimum for retention. Once per week and I've lost both mass and strength after an extended period. Maintained more than if I did nothing, of course, but less than ideal

    agreed.

    I guess the big question would be "for what length of time are we talking about?"

    A full body weight session and then body weight stuff would probably be a better sub then just doing only ONE weight training session- but I don't know many people who volunteer to do burpees LOL
  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
    When my shoulder isn't borked up I actually like burpees.

    Yeah, I'm weird.

    A full weekend lift session for me right now is:
    Full Squats
    Deadlifts
    Power Cleans
    Military Press (OHP)
    Pendlay Rows
    Bench Press (If my shoulder isn't cursing at me.)

    It takes me about an hour to an hour and a half. It'd be more if it were crowded, but nobody uses barbells at the YMCA.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
    I believe that I read an article by Layne Norton that seemed to support the idea that one high intensity session per muscle group per week should be sufficient to preserve existing strength, provided adequate protein.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    I believe that I read an article by Layne Norton that seemed to support the idea that one high intensity session per muscle group per week should be sufficient to preserve existing strength, provided adequate protein.

    I did purely HIIT for about 2 years- with a variety of body weight or weighted exercises... I maintained a fair bit of mass- I wasn't huge- and I had an excellent base I was working with- but I did absolutely NO traditional strength training at all- came out just fine... now- I was doing that 5-6 times a week on top of hours of dancing- but there was NO traditional lifting- none- only in the context of HIIT.

    Was in pretty good shape- mildly pleased all in all- I learned a lot. 5-6 times a week was too much but you live and learn. Recovered and moved on- but my one man test point would confirm that theory. :)
  • Samstan101
    Samstan101 Posts: 699 Member
    I do cardio 4-5 times a week (2 gym sessions, 2 outdoor runs/ races) and one weight session. I'm making slow gains and according to the scales I have my muscle mass as a percentage of total body weight is increasing so if I'm losing muscle mass its at a slower rate than fat! That said, if I miss one session then I lose strength very quickly and by the next session I usually have to either reduce reps or weight for that week and am stiff afterwards. The following week I'm back where I was before the missed session usually (the exception is the shoulder press which I'm making the slowest strength gains and lose the quickest).
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