Maintaining Muscle Question

KcRavassa
KcRavassa Posts: 45 Member
edited November 26 in Health and Weight Loss
Question about maintaining muscle... Namely, do I have to lift heavy to keep it while losing? I only have about 13ish lbs to go for my goal weight and I shoot for 1/2 to a 1/4 lb of loss a week. I rock climb a couple hours 3 times a week and try to get in a 2 mile walk on my lunch hour at work, along with a set of 10 squats for every bathroom break (mainly to get the blood flowing from sitting all day at the office). I also eat back my exercise calories and get between .6 to 1 g of protein per body weight daily.

3x a week at the gym is enough for me and I find that if I try to weight train before/after rock climbing one or the other suffers. So is my current activity good enough to keep my muscle?

Replies

  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,208 Member
    Your routine seems a bit light on chest, shoulders and legs, so i'd add a couple sets of pushups, shoulder presses and weighted squats or jumping lunges. :+1:
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited May 2018
    RegenbogenPapagei wrote: »
    Question about maintaining muscle... Namely, do I have to lift heavy to keep it while losing? I only have about 13ish lbs to go for my goal weight and I shoot for 1/2 to a 1/4 lb of loss a week. I rock climb a couple hours 3 times a week and try to get in a 2 mile walk on my lunch hour at work, along with a set of 10 squats for every bathroom break (mainly to get the blood flowing from sitting all day at the office). I also eat back my exercise calories and get between .6 to 1 g of protein per body weight daily.

    3x a week at the gym is enough for me and I find that if I try to weight train before/after rock climbing one or the other suffers. So is my current activity good enough to keep my muscle?

    I was doing a lot of climbing for awhile...definitely a good workout. My climbing gym also had a squat rack and a bench, so I'd usually go in and do a few sets of squats and bench and then go climb. I wasn't doing "heavy"...mostly lighter weight, higher rep or moderate weight and moderate rep.

    Maybe if you don't have those things, work in some pushups.
  • KcRavassa
    KcRavassa Posts: 45 Member
    Thanks! I try once in a while to add in what you've both mentioned it's just not consistent. I'll have to get to the gym a little earlier and do a couple sets to round my program out. Luckily my gym does have a squat rack (no bench though).
  • julie_broadhead
    julie_broadhead Posts: 347 Member
    edited May 2018


    No you do not need to lift heavy. With the climbing, Cherimoose has given you some good ideas for antagonist muscle training. I'd suggest that you incorporate these and some rotator cuff and forearm work at least three times a week.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bsN-NPOV0k0

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p4dGmFij2FM

    A light band and a flex bar are great additions to your gym bag:-) Make sure you are getting adequate protein and keep your climbing progressive:-)
  • NerdyFlex
    NerdyFlex Posts: 1,672 Member
    edited May 2018
    As long as you train every major muscle group each week and maintain good protein intake, you should be good to go. Muscular strength maintains longer than cardio endurance for comparison
  • KcRavassa
    KcRavassa Posts: 45 Member
    Thanks for the info! Antagonist muscle training is something I need to do for sure. I certainly don't want to get the dreaded climber's elbo! I'll just add a few compound movements in to make sure I'm not missing anything. I am just breaking into 5.11 and am hoping to get to 5.12 this year if I'm lucky and diligent with both technique AND strength!
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